The Little Fuckers Ripped Into My Bag!

I got time to do one sea kayaking trip on Phi Phi it was just a shame the kayak was crap, the paddle was worse and I didn't have more time to do the second one. Nevertheless after a typically lazy Phi Phi morning (if my memory serves me correctly I got shitfaced at the "full moon" party with the London Ladies the night before) and haggling unsuccessfully over the price of a longboat to Ton Sai, I set out to walk to the main beach. A kayak vendor happily referred me to a guy renting single seaters (most of them were doubles)in the other bay. After a long walk I still couldn't find him so I had to settle on a double. No matter me thinks, I'm a hardy paddler. Unfortunately a hardy paddler needs a hardy paddle, I had something with about as much grunt as a Hyundai Excel.

Nevertheless I cruised out of the bay, around the rugged headland and on to the first beach. What a suprise when I was in for when I beached the kayak and realised I'd washed up on Monkey Beach. There were monkeys everywhere. That was when I discovered that with all the provisions I'd bought I'd forgotten film. I got two happy snaps of our simian friends and was left to watch them for an hour or so. The couple who operate the monkey feeding stall had actually only returned to the spot three days ago for the first time since Boxing Day.

Later when I tired a little of the monkeys I headed out into the water to see if I could spot any fish. My gear was carefully packed into a dry bag, then my backpack before being wrapped in a garbage bag so it was with some suprise when I surfaced to find two cheeky little monkeys ripping through the garbage bag and struggling with the zippers. The monkey food vendor chased them off but a lesson was learnt.

I spent the rest of the afternoon crossing the channel between two main headlands - hard work and a long paddle but I was finally rewarded with my own empty beach where I kicked back until I regained enough strength to head back.

It's quite an experience paddling in southern Thailand when you pull up close to towering karst cliffs that rise dramatically out of the ocean to heights of a hundred metres or more. To be able to paddle through small seaworn gaps in these cliffs is exhilirating.