So after an uneventful (and our final) boat ride, we're back in Phuket as we'll be flying from here to get to Bangkok. We're staying at a different hotel to last time, it's in a really good location, right near Bhangla Road and the big shopping centre which has lots of resturants. So we're only five minute walk from everything which is handy. Our first night in Phuket we met up with the gingers as we overlapped by one night. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe as a mini goodbye before we all meet up again in Sydney. Not long now until Christmas!

The weather in Phuket has been better than Phi Phi, but still not great. Most days have been overcast or not that sunny so we've used the time wisely and have been shopping! Most of the time it's been window shopping as we're watching the traveller budgets, but there's so many shops and stalls, it's easy to spend a day just wandering around them all. Plus it gives Candy another chance to flex the bartering muscles! A few bargains have been picked up thanks to her skills, which are now well and truly honed. It's a bit cheaper here than in Phi Phi which is good, as they're such a small island they could get away with charging more so it's good we held out.

It's more commercial here, especially with the shopping centre and you have Starbucks and Mcdonalds etc. After Phi Phi it's definately a contrast, we noticed that when we were here before but even more so now we're nearer things.

One thing we haven't experienced in a while that has come back is the good old powercut! It happened twice in our hotel but only for a few seconds so wasn't a big problem, however when we went out the next morning for some breakfast (hotel one isn't great) we found most places had no electricity at all. It was also a rare baking hot sunny day so that meant there was no air con anywhere. In this humdity, air con becomes your best friend! But after an hour or so the power came back on and we were able to have some breakfast - very good timing as we were rather hungry by that point.

Whilst we've been here we've been repeatedly asked if we're from Australia. We do not know why this is. It started with the people on the stalls attempting Australian accents when trying to get our attention, to them then asking 'Australia?' in our faces as we walked past. Thats the thing in Phuket, you get alot of people trying to sell you anything and everything, they can be quite persistent. You get used to it and end up blocking them out really but neither of us could help but notice that we were constantly getting asked. When we say no we're not from Australia we get 'Oh right, from New Zealand?'. One day Candy even had some woman listing all the places in Australia, convinced she must be from one of them. No one seems to believe us when we say no! One evening when we were walking back to our hotel, a man even stopped us and asked 'Are you from Australia?' when Candy said no, he couldn't really believe it. 'Aren't you? I thought you sounded Australian!' when Candy reiterated that we definately weren't, he let it go and carried on walking (after asking us to go to Hollywood Discotheque, which we politely declined) The thing is, he hadn't heard us talking. We'd been walking towards him not saying a word. So how he thought we were Australian we don't know! Maybe he'd heard us around the hotel, we're still not really sure.

Another day, when we were in the hotel lobby making use of the free wifi, a man started talking to Candy. Thats fine you might think, just making conversation. Yes, but he wasn't talking in English. We don't know what language he was talking in. He just started randomly talking like they were in mid conversation. After Candy said to him she didn't have a clue what he was saying, Emma reiterated that we didn't understand what he was saying. He didn't seem to really understand us, he just carried on talking! We eventually just got up and left, we think he was still talking but we're really sure. He may have just been talking to himself the whole time...

Phuket has gone very quickly, and it's been good just mooching around shops and chilling out. We had one good day for weather that we just spent by the pool which was good, the hotel has a roof top pool so you can see all across Phuket. It's a shame we didn't have a few more good weather days as the tans really need topping up! But looks like we're just going to have to be pale and interesting for now. Hopefully we'll get some good weather in Australia to make up for it!

Our final night, we decided to have our feet eaten by some fish. For those of you who don't know, this involves putting your feet into a tank of water with these tiny fish in it, they basically suck on the dead skin on your feet. That's what they're meant to do anyway! We honestly didn't think we would last. The feeling is so strange and at first, is really tickly. It is pretty much like intense pins and needles all over your feet. After a while you do get used to it oddly enough, it is almost enjoyable (well that's what Emma thinks anyway!) After 20 minutes we were told to take our feet out of the tanks, we're not entirely convinced our feet are any smoother but it's one more experience to tick off the list. We should also say, previous to this, we had just gone out for a lovely sushi dinner... perhaps this was the revenge of the fish?

So now we're heading to Bangkok for our last leg of Thailand, and we have another lovely early start - a 4am pick up for the airport. Damn those cheaper early flights...