The shuttle came to pick us up this morning to take us to the ferry. It was a truck with two bench seats inside, facing inwards. All the luggage was on the roof and there were about twenty people already there, about twice as many as would be comfortable. I sat on the back with my legs dangling over the edge, which I had hoped would be nice and breezy, but I'd forgotten about the vacuum that caused all the dust and fumes to be sucked up and deposited on me. I was quite filthy by the time we arrived at the boat.

The boat was also too small for all the passengers, but it was only a 90-minute trip across very calm water, so it wasn't too bad. I did spend a bit of time on the deck, squished between two baskets of durian fruit, until I couldn't cope with the smell any more. Even with their skins intact they are unpleasant. A group of schoolgirls wanted to interview us for their 'education' and one of them took a photo of me which reminds me of the bit in Lilo and Stitch where Lilo collects pictures of really fat sunburned tourists, but they were very happy and smiley and pleased with the questionnaires that we filled out that I let it go.

Ko Phi Phi is supposed to be what paradise looks like, and it is very pretty. I have to say though that now I've seen Whitehaven beach my search for the perfect desert island is over, and this is no Whitehaven, but I'm not complaining. No-one came to pick us up from our hotel, so we left our bags with the information desk and then walked. They delivered the bags about five minutes later. We were at the end of the line of restaurants and hotels, far down the beach, which was a nice quiet spot.

Ko Phi Phi is one of the busiest tourist resorts we've been to so far. There are hundreds and hundreds of bars, restaurants and hotels, and a main street that is packed with Europeans in skimpy outfits. This is something that has been annoying me for a while - it's common courtesy in a foreign country to play by their rules, and if it's considered disrespectful to wear short shorts, tiny vests or to show your tummy then you just don't do it. Go somewhere else if you want to wander round semi-naked, it's not polite to do it here. The fact that the locals are so used to it from tourists doesn't make it right, it just makes it sad that they have to be. (Oh, and the same goes for Malaysia especially if you are in your sixties and insist of wearing a swimsuit in town, along with shorts that are at least three sizes too small. But that's true of anywhere, surely.) Anyway, gripe over. There were a lot of tourists and tourist shops on the main road.

I went for a swim in the sea. I have had baths that got colder than the sea here, and it was rather lovely. We went for a walk on the beach for a while and then went out for a walk in town and out for supper. Lots of stalls sold DVDs and music, as well as the obligatory souveirs. Many of them had televisions and films showing as we walked past,and a bunch of local children gathered round On one of them we saw a band playing and heard the familiar chorus of 'Hotel California' by the Eagles. We have now heard that song, randomly and unplanned in nine out of the eleven countries we have visited so far,and even i the other two we've played Seb's mp3 files.

We eventually found a nice Thai place hidden away and I also bought a bag of rambutan from the market, and then, after supper when it was dark, there was the most wonderful thunderstorm, with lightning bright enough and regular enough to read by, and thunder that shook the ground. It took about an hour for the rain to come, and when it did, the heavens opened and the rain was so loud that it made the ceiling rattle. But I was tucked up in bed and almost asleep by then.