Hey folks! Here's my next update.

I'm currently sat in Hua Hin which is about 230km from Bangkok. Apparetly this is where the King comes to stay on occasion but early indications suggest this is where he comes to see how the other half live!

I left Bangkok with a raging hangover thanks to the Sang Som rum buckets and took a flight down to Ko Samui to escape the madness and meet up with Steve (my friend Warren's brother) and his best mate Terry. The flight was very good with probably the smoothest landing I've ever experienced. Hopefully this was a sign of things to come! I had a room booked in Chaweng so took a mini-bus transfer to the guesthouse and arranged to meet Steve and Terry at 7pm. Steve and Terry have been out in Thailand for almost 6 months bar a 3 week trip to Australia so knew the island like it was their own. We decided to explore Chaweng at night which proved to be everything Lonely Planet had promised and more! Lots of bars and clubs and lots of lovely Thai girls shouting and screaming for your attention! We had several beers and I rolled in (alone!) at 3am.

I swapped hotels the next day for one just along the road which was half the price and equal in size and spec. All going well so far and enjoying Ko Samui. I wandered to the beach and had an hour in the sun before it all got a little sandy and hot for my liking so retired to a nearby bar for some BBC World News and a couple of cold Changs. Steve called and invited me to their local bar's (Bamboo Bar) pool night and suggested a trip to Lamai beach the day after. Good hosts indeed! I'd also had a text and a couple of emails saying how worried people were as they hadn't heard anything from me for a couple of days. Nice to know people are still thinking of me back home. Pool night was great fun and I met the Bamboo Bar's owner, George and lots of interesting ex-pat characters some of whom had retired to Thailand many years ago. I even came fourth out of 16 in the killer pool....no small achievement for those of you who know about my pool abilities. W'd all had a few beers and Terry had been enticed elsewhere by a lady so I crashed at the boy's house for the night. I was woken by Terry coming home at 6am and Steve took me home at 9am to clean up before he picked up the car and we ( 3 boys and two Thai girls, Gin (Steve's girlfriend) and Dang) headed off to explore the island. We visited the Mummified Monk temple which was a little odd as it is simply the body of a highly respected monk sat upright in a glass case with a pair of Ray-Bans on! I was later told this was to stop the gecko's popping out from his eye sockets and scaring the kids! We journeyed on and saw a couple of nice waterfalls and then headed to Lamai beach for some sunbathing where I slapped on the old factor 30 once again. Off home for a change and a shower and we were out again for a visit to Mr Pu's BBQ where you basically have a mini barbeque on your table and cook your own food. Not great given my prowess in the kitchen so I could see potential for some dodgy tummy trouble the day after! It all looked a little dodgy to start with and I wasn't sure what I was eating but I soon got into it and it turned out to be very nice. That was until I went back for seconds and a big cockroach popped out from the lettuce to say hello and my spoonful of rice had a couple of big ants attached to it! I lost my appetite after that! A good experience though and very enjoyable. A couple of quiet beers back in Chaweng and then off for an early night.

I left Chaweng the next day to take the short journey to Bangrak where the boys live.. They met me a t a good little hotel and I was very brave and went for my first fan room instead of air conditioning to help get used to the temperature. It hasn't been below 30 degrees since I arrived! Bangrak has a lovely feel to it with friendly people and a nice pace of life. Friday night is quiz night in the Bamboo Bar so we headed there around 8 where I met my team members. The bar was very busy with 6 teams crammed in and the beer flowing well. We ended up winning the quiz thanks to one of the guy's wives called Eve. She was a very well educated Thai girl who came up with some cracking answers and certainly surprised us. Next day saw a trip to the Angthong National Park which is a lovely collection of 42 islands between the mainland and Ko Samui. I had a great day hiking, kayaking and snorkelling but had to endure an hour long boat trip through a thunderstorm on the way back which saw the whole boat get absolutely drenched. A soggy walk back to the hotel and a welcoming shower saw me ready for a night out at the Viz bar 1 yr anniversary party and then on to Chaweng for more "Hello sexy maaannnn and I come home with you tonight?" attention. It's all good fun but there are so many old, fat Western guys sitting around the bars picking up these lovely young Thai girls that I can't help feeling a little sorry for the girls! Note to self :If it all goes wrong at home there's always Thailand to retire to!!

Greeted by another hangover the next day so a quiet day by the pool followed by all you can eat pizza for 99 Baht (2 quid) at a local bar. Exceptional pizza too so I filled my boots! After lots and lots of deliberation I've decided to leave Ko Samui and head back to the mainland to see some more. The boys and I are headng off on a ferry to Surat Thani tomorrow before travelling on to do a jungle trek in the Khao Sok National Park. That'll be where my next update starts.......

Hope all of you are well at home. I'm flitting between being really homesick and loving the travelling thing but the homesickness is getting less and less frequent. I am helped by some lovely texts coming from home and I even got to talk to my Dad and my daughter on Fathers Day so happy days! Catch you all soon.

Andy