The boat to Koh Samui took about two hours and once we got there all we had to do was hop on a bus that we had already booked to take us to our accommodation, it was such a novalty having things booked in advance and playing like we are on holiday with the package tourists with their nice smelling clothes and suitcase on wheels, we even met a couple on their honeymoon, yes Damo honeymoon, that thing that happens after your wedding, yes Damo wedding, that thing that happens after you propose.........hehehe :)

Our accommodation was lovely, a really small beach resort with just 6 bungalows and 3 garden suits, very clean and modern, the beach bar is obviously very popular with all the locals and ex pats as it was always busy with lots of people who all knew each other and came on a daily basis for the bars happy hour. We made some good use of the happy hour, lots of beer and cocktails mmmmmm. We found it amusing to watch all the english men with thier thai wives, some well matched, but most were old fat men with beautiful young girls, and then there was the old gay dude, we saw him one night in a restaurant having dinner with two very young, very attractive, and very gay thai boys, we then saw him the next night having drinks at our bar with a new, very young, very attractive and very gay thai boy.......dirty dog!

Our room was massive, we didnt know what to do with ourselves at first, huge living area with a sofa, big telly, table and fridge. Just having a fridge was majourly exciting, it meant we had cold water all the time instead of either hot or luke warm. It was certainly a jump up from he flea ridden, mouldy, old bungalow we had just stayed in, a real treat. The TV, although it had lots of english channels, they were all sports! grrrrr Damo was in his element, golf channel, football channel, rugby channel, they even had a channel showing cycling and triathlons! luckily for me though, they also had a cabinet full of books that were mostly in english, so I managed to get through two whilst we were there. Book swappng is a big thing out here and most guest houses will have shelves full of books people have left, and as long as you leave your old one, you can take a new one, however, finding an english one proves very tricky!

On our first night we just went for a walk to see what was about, there was very little, other than big hotels, a few restaurants and about 10 7elevens! (like our co-op) we were suprised at how un touristy the area we were staying on was, I think we had both imagined that Samui would be built up and touristy everywhere, and a lot of it is, but we managed to find a quieter part of the island. There are a few lady boy bars though, they seem to crop up everywhere, on our first nght we were walking to dinner and I had stopped to get something and left Damo walking on ahead, when he walked past on of the bars he got all the lady boys attention and they were trying to call him into the bar, until they saw me walking behind him, and then they all just broke into laughter and turned away. I think they probably thought there luck was in with some new fresh meat in town who was under the age of 50!

We hired a bike out quite a few times during the week, we went and explored the island, checked out all the main beaches and decided we were on the beast beach, although it doesnt have a patch on our beautiful Koh Lipe, it was quiet and thats what we like :) We love going out on a bike, I guess thats one of the main reasons for coming here, so that we could go off to different places and have days and evenings out, Damo is looking forward to getting me out on his bike at home some more, slightly different from a small scooter to a big ass super bike where I'm practically sat on his shoulders...we will give it a go.

Every sunday our hotel has what they call 'sunday sessions' where they have a bbq and then a number of live music acts, it got really busy and it was a really good night, they even said that Mick Jagger played there once! once we had made the most of happy hour with its two for one Changs and cheap cocktails we got involved in the buffet bbq, a buffet is never a good thing when it comes to me and my man and our eyes bigger than our bellies! Got to get your moneys worth though hey?!

Mui Thai night was really good, we went into the main part of Samui where all the bars and restaurants and everything else is, a huge and busy built up tourist area which is fun to visit for a night. The boxing went on for about 3 hours. We figured it was a spirltual ritual they were doing but with each new pair they had a good 5 minutes of what looked like dancing and prancing around before they faught, that got a bit irritating and people were booing and yelling at them to hurry up. There were a few fights with kids that only weighed like 7 stone and that was a little uncomfortabe to watch, super skinny boys trying to fight. When the big boys came on was when it got really good, I thought I might find it difficults to watch but by the 3rd fight I was screaming with the rest of them wanting to see a knock out and even filming all the action!

We got a boat trip in too, it was the best day, funny though because we went to an island which is right next to Ko Tao...ah well. We went there by speed boat and on the way there it was really choppy and bumpy, even the rolla costa loving Damo was starting to feel a little queezy by the end of the 1 and a half hour ride! It was definatly worth it though, this island is stunning, its just a day trip place so its crawling with people but the big crowds all seem to stick together in one are of the beach, so that worked well for us! They have a view point that we went to see, once we had climbed up what felt like millions of steps we were faced with huge big boulders at the top of this very steep hill, you had to climb up and over the rocks and then stand on the edge of one to get the money shot, this would have been ok if it were just the two of us, but no we were joined by at least 20 others who were all trying to do the same thing, slightly scared for our lives but we got a photo :)

The water there was crystal clear and really calm and there were soooo many fishes, we had some snorkals but you didn't even need them, you could just stand there and they swam up to your legs, big, brightly coloured ones that were obviously not at all afraid of us swimming about. We saw a massive one, at least 2 ft long and bright multi coloured and had huge goggely eyes and a row of pointy teath....didnt wont to get too close to that one. By the time we got home we were pooped, after a whole day of sunbathing and snorkeling.

The weather just about held up for us for our week on Samui, on the first day we woke up to cloud and then there was a huge down pour that lasted a lot longer than we thought it would. Luckily though it cleared up, and although there was a daily cloud over at about midday for an hour, it stayed sunny enough to get some good beach time in, Damo would hide in our AC room when he had enough but I was there like a lizard soaking up every last drop of sunshine before we go home!

On one of the last days we booked in for a massage on the beach, when the lady eventually turned up a good half an hour late there was only one of her so we couldnt go together, which was ok and I had my masage first, it was lovely and relaxing, I chickend out of having the Thai massage but she still managed to lay on my bent back and crack it! By the time I had finished it had just started raining and so the lady had to pack up her things, she told Damo she would be back later, she didnt come back until that afternoon and Damo didnt fancy getting rubbed down in the midday heat so he passed on his. We still got him a massage though that evening, we went into town again to do some shopping in the markets...so much nice stuff, we just need a house to put it all in now! After our post shopping dinner, which was a meat platter for two...with lots and lots of meat, we went to one of the fancy dancy looking spas with the rows of chairs and we both sat down and had an hour long foot, leg and shoulder massage, all for £4 each!

We really enjoyed our stay on Samui, it felt like a proper holiday and it was so nice to finally put down our bags and have a rest! I know you all laugh at us saying we need a holiday whilst on a very long holiday, but its really tiring work all this travellig buisness.....honest :)

Currently on the boat back to the mainland where we will catch the bus back to Bangkok, only another 12 hours to go, it also just so happns to be Sokgran which is Thai new year and also a water festival so we are expecting to get very wet when we arrive on Koh San road this evening! One more stop before we come home!!!

two days :( sad face :) HAPPY FACE!!!!!