I woke before the alarm around 7.30am to the sound of heavy rain on the tin roof and water plopping into the bucket catching the leaks. 

We get tropical rain here on Phi Phi Island, which tends to be heavy, but in short bursts but this was something different, like an English storm with the chill in the air and the big wind. Locals who have lived here longer than 16 years say they have never experienced anything like it.

I took a walk round the island, as there was no electricity - so nothing else to do. The east side of tonsai bay, where i am, seems to have been the worst hit of the main town area. huge trees have shed giant branches and the locals are busy with machetes hacking them into smaller pieces to cart away.

one thing you'd never see in England is people out int he rain sweeping up the debris, we'd wait till it stopped but at 7.30am everyone was out with their bamboo brooms sweeping up leaves,twigs and water int eh wind.and rain while being fascinated by the wild wet leaves which have splattered themselves over every building.

nothing here seems to be storm waterproof - including the concrete buildings, so even though the damage around the rest of the town is minimal there's still frantic mopping going on.

Bizarre though, that the only place i found a wave on the island was on the less affected Loh Dalum Bay side - big storms on an island, without waves, is something a Cornish girl finds hard to understand.

Midday, it's overcast and breezy but it's like it never happened.