Well, we made it to Koh Samui but I have to say, it was a close call! We left the world's worst guesthouse on Friday morning - to our absolute horror they attempted to charge us an extra 400 baht for the privilege of having the extra mattresses in our room. We refused to pay, and demanded to see the manager rather than take it out on the girl on reception who, to her credit, had tried to help us with our assortment of issues. She got very upset and told us the owner was sleeping and she couldn't wake her up or she'd get in trouble. Despite our very strong feelings that we shouldn't have to pay extra considering the horrors we'd had to put up with, we eventually coughed up when we realised that if we didn't pay it, she would probably have to, and in the grand scheme of things, 400 baht is not much to us, whereas it might well be to her. So needless to say we were not in the best of moods as we walked away, and my spirits sank yet lower when we stopped for breakfast and my bag fell off my shoulder - one of the all-important shoulder straps had just snapped. Its the strap I always use to put my bag on, so its probably had more wear than the other, and I don't suppose its flying leap from the top of a van in Chiang Mai helped, but even so, it only needed to last another 2 weeks - it made it through the last 5 and a half months, could it not have gone another fortnight?!? So ok, the day was not going well at all, and it was only 11am. Time to get off Koh Pha-Ngan and put these nightmares behind us! As we waited for the ferry, along with around 500 other revellers, Sarah looked up at the cloudy sky and commented "what we really need is a good rainstorm, to chase these clouds away". Oh, how those words would come back to haunt us. When it arrived, the ferry was worryingly tiny compared to the number of people waiting. No matter I thought, we're near the front so we'll definitely get on. Turns out everyone will get on - no one over here really cares about maximum passenger capacity, so why not just keep cramming the people on til the boat can hardly move?!? Every single square inch of the deck was covered, people were sitting on their bags because there wasn't enough room to sit next to them. Sarah and I got seats, but they turned out to be as much of a curse as a blessing. Because no sooner had we left Koh Pha-Ngan than the rain started. I had thought we'd be safe as we were under cover, but the gale force winds were bringing the rain in horizontally, so within minutes both us and our entire belongings were soaked through. The wind and the rain continued for the entire 45 minute journey, and at times it was terrifying. My usual fears of feeling seasick were replaced with fears for my life - Sarah sat next to me whispering "we're going to die" and the people on the other side of the boat (who were about 6 inches away from the water every time the boat lurched forward) screamed every time we hit a wave. Not that I blame them. It was truly the most unpleasant journey I can think of - not a life jacket in sight. When Samui finally came into view there were more than a few sighs of relief, although my heart didn't get back to its normal rhythm for quite some time. As we got off the boat we had to walk along the most rickety jetty I have ever seen - random bits of wood that looked like they would rot away under your feet and massive gaps between them. My flip flops are lethal in the wet, and I was having to carry my bag in my arms as my strap was broken, so I made very slow progress until an absolute angel came into my life and offered a hand. I could have cried with gratitude. We jumped in the first taxi we saw despite the exorbitant price tag to get to Chaweng and breathed easily for the first time all morning. And for once, things worked out ok for us. We arrived at a guesthouse that was recommended to us by friends, and it was lovely. It was half the price of the place we'd been planning to stay originally, and it was a big room with a spotless, cockroach-free bathroom, air conditioning and even a fridge. Even the fact that we had to wait about an hour for it to be cleaned couldn't dampen our spirits - at least this meant that it was clean!! And not only was it a big room, but it had a lot of space for hanging things - handy when both of our backpacks had to be completely emptied and the entire contents strewn around the room to dry. Our room looks like a chinese laundry, but very few things got ruined, and everything is dry now so it all turned out ok! After quite so much drama, we were both exhausted, it felt like the longest day in the world. So we had a nice restful afternoon, before meeting up with Sarah's brother David and his girlfriend Lisa. They are staying in a (very nice) resort just up the beach from us, so we met up and went for a drink and a natter, and arranged to meet for dinner later. Which we did, and had a very entertaining night out - Dave had been to Thailand before so was able to take us to all his old haunts. And we've stuck to the plan of meeting for dinner - last night we played crazy golf then sat drinking sangria on the beach, and tonight we're hoping to find a restaurant where we can actually eat on the beach - very decadent, I know! Our days so far have been spent lying on the beach and taking the occasional dip in the pool - we did try a bit of shopping today but I didn't manage to buy anything, very disappointing! We're thinking of taking a trip over to the marine park tomorrow, and that will be our time on Samui over, its gone so quickly! Despite the dramas involved in getting here we're having a brilliant time - its been great to get together with Dave and Lisa and Samui is not like we expected at all - in fact, its much nicer!