Itchy Feet

All this diving around, and living on, a dainty, tropical island is slowly taking its toll. Maybe it’s a subtle case of island fatigue, maybe I’m experiencing what the go-getting, high fliers describe as ‘burn out’ but, more likely is the case, I’m just being over dramatic and looking for an excuse to wander around a bit for a few weeks. In short, I’m taking a holiday from the current long holiday. I’m going to Penang for a curry and a Guinness.

I’ve got two weeks to return before the dive shop sends out a search party so, unless the curry happens to be about the same size as a 3 story town house in Winchester (and gets washed down with enough Guinness to fill Micheal Barrymore’s swimming pool), I’m banking on having sufficient post-curry time to visit a few other places as I wend my way back to Phi Phi. But let’s be honest here, either way I can’t lose.

So, the plan as it stands: Head straight to Penang, gorge on curry, see some stuff on the way back up to Phi Phi. And why not?

REALLY at the Beach, Ko Phi Phi Style

If you can remember as far back as my last post (bad blogger! Bad!), you’d know I had got as far as Phuket on my round the houses trip south through Thailand to either Koh Phi Phi or Koh Lanta.

That was a month ago, give or take a sunny day or two.

After just a couple of days in Phuket Town I upped sticks and set my sights on Koh Phi Phi. My reason for choosing Phi Phi over Koh Lanta? Purely geographical. I thought I’d stop on Ko Phi Phi for a few days and then head onward, again by boat, to check out Koh Lanta (and, among other things, Conrad’s white rabbits.)

Alas, the best laid plans of beggars and bums fell well and truly by the wayside on about day 2 in Koh Phi Phi. It’s a smashing place. Furthermore, and quite unsurprisingly, I’m still here.

A month and counting, and it’ll be a little while longer for sure – like I said, it’s a great place to drop the pack for a while.
So what the heck to you do on a small tropical island for a month? You dive. But what do you do if you’re not a diver? Well, then you get your Open Water Certification and then dive. OK OK, maybe I’m a little biased – but unspoilt coral reefs and walls absolutely teeming with marine life, awesome visibility and 30 degree water gets me going every time. In short, the diving here kicks some serious ass.

The cost of living is slightly higher than in the mainland haunts, but the Phi Phi island lifestyle and surroundings make it worth every last Baht.

Rest assured there will be a few more posts from this corner of the world (groans)…all I need to do now is stay out of the water long enough to write them. More soon!