I hate Thailand! First of all a mystery bite and a trip to hospital (on my birthday), an irritating cough that took two doses of antibiotics and over two months to clear and I killed my camera by falling into the sea. I wouldn't mind but I wasn't even drunk.

Apart from that everything was just fine!

We arrived the day before the King's 80th birthday so total choas. There were people, cars and tuk tuk's everywhere. The weirdest thing was that everyone was wearing yellow. Apparently this is one of the King's favourite colours. The 45 minute drive from the airport to our hostel took over three hours.

We spent a few days exploring the city and getting down with the vibe of Khao San Road. Fearing that we might start growing a beard and letting our hair grow long we headed south to the Islands.

The first stop was Phi Phi. Not quite my idea of paradise but a good place to start looking for it! One of the English bars was for sale. Very tempting at 9 million baht.

Christmas was spent on Lanta. Xmas day itself was very quiet. We hired some mopeds and toured the island. Lunch was a bowl of fried rice with squid.