All is forgiven Thailand! After the horrors of Koh Pagnan, we finally discovered that all the beautiful beaches were hiding on theWest coast. I'm talking picture perfect; powdery white sand, crystal clear blue sea, amazing sunsets & towering limestone mountains sitting like bookends on either side of the beach, creating the perfect horizon! Phi Phi was our first stop & we totally lucked out with the weather & had glorious sunshine the whole time, which was perfect considering its meant to be monsoon season! The only problem with Phi Phi (as with most places in Thai ) is that is it a victim of its own success, Hollywood doesnt lie, its so beautiful that every f***er & his wife wants to see 'The Beach'; so the place is a wierd mix of package holiday tourists, travellers, backpackers, flashpackers, gap years, retirees & of course the evil bucket kids! Nowhere is safe anymore! Thankfully, in Phi Phi, the Thais have come up with asome interesting ways to eliminate the bucket kids - firstly by selling Garden Size buckets, then encouraging them to beat the s*** out of each other in a purpose built Thai boxing ring (in exchange for a free bucket of course) if that doesn't work then its time to burn them alive with Fire Limbo & the Flaming Skipping Rope! We had so much fun watching them burn!

After a few days of fighting for a spot on the beach (i hate to see what its like in high season) we realised it was time to escape the crowds & took the ferry over to Railay, an amazing peninsular on the coast of Krabi. Soooo much more beautiful than Phi Phi & quiet, at last somewhere the bucket kids havent yet invaded, in fact, the only people who have discovered Railay appear to be honeymooners & hippies (i'd like to think I belong to the latter group). Gorgeous place. It's only accessible by boat so there are no cars & the resort is completey boxed in by limestone cliffs, which makes it feel like a secluded island (even though its on the mainland) and also makes for some dramatic sunsets!

Sadly, we had to leave Rustic Railay as we are coming towards the last few weeks of our trip & heading down to Malaysia for the final countdown. Today we hired a Bike & spent our last day in Thailand chasing waterfalls in the national park. We also visited Tiger Cave Temple where I becme a a victim of Monkey Theft for the second time on this trip & I also bore witness to a Nun firing a Catapult! Only in Thailand.

I think I'm gonna miss this place! But alas its time to move on. Tomorrow we head to the Perenthian Islands in Malaysia to see out our final days on yet another beach. Life really is tough!