We headed down South from Kanchanaburi on an over-night bus and after arriving in Phuket town, headed straight to Patong, one of the main beach towns on the island. We arrived in Phuket the day before Thai New Year (a celebration that lasts two days and is pretty much just a massive water fight) and the warm-up to the big event waas already under way with people squirting us with water guns as we looked for a hotel. our first night was quite quiet, although i did end up getting a temporary post sitting in the back of a truck that was advertising "Rock City" (a bar on the beach) and throwng flyers at people on the way past which was awesome.

We left our hotel the following morning, the first day of Thai New Year, expecting it to be about the same as the day before - a few young boys and tourists running around with water guns. However, it turned out that practically the entire population of the town lining the streets, driving around in open-back trucks or running up and down the roads, every one armed with water guns, hoses or buckets full of water. It was impossible not to get completely drenched after setting foot outside and everyone was fair game, from little children, old men and women, people in wheelchairs and the police. The best thing was that everyone seemed up for it and no one got upset or angry at beingshot in the face with a super-soaker. I ended up spending most of the day outside a bar on the main streetand taking part in commando-style missions against the Irish bar opposite before being completely soaked in the retaliation, where as Joanne was picked up and dumped in a massive bucket. The carnage got even worse at night with even more people prowling the streets. I ended up at the same spot with my commrades from earlier while Joanne turned traitor and ended up standing outside Scruffy Murphy's, our bitter rivals. The chaos continued the next day and two elephants were brought in to squirt water at everyone. The whole thing was so good natured and friendly, although i did get one of my many water guns confiscated after I shot a security officer in the back of the head (accidently of course.)

After the two days of celebration the town tuned back to normal so we spent most of our time at the beach. The day before we left we went on a tour of Phang Nga bay which was absolutely amazing. After a stop at Sawankuha Temple, which is built in a massive cavewe took a longtail boat around the bay. We stopped for lunch at Periyar, a Muslim fishing village. The entire village is bulit in the middle of the bay on stilts - dont know the need for it but looks pretty sweet. After lunch we had another stop on James Bond Island (named after being used in 'a man with a golden gun.') The island is absolutely tiny but totally stunning, although all our guide seemed interested in was "famous movie star legend Roger Moore." We explored the island before heading off to another part of the bay where we got to do some sea canoeing through caves that you had to lie down to stop being whacked on the head by a staligmite (or whatever one it is that goes down.) When we got back home we booked the boat over to Phi Phi for the next day, our last major stop in Thailand.

James