Major apologies for not writing again sooner, but the internet price on the islands has been rather extortionate...2 baht/min - 1.50pound an hour!

Right, the night after our last entry we went to play pool in a bar in Kanch with two seemingly normal women (it wasn't until later we realised that they were actually prostitutes...)! The following day we bode farewell to our legendary tour group of Alan and Ann - The Ozziess, Will - the posh public schoolboy and Noi our hero tour guide. We all went out for a nice meal and then sat on the streets drinking cocktails all night... as you do in Bangkok! The next day we had our second attempt at conquering MBK, the 8 storey shopping centre. We had a scrumptous lunch at Maccy D's and trekked through all MBK had to offer - a true Asia shopping experience! That evening we embarked upon our journey to Ko Tao, an island on the east coast. Now this would be a simple journey, it would seem; merely hopping on a bus and then getting the connecting boat across the water. However nothing is so simple in Thailand...

It all started when we were sent on a wild goose chase, led by a 'Manuel-type' character who thought it best to take us on a guided tour of Khoasan road with our 25kg backpacks on in the blistering heat. Naturally this was not received too well by us and the fat Canadian girl in Manuel's flock. This was exacerbated when, after 10mins of walking, we passed the very hotel we started at, rendering Manuel useless. The scene was set! We finally made ourselves comfortable on the bus, and after moving 6.5metres in 40mins the bus was evacuated as "bus no work engine". After moving buses we were finally on our way - being chucked around by the idiot Manuel at the wheel. Jamie, a man who has never got motion sickness in his life actually thought he'd be sick! We were dropped off at 5am in a chicken filled shanty town (port) to catch the boat, finally arriving in Koa Toa to our quaint beach bungalow a few hours later. Dan started his diving course with his Jasper Carrot like instructor whilst Jamie had a major cotch on the beach and searched and peeled coconuts.

Over the next couple of days, Dan spent most of his time completing his dive course, just about coping with Jasper Carrot and an exceptionally annoying (typically American) female instructor. Jamie dived the next morning with a lively chappy also by the name of Dan. He was so lively and chappy in fact that they hired quad bikes together that afternoon, conquering sheer drops and terrential off road conditions. An English rally driver that Jamie met the next day thought they were f***ing mad doing it and said it was the worst off road conditions he'd ever seen!!! That evening, Jamie scared the s*** out of Dan on the bike whilst driving to Sairee Hut, another beach town along the coast. Jamie's choice of restaurant on the beach seemed appetising enough, yet Dan stormed out after his burger tasted like a wood sandwich with a sprinkling of wood.  

The next day Jamie arose early and biked his way up the coast where he found an amazing secluded beach to have a nice cotch on for a few hours before reluctantly giving the quad bike back to the shop. Dan completed his dive course on Wed (9/05) after surviving the previous nights hench flying bug hunt that caused some chaos in our room! That afternoon we boarded the boat to Ko Pha Ngan, just south of Ko Toa.  We were met by an array of songthaw which charge extortionate prices to take you to destinations you don't want to go. We ended up in a suprisingly nice beach bungalow on the outskirts of town, and after a quick nap we prepared for the half-moon party! Alongise Emma and Vicky (two nurses from Essex) we went to an acquarium which actually turned out to be a seafood restaurant. Jamie ate Barracuda - Dan actually tasted and.... LIKED! Half moon was amazing... drinking 'f***ing good buckets' all night in the Thai jungle. We called it a night at 5.30am (Dan's still recovering to this day), not quite making the 10am finish - lightweights!

The next day, we decided to move closer to the busling tourist centre at Pha Ngan. We trekked 15mins with our bags to the main road with our bags and sat on the edge of the road like hobos waiting for an unlikely songthaw - proper backpacking! After walking through the town, we found a hotel that satisfied our criteria of TV with spurs game and hot water. We got up at 2am to watch spurs dismally draw against Blackburn, before awaking the next morning to have a little sunbathe before it decided to rain, quashing any opportunity to fry our bodies. That evening we bumped into Mark Driver (bre from primary school)... Random!! Cotched with him and his mates all night and had a sick little rave on the beach, again on the infamous buckets!

Friday the 11th May finally allowed us to get to a beach in heavenly head and picture-perfect views! We hired a jetski, which was amazing! Dan showed why he should never have got into Cambridge when asking the Thai bre where the brake for the jetski was!The idiot even had the cheek to be unimpressed with Jamie's erratic driving! Although Dan did drive like a sick head, almost throwing Jamie into the sea on several occasions! That evening we headed down to the beach agaion for a rave. One of tonights featured events was a skipping rope drenched in petrol and then lit. Obviously Jamie had to have a go, lasting a reasonable number of skips before his trousers became undone and the rope ended up between his legs! Great night! Jamie got stalked by 4 Thai girls on the way home - what is it about Thai gash and Jamie!!!???

The next morning was incredibly random... at 7am we awoke to a strange lady standing in our room! We were quite suprised at this and we certainly let her know! After she said "I'm looking for my friend" and even had the audacity to use Dan's towel to wipe her face we politely told her to "get the f*** out of our room!" and shoved her out the room in shock! A very surreal experience... After lunch the monsoon storms opended and so we opted to go to the beach and play paddle bats. Now this was a seriously hench storm - a bit like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean. After a breathtaking display of sporting brilliance, we decided to head back to the hotel via the streets turned rivers of Pha Ngan. Tomorrow we are off to a paradise island on the West coast called Ko Phi Phi and then onto Phuket where we are flying to Kuala Lumpur on the 17th May. Will write again from there or Singapore!