Sunday 16th November 03 After an exhausting journey we arrived at Ko Pha Ngan and decided to head to the North coast to relax for a few days, as recommended by our trusty Lonely Planet Guide! We reached Mae Had Beach and booked into a beach bungalow for 2 nights. Being only 10 metres away from the warm crystal clear seas, we decided to take a well earned swim before we did anything! We decided that we should hire a motor bike as this was the cheapest way to tour the Island. We headed back to the Port of Thong Sala to watch England v France in the Rugby. Having had all of our energy zapped by the previous nights travels we tucked in again for another early night! Monday 17th November 03 Today we woke early and went for a swim at the beach. The rest of the day was spent touring on the motorbike, where we stopped at a waterfall and checked out a few sights! Due to the remoteness of Mae Had Beach, the generator which provides the electricity is rationed between the hours of 6-12pm. This Northern point is very relaxing and quiet with coconut trees lining the white sands, and only a handful of people to match. The weather is approximately 33 degrees and rising, as we begin to enter Thailand's high season. Tuesday 18th November 03 Today we headed to Hat Rin, in the South of the island. This is where the renowned Full Moon Parties are held. Unfortunately, the next party is to be held on the 8th of Dec, and we can't hang around until then! On our arrival we had to walk with our backpacks and the rest of our belonging, along the beach in the heat of the day. Eventually we managed to find accommodation in the form of a hut that was situated right on the beach front away from the tourist spots! The rest of the day was spent taking a well deserved rest on the beach! Wednesday 19th November 03 Today we took the ferry to a larger Island named Koh Samui. As we neared the ferry port we passed a large golden Buddha, which is situated on an Island of its own, overlooking the aptly named Big Buddha beach. We decided to head for the tourist resort named Chaweng, having left the ghost town of Hat Rin, as no full moon parties were on the horizon. Throughout the trip, people have taken time to mention a specific reggae bar that was based near to our accommodation. On hearing such rave reviews, we decided to have a few drinks and check it out. Upon being seated in the bar we met an Australian guy with his Thai girlfriend, with whom we partied hard for the remainder of the evening with the live band in full swing. As the night came to a close it was competition time - so Dan entered himself in for a drinking competition up on the stage with 500 people looking on. The game - not very complicated -consisted of 6 people and 6 bottles of beer and a stop watch - we will leave the rest to your imagination!! P.S. Dan didn't come last but a respectable third!!! Thursday 20th November 03 Today we hired out another motorbike and headed for a couple of rocks that are conveniently shaped in the male and female forms!! (Hin Da Hin Yai - Grandfather & Grandmother Rock) which were interesting to say the least! We spent the remainder of the day travelling the distance of the Island stopping at various beaches on the way. Friday 21st November 03 We set off early today, with Phuket our next destination. Phuket is the largest of the Thai Islands and with this, one of the most expensive. After another 12 hour journey we arrived at Patong beach one of the best and busiest which Phuket has to offer. Saturday 22nd November 03 We woke early with the beach being our first port of call. After a little sunning and swimming we found an English pub to watch the England v Australia Rugby World Cup Final. Despite the result, which was amazing, we had a BBQ prepared for us during the game which was on an eat all you can basis for £1.50 each. This was delicious, especially after a few drinks during the game! Our sleeping arrangements are possibly the worst that we had had to endure to date, as the mattress and pillows can only be compared to breeze blocks - so sleep deprivation has been a little bit of a problem for the past couple of days! Despite the bed, which is only a minor problem, the room is cheap and that is all that counts for us tightly budgeted travellers!! Sunday 23rd November 03 Today we moved beach to Karon beach - about 10 km from our previous base. On our arrival big black clouds began to form in the skies and the remainder of the day it rained! Monday 24th November 03 We took a well deserved trip to the beach and splashed out by hiring a sun lounger for the day! The clouds remained but the sun was still very strong - 'how do we know?' you may ask - well because after 3 hours on the beach we were baked like lobsters!! The evenings here are quiet so we went out for a meal and played cards on our tod for the remainder. Tuesday 25th November 03 Today we woke at 6.30 am for our 7.00 am departure to the Island of Phi Phi Don. After arriving and walking around for a few hours looking for cheap and half decent accommodation, we managed to find a concrete room with 2 mattresses on the floor for just over £5 pounds between us! After dropping off our bags we met Ryan and Wendy again whom we met in Chiang Mai and went out for dinner with them. The evening was spent in a Reggae bar, which has its own Thai boxing ring, getting very drunk and pretending that we knew how to wrestle. The first injury of the trip occurred here, with Dan cutting his foot whilst in full flight in the ring! After this club we headed for a bar called the Hippies Bar at around 2.00 am and sat on the beach watching the stars until we finally hit the sack around 4am. Wednesday 26th November 03 Today Dan woke with a little bit of a hangover after consuming much local whisky and rum the night before (Naughty!!!). After managing to crawl out of bed we decided that we should climb the 347 near vertical steps, in the heat of the day, to the viewpoint. This viewpoint allows you to see 2 bays of Phi Phi Don, back to back, which is an awesome sight! (Trust us!). In the evening we went to a Garlic restaurant and then went back to the Reggae bar to watch live Thai kickboxing (Very fake but very funny!). We then booked a snorkelling trip for tomorrow and called it a night. Thursday 27 November 03 As mentioned above, we booked a trip to go exploring on a long-tail boat (not a very good one - but it was cheap) and ended up in the middle of a crowd getting told to get on a nice big one, that everyone else had paid twice as much as us to get on, so that we were really pleased with that result! We started at Bamboo Island to snorkel - there was lots of tropical fish and all very colourful. Next on the trip was Shark Point, but we didn't see any sharks here! From here we went to Monkey Beach, where we kayaked to the beach and saw the monkeys being hand fed sweet corn - they were very tame! After a spot of lunch we then went to see Maya Beach, famous as being the place where 'The Beach' was filmed. Having to pay an admission fee to walk onto the beach, we decided we would kayak and snorkel instead! On our way back we passed 'Viking Cave' where local Thai people live in the caves - it was an amazing site! After returning, we took a long-tail boat to Long Beach (further South on Phi Phi Don) and checked into a bamboo hut, which wasn't so pleasant but we had tired ourselves out from the days activities and needed somewhere to crash! Friday 28th November 03 We took the ferry to Krabi on the mainland of Thailand and checked into a very nice hostel. After having had a look around Krabi to get our bearings, we went to an Irish bar and met 2 English guys who we spent the evening with swapping stories and playing pool! Saturday 29th November 03 We spent the day looking around the shops and market stalls of Krabi and booked our bus ticket to Kota Bharu in Northern Malaysia - we leave tomorrow. We got chatting to an English guy (Darren) and German guy (Steffan) from our hostel, with whom we spent the evening having dinner and drinks with. The nights entertainment took place in a bar where a local Thai band were playing English and American songs. After a few drinks, Dan decided to join the lead singer on stage and perform to the audience (see photos!). Then during the band's break, both Dan and Darren took to the stage again and performed their own versions of various songs! Everyone was in good spirit and the band especially loved the singing! When the bar finally closed, we moved the drinks outside and chatted with the band until it was very nearly daylight - a great night was had by all! Sunday 30th November 03 Having awoken slightly worse for wear this morning, we decided it would be a good idea to change our bus tickets to Monday (Neither of us could face a 7 hour journey!!). So, not to waste the day we went on a trip to the jungle surrounding Krabi, with Darren, Steffan and 2 German girls (also from our hostel). First stop was the Emerald Pool, which was well worth the 30 minute walk! It's a natural warm pool in the jungle and so-called due to it's colour. After a dip in the pool and being entertained by the local children diving in, we headed to the Hot Springs which reaches temperatures of 40-42 degrees! Situated deep in the jungle, the natural springs are a haven for local families to take their children to wash, but we just enjoyed sitting in it and made the most of it as there are a lack of hot showers in Thai hostels! After a tiring day (!) we had a cat nap, then went to a local bar to watch the Man Utd v Chelsea game. Monday 1st December 03 We left Krabi today at 11am, on our bus trip South to the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu. After several delays, we arrived at 10pm! We booked ourselves into a hostel, which was pretty awful, although our trusty Lonely Planet book promised us it was the best that Kota Bharu had to offer! We then headed out to the local night market at midnight, but we arrived a little too late as most stalls were closing, so we headed off to bed to get some much needed sleep. Tuesday 2nd December 03 We awoke to tropical rain and after trying to dodge the raindrops in between shops (with little success) we bought ourselves ponchos and an umbrella but still managed to get soaked! We were also the source of entertainment for all the Malay locals who thought we looked hilarious! After returning to the hostel dripping wet, we were advised by our hostel manager that the yearly East Coast Monsoon is well under way and this year is effecting the whole of Malaysia and not just the East Coast! So, we have decided to head back up to Thailand to make the most of the sun before we have to head back down through Malaysia for our flight out of Singapore! Wednesday 3rd December 03 We awoke at 5.45am this morning for our trip on the local public bus to the Malay border. After having got through customs we took a mini-van to the city of Hat Yai in Thailand and a further bus to Krabi. We arrived 12 hours later and booked ourselves into a hotel with hot water and a TV - luxury! - but still at a cheap price! After having had a tiring day we caught up on our sleep! Thursday 4th December 03 Today we took the ferry to the island of Ko Lanta. After meeting a beach hut owner on the ferry we decided to check out his accommodation. We arrived to find beach huts practically on the beach and surrounded by coconut trees, and with a clean room and our own bathroom, we decided to stay! For £1.60 a night for the room, who could complain?! We spent the evening in beach bar by our hut and met an English couple - Kerry and Simon - with whom we spent the night having drinks. After moving to another bar along the beach we met 'Mr T' the Thai manager of the bar who drank Sang Som Rum like there was no tomorrow! It was a fun night and we have arranged to meet up with Kerry and Simon in Sydney! Friday 5th December 03 Today was a lazy day after last nights antics. We lazed on the beach for a few hours, then after an afternoon siesta, we had dinner and a quiet night. Saturday 6th December 03 We decided to hire a motorbike today to travel around the island. We drove the entire length of the island and saw all the sights, in between trying to dodge to thousands of pot-holes in the roads - it certainly was an experience! In the evening we drove to the Hip Hop Bar on the beach north of ours - owned by an English girl, Jo, and her Thai boyfriend, who advised us to go to Ko Lanta's festival where they are setting up a stall with food and music to promote their bar. We then rode back to our beach and found another bar having a hip hop party with some Russians who had brought their own music along! Whilst walking back along the beach to our hut, we bumped into Mr T, who asked us to join him and his friends at his bar - so how could we resist?! Sunday 7th December 03 We decided we would keep the motorbike for a couple of days to make the most of seeing the island. We headed to the festival during the day, but when we arrived they were only just setting up their stalls, so we had a quick look around and decided we would come back later in the evening! So this is where we spent our evening, looking at all the various food and market stalls and having a 'few' drinks at the Hip Hop Bar! Monday 8th December 03 We have been advised by Jo that if we wanted a good breakfast to go to 'Mr Beans', so that is what we did today! Run by an Englishman - we ate some of the best food we have had on the trip! While we were there we bumped into Caroline, who Dan lived with last year in Guildford (it's a very small world!), so it was good to catch up with her! We then rode into the island's town where we did a little shopping, but the weather took a turn for the worse and we had to ride back on the motorbike whilst it was pouring with rain - the 6km trip back to our hut was an interesting one with the muddy and pot-hole filled roads, but we managed to get back in one piece! Tuesday 9th December 03 After yesterday's great food at Mr Beans - we went there again today for lunch! We then toured the island on the motorbike, stopping at 2 different beaches along the way. We spent this afternoon updating the website with some more photos! We also booked our tickets to Trang on the mainland as we head back down to Malaysia. Wednesday 10th December 03 We arrived during the late afternoon in Trang and after checking out the delights of the hostels in Trang we opted for a cheap hotel! We found there isn't much to see and do in Trang as it is solely a transport hub, so we booked our bus to Penang, an Island on the West coast of Malaysia, for tomorrow.