Well,

we've been in thailand now for 3 weeks and overall its been great. Oh my God, the food is amazing!! I've been eating like a horse, i just cant stop myself.

Anyway, after we left Malaysia we headed for Trang in southern Thailand, but made a last minute change in the bus station and went to Krabi instead as we thought it might be a bit more touristy and so easier to find somewhere to stay. Glad we did, after travelling all day we eventually turned up at a nice wee guesthouse with a really friendly owner. Went to buy a new camera as Darren dropped our other one on our last night in Malaysia. We found an amazing night market too with great food. Went back every night. We went kayaking around the Karst formations and it was one of the highlights of the trip so far. We went into mangrove forests and caves and were surrounded by monkeys at one stage who'd do anythig for a pineapple husk.

After Krabi, we headed for Ko Lanta. Bit of a drama. Turned up to our room and after we'd checked in with the ladyboy on reception, we went to the room and i checked the bed as i always do, wee insects started coming out of the undersheet!! Well, that was that, i wouldnt stay. It took us about an hour for them to give us our money back but i think they did in the end just to get rid of me. Ended up going to a place that Pojana from the guesthouse in Krabi reccomended. The owner came to pick us up in his 4x4 as the road to the place is unsealed. Well that was a bit of an understatement! There were huge craters in the road. God knows how we would have got there if he hadnt picked us up. When we got there though the setting was beautiful and it was so quiet that we had the beach to ourselves nearly. Again the food was delicious. The rooms looked good but i was sure there were wee beasties living in the walls! I could hear them. Termites i think. And we had a frog that kept trying to get into our room! Despite the mosquito net i was getting bitten alive so we decided to move on to Ko Phi Phi.

First impressions of Ko Phi Phi were a bit mixed. By far the busiest place we had been yet. Loads of people and a younger crowd than anywhere else. And coz we were staying in the cheap part of town it was a wee bit smelly. Dont get me wrong. It's a gorgeous place, beautiful, just a bit too busy for us. On the second day, we went on a snorkelling trip around the island where they filmed that film, 'the Beach'. The weather wasnt great but the scenery was just amazing. We actually walked in on a Bollywood film being filmed too!

We left the nxt day to go back to Krabi (not just for the lovely food on the night market) but also for a rest and we knew the guesthouse would be nice and clean. Just needed a wee rest for a couple of days. Headed all the way across country to go to Ko Pha Ngan and honestly wished we hadnt bothered. Rained the whole time we were there and there were too many beasties in the room for our liking so left the first place we were staying after 2 nights and headed into the pier town. Stumbled across a lovely clean guesthouse with aircon, tv, hot shower and big, soft, sumptious bed! It was great.

Mammoth journey then to Khao Lak, which is where we are now. Lovely place, quite touristy but not too bad yet as season is just about to start. Went exploring the first day and the beach was lovely, accidentally ended up spending the afternoon in a bar on the beach with a sign that said, ' A beer a day keeps the germs away' - had to go in. It has been raining constantly for 3 days but it seems to be clearing up now, thank God. Just in time for our diving trip on the boat to the Similan islands which starts tomorrow.

So we're going for dinner now and an early night as we have to get up early for that. I know its a hard life !

Keep you posted

love Clare and Darren xxx