The Thai islands have a completely different feel to the mainland and they presented us both with the perfect opportunity to sit back, relax and soak up some much needed rays.

The first island that we visited was Ko Tao which is just north of Ko Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand. From Bangkok, we partook in another long coach journey south to a coastal town called Don Sak, where we boarded a ferry taking us to Ko Tao (2 hours). Upon our arrival, we were bombarded by a barrage of taxi drivers and woman trying to sell us accommodation, it was like we were celebrities being attacked by the press at an awards ceremony or something! But we walked a little away from the pier and started to trudge our way towards Sai Ree Bay only to realise that it was a lot further than we originally thought, so we gave in and got a taxi the rest of the way. We were dumped off at Sai Ree on this beautiful, long, golden sand beach with seemingly thousands of beach huts littered along the waterfront. This was the place to be. The only problem was that we hadn't found any accommodation yet and the blistering heat was only adding to the sweat accumulated from the journey and the heavy backpacks we were carrying.

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In fact there was this one lady who couldn't take no as an answer, so she followed us all the way along the pier until she finally got the message. If I ever hear "Where you going?" again I may shoot that person, so be warned! We eventually got a taxi from the pier to Haad Rin, the place we stayed at for the duration. It was a very bumpy and windy roaded journey not made any better by the fact that our taxi was just a pick up truck in which we sat in the boot. Once we were there in Haad Rin Nai we immediately found the place