So, after four hours sleep, we woke up just in time for our pick-up, and made our journey to Ko Tao hungover and still covered in sand from the beach party. Feeding said hangovers with chicken burgers at the ferry point we met Greg from SF, and once we arrived in Ko Tao we met up with Steffi from Khao Lak. We stayed at AC Resort, swayed by the pool which turned out to be pretty grim. Luckily we were right on the beach, and spent our first afternoon catching up o...

Finally we left Khao Lak and, after a very long bus journey, another slightly shorter bus journey, and a ferry ride, we reached the absolutely beautiful Ko Samui. We had planned on leaving the next day to go to Ko Tao as our extended stay in Khao Lak put us a bit behind schedule. But as soon as we checked into a sweet little hammock-furnished bungalow and saw Bo Phut beach we decided to stick around an extra day. Had a happy hour pre-dinner drinky at a bamboo hu...

From Krabi town I made my way across to Phuket where I was meeting Brooke, my teacher-friend from Saraburi. Opted to stay in the town and had a wander before she arrived in the evening, and we had a reunion over chips and beer in an 'Irish Pub'. The next day we spent the morning on Kata beach, although got off the songthaew a stop early and walked a good km or so in the scorching sun convinced the beach must be around every next corner. Eventually found it, by th...

After leaving mum and dad to go to the airport, I mini-cramp-vanned to Ko Lanta. The 1.5 hour journey ended up taking over three hours as the driver decided to circle Krabi Town for an hour, reason unknown! Ended up arriving well into the evening so stumbled in the dark through long grass to my beach bungalow on the backpacker beach of Phra Ae. Owing to some dodgy reaction to my malaria tablets/suncream/general scorching heat, my entire body seemed to develop a ...

Week 2: beaches, beaches, and more beaches. Two tuktuks, two buses, and a flight later we arrived in Krabi. A minivan and speedboat ride later we were set ashore amongst the towering linestone cliffs of Railay, and checking into our swish spa villa - hot shower, jacuzzi with t.v., and our very own koi carp in the pond outside our front door. I enjoyed every last bit of luxury knowing I'd be spending the next three months in cheap bamboo bungalows! We spent lazy...