Koh Phi Phi Lei - The "Beach"

Well we are tourists - we had to do it. We hired a long boat for the afternoon the other day (equipped with our very own fisherman - Zing) and headed out to Koh Phi Phi Lei to check out Maya Bay (where they filmed "The Beach"). The island is quite a bit smaller than Phi Phi Don but is surrounded in massive limestone cliffs which are amazing. It took our long boat about half an hour to get to the island and then we cruised around it stopping at various bays and inlets. We stopped at the Viking Caves which is home to a number of Thai (said Zing - who spoke very very limited english) hanging about in hammocks with washing everywhere. There is nothing really there except a large cave in the side of the island - there is no beach or inlet, just some caves - very strange place to live. It was a little rough to get into Maya Bay in our boat so we were dropped off in Loh Samah Bay to do some snorkelling. The water was warm (around 30 degrees) and crystal clear with millions of colourful fish everywhere. Absolutely stunning. There is a small hole in the rocks at one end of the bay that you can swim to and then climb through at low tide and walk over Phi Phi Lei to get to Maya Bay. Apparently the Thai like to charge tourists going to Maya Bay around $8 each so you can also avoid having to pay this by swimming to the Bay. We headed over to the hole in the rocks with another couple, who also got off their long boat at the same time as us, and attempted to get through. The four of us made it through after grabbing onto one another as one by one we got swept against the rocks by the tide, which was hugely powerful and quite scary, taking all sorts of cuts and bruises (excellent to be bleeding for the sharks!) as souvenirs of our own filmable adventure. Although extremely touristy, it was actually very cool to wander over the island thinking of the movie especially after it was such a mission to get there. Advice for anyone in the future - just wait until the tide is a little lower. While Maya Bay was pretty and we were glad that we saw it, it wasn't as amazing as it looked in the movie (surprise!) and the visibility in the water was about a foot. So no exotic snorkelling in Maya Bay for us. But a great adventure and we would definately do it again. We met up with our friends from the rocks, Becca and Olli - from Northern Ireland and the UK, that night at the Sunflower Bar on Loh Dalam Beach which is opposite (and about a minute walk from) Ton Sai Beach on Phi Phi Don. The beach is in a large bay which is gorgeous when the tide is in but a little less so when the tide is out. The Sunflower Bar is right on the beach and is built out of various wrecked long boats destroyed in the tsunami. It is quite surreal to sit on parts of the wreckages having a drink and think about how the bar came about. We headed back over to Phuket yesterday and then flew (luckily, as we had booked our flights for the right day but in the wrong month - oops) to Samui. We rented a jeep today and went around the island looking at the various beaches and sights. Our friends, Shel and Andrew, arrive tomorrow for the rest of the week and we are heading over to Koh Phan Nang. Exciting!