just had two weeks in the south and it was amazing. so much has happened its difficult to tell which day is which.

we spent a few nights in krabi town as we waited for my parents to arrive in phuket on sunday. on sunday morning we went to phuket nad waited for them to arrive tha evening. howeve, upon arrival at the hotel (which is already 10 times nicer than we are used to with a swimming pool and all) we found out we had been upgraded to a suit. it was AMAZING! there were two bedroom with a fully functional kitchen, which even had an oven (first oven i have seen since coming to thailand) and a living room. witht wo tv's that had movie chanels and everything. it was specacular. however, phuket in general was a bit disspointing. the town, was filled with gogo bars and pole dancers started going at about 9. all the bars looked sleezy and everything was xtremely expensive, (for us poor backpackers anyway) but of course, my paretns were kind enough to pay for all the food and transport which was most appreciated :)

we went on a conoe trip and wondered around a lot. we wnet to one restaurant that took two hours to serve us food. and ith apparently 10 minutes to go we gave up and went to the restaurant next door that served us in 5 minutes.

then on to kho pi pi. i loved this island. there were no roads so no having to get out the way of speeding cars or trying to cross roads. the whole town was one big place that you could walk around in about 30 mins at a rush. everything was very cnetral, apart from our hotel which was actully at the furthest away side of the beach,. we took a snorkelling trip whcihwas brilliant,. went to thebeach that feutures in "The Beach" which was amzing. it was raining at the time and was actually warmer to get in the water so we both swam in the water for about half an hour talking to some isrealy guys who were on our boat. unfortunately it rained a lot fothe time so spent a fair bit of time hiding on the balcony and in restaurants.

then on koh lanta. this was my favourite hotel of all and the first day we arrived it was beatuful. the beach was fantastic. there was also a washed up yacht that fascinated my parents for some strange reason that i just dont understand. on this island we did a cooking course which was so much fun. learnt how to do 5 real thai dishes with ingrediants which are scarcely available in the uk but oh well. and if i may say so myself, it tasted deliciouse :) but after 5 dishes it was impossible to eat so we took some back to the hotle and got them to heat it up for us for dinner. it inspired me to cook but i know that as soon as i get back to my village i will not do any cooking.

and sadly, it rained almost all the time on this island, apart fromthe last day where it was merely cloudy.

overall, i had a fantastic time down south despite all the rain. it was good having my parent there to pay for everything which i am already missing. it was just like a good old summer holiday. but i have returned to backpackerhood now and took a sleepr train up to chaing mai which was an amazing experience. i got such a good nights sleep which is a change from the horrible night busses we usually do long jpourney in. i had my own bed with a curtain and all. i was so happy :) but tonight i'm in ahotel costing me 75p per night. sleep cheap and eat well as my dad always says.

now i'm off to the saturday walking market in chaing rai where i will undoubtedly buy something i can afford. :)