Hello again!

Darren and Kerry here again to update you on our current adventures, finally having left Bangkok over a week ago now! Feels SO good to be away from that place at last.

On the day we last updated you we left Bangkok in the evening and headed for the busy train station. We borded the train at around 7:30p.m. and made the incredibly slow journey to Chumphon, which took around 8 hours! Fortunately our seats on the train could be turned into bunk beds so we got a few hours kip. The journey wasn't too bad in the end as we read our books and watched an incredible electrical storm in the distance as we rumbled along the track. Once we arrived at Chumphon we waited around for a while before being picked up and taken to the ferry terminal where we borded the boat and set off for Koh Tao. Just before leaving the ferry port, two of the boat workers had a punch up on the deck of the boat which was rather random!

We arrived in Koh Tao at around 9:30 a.m. and were immediately met at the pier by our friends Pegah and Maria, who we met on Khao San road. It was great to see them again and they followed our taxi back to our accommodation at the other end of the island at Sairee Beach. We checked in at our Bungalow and then headed off with the girls and rented out a motorbike to get around on as they are really cheap to rent. We set off on a ride around the island and found a little bay to do some sunbathing on and some catching up with Pegah and Maria. In the evening we hooked up with Frodo, our diving instructor from Oz and also the girls. We ended up going down to one of the funky bars on the beach and getting pretty drunk!

The following day we decided to have a more behaved day and went for dinner with the girls and then heading over to a cafe to watch a movie on their flat screen whilst enjoying cakes from their bakery. We also booked into the same accommodation resort as Pegah and Maria as the bathrooms were much nicer there than the ones in our place. The following morning we said goodbye to them as they are heading off to Chang Mai in the North of the mainland but there is a possibility of meeting up again with Pegah again in a few weeks time.

On Saturday the 1st September we went for our first lot of diving on the island with Frodo's company Scuba Junction. We did two deep dives and saw some pretty cool stuff including a huge and rather territorial Titan Triggerfish, which I accidentally swam a little close to! In the afternoon we did some more sunbathing and then had to go and get some ear drops for Kerry as her ears were playing her up.

The following day (2nd September) we did our next two dives, the first at Chumphon Pinnacle and the second at Hin Pi Wee. On our first dive we saw a couple of pretty large Grey Reef Sharks, which were really awesome, and on the second dive we got to see a Jenkins Stingray, a banded sea snake and some really colourful coral. We were much happier with this days diving. In the afternoon I felt really unwell so I spent the evening in bed while Kerry went out to watch the football with Frodo and some of the other dive crew. The following morning I felt much better thankfully.

The other highlight since we have been here was on Monday 3rd September, we went for dinner with Frodo at an Indian Restaurant and then headed over to the islands' stadium where we watched 8 Muay Thai Kick Boxing matches. It was an incredible evening and the fighting was pretty intense. The best two matches were girl matches with the very last match of the evening being between a rather muscly young girl and an older woman who looked twice as heavy as the younger girl. Surprisingly the younger girl ended the match in the first round with a rather brutal punch which knocked the bigger girl straight out!

The rest of our time here has been spent sunbathing, chilling out in the evening watching movies at the restaurants and riding around on our rented motorbike. There's a nice chilled out atmosphere on this island so we are thinking about staying here for a few more days and then heading on to Koh Phan Ngan, which we've heard is more of a party island so we won't be staying there long.

We shall update you all again before we leave Koh Phan Ngan in a few more days as we then head back to Bangkok and then on to Cambodia!

Take care and speak to you all soon!