And it comes to my turn to write the account of Dan and Rhan’s big adventure, I write this on our little netbook on the veranda of our forest hut in Khoa Sok National Park (4.00pm on the 16th October). Us coming here was a bit of a last minute decision after spending two nights on Kata beach in the Phuket province which I’m sure neither of us will say was out favourite destination. A bit too touristy, with hotel, bar, hotel, bar going all the way along the beach with far too many Brits abroad and sleezy old men coming to Thailand for a good time in inverted commas. However worth a visit as the waters were crystal clear and warm! Not forgetting the amazing sun sets as you can see on the pictures. So back to what brought us here, not much to it really we were on a bus from Phuket to Surat Thani to catch the boat across to Ko Tao, after having a wee look through the guide book on the bus we thought we’d jump off and head into the jungle. I was thinking forest, pants, survival handbook and knife and just see what happens however Rhiannon was thinking Elephants, as you can see both good reasons to stop!

After jumping off the bus and a bit of deciding where to go we went with a friendly women and a hostel called Nung House, a great quite place where the loudest noises around are those coming from the Jungle (just my kind of place). We woke the next day (16th) with a lovely breakfast and then it was off for jungle trekking but with a difference as we were strapped to an Elephant, anyone who knows Rhiannon will know all about it when I say I struggled to contain her excitement, she had already managed to name every gekko, bug and spider in the jungle. It was a brilliant experience and who would of thought an elephant could climb up a river with two people strapped to its back, by the way the elephant was called Squeaky (Rhiannon’s choice, the elephant didn’t have a say in it! Ha). After a few hours trekking and visiting a few waterfalls we headed back for a wee bit of Thai Cuisine (very good) and then headed out on the river for an afternoon of lazly tubing our way down a river, a great way to see the area, but don’t be fooled the river was alive with fish who would take the odd bite out of your toes, Rhiannon says they were small but I’m sticking to my guns and going with those more rare river sharks!

Next stop Ko Tao for a few days of diving, can’t wait I’m sure it’ll beat a swimming pool in Whitley Bay!