"I love sleeping on a bus" - yes Stacey has just said these words to me just as I got the iPad out to update the valley fraternity on our travels since leaving Oz. We have had the pleasure of visiting a number of both manmade and natural wonders of the world yet here we are about to embark on a 7 hour bus journey to our next destination of Hat Yai in Southern Thailand and the excitement on Stacey's face of being able to recline in her seat and sleep on a bus simply knows no boundaries!

Not that I can speak either really because the joy I got just last night at going 45-36 up in monopoly cards whilst sitting in a blues bar in the 'old town' part of Phuket that houses a million Chinese lanterns all glowing and lighting the old streets up due to the recent Chinese New Year was just brilliant. It was also buy 2 get 1 free on Tiger beers, the gods were smiling upon me.

After Oz we had flew back to KL for a fleeting 2 night stop, where we'd arrived at our hotel at precisely 11.55pm, a full 5 minutes before the start of Chelsea vs United and once again it was the 'little things in life', especially after the result!! We therefore had 1 full day in KL where we again gawped at how cheap the food is (seriously a Big Mac meal is £1.50, wrong we know but we find this the easiest comparison to make to home), before we were to fly to Krabi and jump on a boat to the island of Koh Lanta. Here we hired a moped for the 5 days and scoured the island in search of the best bars, beaches and monkeys in the national park. Walshy even drove the moped for a full 10 minutes before making me take the handlebars to turn a corner. Also after 1 monkey had branded his teeth to Stacey and gone for her ankle whilst we drove past, her obsession with these primates was coming to an end - however, she then got to cuddle a gibbon in Koh Phi Phi and all was forgiven as she remembered that it was the friendly gibbon type of primate she loved back in Vietnam.

So as mentioned we then visited Koh Phi Phi for 3 nights and although the town is very quirky with winding tiny streets and no vehicles due to there not being any roads; it was probably 1 night too many as the place is also a party island for what seemed to be young southern cockney muppets and the ever blatantly ignorant Is*****s who really wind me up in the way they treat the Thai people (manners cost nothing you *****). Although we did find our favourite chilled out, literally lying down on cushions bar next to the beach watching the hundreds of colourful long tail boats come in.

Next though the craziness would step up a notch to maybe even the highest notch possible in the form of Patong, Phuket. This place is somethin else and on a different level altogether. With crowds from all over the world and age ranges from kids to grannies, Patong and in particular Bangla Road, has it all - outlandish transvestites, go go girls, sex shows, bars, bars, bars, ping pong (no not table tennis), massage parlours, buckets, booze and cocktails but strangely enough it all somehow works and draws you in. Coincide it with a nearby huge western shopping mall complete with cinema (where we saw the tremendous film 'Wolf of Wall Street) and Patong had officially drawn us in and got us very drunk!

I must admit though that I can't leave this blog without telling you about 1 more of Stacey's 'little things in life', and I don't mean her love for Thai massages but the fact that I got the accommodation booking wrong! Yes upon arrival at our guesthouse I had booked the wrong dates for our nights in Patong and they were now full - and if you have read the previous blogs, I bet you can just imagine the laughter this brought to Stacey's face!!

What comes around I guess, what comes around.

So next up is Hat Yai before we need to cross the border to Malaysia and Penang for a flight back up to Bangkok to sort the legalities for the wedding and to also greet our visitors from the valley in the form of Walshy's cousin Callum (who's finally going to make the leap of faith - if he doesn't bottle it) and his mates before even more visitors fly in, in the form of Stacey's mate 'Little Jo' (no seriously she's tiny) and her friends. We're looking forward to seeing them all and the Thai madness that will no doubt ensue.