After leaving ko tao we headed over to krabi province on the west coast, and suddenly realiseing that our thai visa would run out in about 10 days we knew that we'd have to step things up a gear slightly, but only very slightly, still just been chilling on beaches we've just hopped from island to island a bit faster.

At the end of my last blog i said that i was tierd and it was just as well 'cause that night we had to get a night boat to the mainland, and just like the night bus we took in laos it was very cramped but this time instead of being force to lie next to 2 brits our age i was lying rather closer than i'd hope to a 50 year old sweedish sex tourist and his thai 'friend'. I simply put in my headphones and started to drift off to sleep, only to hear chris start up a conversation asking the man why he was going to phuket and what there is to do there (phuket is the sex tourist and sex change capital of asia), the man definitly looked awkward.

Anyway after the boat and some busses and then another boat we ended up on railey, not technically an island but because of huge cliffs making it inaccesable by road boats are the only way to get there. Railey is a strange place with the east beach being covered in mangrove trees so you cant swim in the sea and then just 5 minutes walk away there is the west beach of glorious sand, this means that the west coast has high scale resorts and the east is exclusively backpacker. The main attraction of Railey that sets it apart is the beautiful limestone cliffs all around, and over 600 common climb routes, i thought i'd give it a shot. I was joined in my group by a guide and a adrenaline fuelled middle aged australian couple who clearly eat cliffs like this for breakfast but they were helpful and taught me some good technique, this being my first real climbing experience it was hard work and i left slightly cut up and very sore but it's been one of my favorite experiences so far.

Most of the west coast of thailand is at the moment in the very end of the season as its ridiculously hot and the monsoon rains are due to be starting soon, this meant that the night life on railey was relaxed and casual just drinking in outside bars surrounded by cliffs, so our next destination was a bit of a change, we went to the famous island of ko phi phi which was more empty than it would have been a few week ago was still absolutly packed with backpackers (lots of sweedish). Phi phi was one of the wost hit islands by the tsunami but the tourist dollar has still kept coming and rebuilding has been swift and rutheless, we went up to the top of the 'viewpoint' a 186 meter high point that really tests your stair stamina but the view is awesome, and at the top there is pictures of the same view from 10/12 years ago where it was unspoilt with just a few bungalows, then pictures from just before the tsunami with the mass of buildings and then the complete destruction after the wave, then you look at it now and its just the same with even more buildings.

Anyway in ko phi phi the main bar at night is called the reggae bar and who ever owns it definitly knows his target audience, on various nights there are wet t-shirt competions on the top (dance) floor and everynight on the ground floor there is a muay thai ring where drunken westeners can fight each other for free alchohol, very amusing to watch.

while on ko phi phi one night it rained.........for the first time on our trip, but it was some serious monsoon style rain, sorry just thought i'd mention it whilst i know you've been having snow and hail back home.

on a day trip from phi phi we went a near by island which is national park and so you cant build on it, this is the setting for the famous film 'the beach', it was impressive but slightly overrated but me and chris ended up playing football with thais and farang (westeners)..........its not everyday you get to play football on a film set.

We are now on ko lanta, which is nice and quiet and because of the lack of huge numbers of people we are staying in the equivilant of a resort with a swimming pool and they even gave us little bottles of shampoo in our room, no mint on the pillow :(, for just over 2 pound a night, it has rained 2 of the 3 nights we've been here but it just means we've stayed under sheltered bars and met some really cool people, apparantly in another week or 2 the weather starts to get too bad and most places close so we leave tommorow for malaysia and then to singapore and new zealand in about 12 days.

will write again soon, before nz and try and sum up our experiences in asia no easy task.