Searching for paradise turned out to be no easy task, after enduring what was a strong candidate for the worst journey we've had, but we found it in the end-and man was it worth it!! We left Koh Samui at 2.30pm, were bundled to the pier and onto a ferry for the 2 hour ride to the mainand. All painless so far. At 9pm we made it to the train station, where we then had to wait 5 and a half for a train due to arrive at 2 am. The train town had nothing open but 2 shops and 2 street vendor cafes, so not a great deal to do in the wait! Train was half an hour late, but that wasn't too bad, as at 2.30 we finaly boarded and got into our air conditioned sleeper compartments. We had high hopes of waking up at 10am at the border town, but it didnt quite work out that way... At 7am, Liz is awoken by a thai train worker prodding her. Here is a transcript of the conversation they then had; MAN: Train not going to Sungai Koluk (border town) LIZ: Sorry? MAN: Train not going to Sungai Koluk LIZ: Why not? MAN: Accident LIZ: OK, so what do we do? MAN: Get off. We found this very helpful, considering the train had stopped at some random little town in the middle of nowhere. We clambered out of our berths to find that all the Thais had somehow, without us hearing a thing, all left the train, leaving only half awake foreigners standing by the tracks scratching their heads. Next thing we know, we're bundled onto a bus to some unknown destination-we just followed the crowds of Thais who had miraculously reappeared. Turned out we were on a bus whose speedometer didn't work and had clocked up a mighty 295000 miles to Hat Yai (sitting on the floor all the way due to lack of seats) where we were to continue by train to the border. Only problem was that our nice comfy air con sleeper transformed into an extremely overcrowded 3rd class wooden slatted bench carriage. Very nice. The journey was not made any more pleasant by all the soldiers by the tracks and gun turrets stationed at every stop to prevent attacks in the mini civil war currently going on (note the foreign office advises strongly against travel to this area!) Eventually we made itm and the border crossing and taxi journey to the port went swiftly and smoothly (which made a very pleasant change.) The journey could've been a lot worse-we could have been on the train in front which derailed, which we only weren't on because it was full!! The fun wasn't over yet though... We hopped aboard our half hour boat to the Perenthians, full of hope for a good nights sleep. However, the first tell tale sign that this would not be the case was when the deck hand was scrambling around in the engine with a torch and screwdriver before we'd even left shore. After many more visits to the engine, we finally arrived 2 hours later. Finally, we're here. We then go to the nearest hotel to get a room, to be told that not only is it booked out, but so is the whole island (it's now 8pm and dark.) Liz uses her intuition to ask if he'll keep our bags whilst we sleep on the beach. In the end, he actually very kindly offers us 2 wooden benches beside his reception desk, and use of their outdoor toilet and shower. Extremely grateful for such hospitality, we whipped out our sleeping bags and set up camp. After yet another sleepless night which I'm sure was good for our backs, we got first pick of the available rooms next morning. When we walked down to the beach in the morning, we would both very much say that the journey was worth (almost) every minute. Since then, we've lived in paradise: white sands, the clearest and warmest blue seas you could ever imagine and no developments higher than a palm tree. Did we mention that there were no roads? So peace and quiet was the order of the day, a world away from Koh Samui. Did more diving and soaked up some rays (sometimes too many rays!), (though Liz is still very much lagging behind) and generaly lived out a fantastic few days. We swam with turtles and sharks on our dives, and also did a wreck dive, where we came across a huge school of pufferfish, and had to wait for them to swim past before we could continue! Unfortunately we had to leave there and we did so this morning. We're currently in Hat Yai, after a much more uneventful journey. We fly to Bangkok tomorrow morning, where we plan to get me a tailor made suit and go back to the weekend market. Then, we'll head to Kanchanaburi (bridge on river kwai and erawan falls) for a couple days, since we missed it on the way down. Then on wednesday morning, we'll be flying back home to all you people. So until then, it's goodbye from both of us. Will hopefully squeeze in one more update before coming home.