From Bangkok I managed to get a taxi into Khao San Rd, the main backpacker centre in the city, with the aim of finding a particular travel agent in order to get a bus to Surat Thani in the south. This exercise signalled the end of my trust in my guidebook (only published in March 08) as the didn't exist! I eventually decided to instead use the public bus system and got another taxi to the Southern bus terminal and got picked up a nice cheap overnight bus, which arrived in Surat Thani at around 3am. Here I was met with a multitude of taxi drivers and I eventually picked one. On seeing his unmarked 'taxi' though I would have changed my mind but all the other drivers had mysteriously disappeared. So, against my better judgement, I got in and we raced through the town at about 120kph with dodgy Asian pop music at full blast and all I could do was hold on tight and hope I was going to end up somewhere relatively helpful.I was soon dropped at a travel agents who I was able to buy a bus and boat combo ticket to Ko Pha Ngan from, although I had to wait for another 3 hours on a hard wooden bench before the bus came and the boat was full to the brim with about 5 or 6 coach loads, leaving me stuck on deck in the blazing sun.

Despite my epic journey, I eventually arrived on the island and after checking emails found that Vikki and Laura from 2 of the different Kiwi bus groups were both due to be there the following day, as was Maite, who I had travelled Cambodia with, so I found myself a quiet place, out of the way of all the noise of the main beach, in Ban Tai in a wooden bungalow, which are the most common abodes for backpackers in Southern Thailand. Just when I finally thought I could get some sleep after my exhausting journey, I had a 'Mr. Bean' style moment with the plumbing when the water spray, found in all S.E Asian loos, turned on but refused to turn off. Fully clothed and getting drenched I attempted to aim it into the sink, at which point water burst from another point in the pipe and after a while longer I managed to stop every other water source in the bathroom working, except the spray and gave in, calling for one of the owner's familly, who took about another hour just to remove the spray and block the pipe off. After this hilarious ordeal, I fell fast asleep until about 9am the following morning!

Shortly after waking up and checking out I met Vikki on the road to Haad Rin, the 'party beach' and we made our way there via taxi. Once there we found that all the usual accomodation was gone but at times like that the locals like to make some quick cash by renting a room in their house so we ended up staying with a lovely lady, about a 1 minute walk from the beach, the morning of the big Full Moon party. Sadly, though, Vikki became ill and couldn't go and despite looking for the other two girls, it was impossile to find them in that crowd in the dark. I stayed around the party for a good while to watch the fire tricks being performed up and down the beach and watch as the thousands of party goers were plastered with UV paint and drinking Thai buckets, which contain a bottle of whisky, some Red Bull and a can of Coke. In the end though I got bored and after a couple of beers, I headed for bed. The following evening, with Vikki slightly better, we headed to the much smaller 'chill out' party and I tried a Thao bucket myself but it still wasn't a big night. Still, it was still a good break to swim in the beautifully clear sea during the day and eat in bars showing endless episodes of Friends and Family Guy.

We then headed to the island of Ko Tao, the place in Thailand to go diving. This island had just as many backpackers but somehow I prefered the atmosphere and the main beach really looked like something from a postcard. Once there we found the diving company Vikki was already booked to do a four day course with and being short on time I just signed up to the one day introductory dive. So the morning after our arrival Vikki and I went for our separate briefings, mine being far more brief, just the basics. Also, while I was waiting in the morning, one of the staff had set up a slack roperound the back (like tight rope walking...but slack!), something which I've sone back home with my climbing club. anyway, Vikki and I ended up on the same boat but in separate diving groups. I was diving with Brits Charlotte and Sophie and two instructors, David and Emily. We were to dive at the 'Japanese Gardens' dive sight, nice and shallow but with plenty of coral. When our turn came, we kitted up and used the 'giant stride' technique to get into the water. I found it quite hard to stay facing upwards at first as all the gear and the flippers tend to push you forwards to start with, although that may just have been me! We used our bouyancy jackets to descend, fist to only about 3 meters deep to test three skills. Firstly, wee had to learn to clear our masks, then remove and replace our respirators under water and then to achieve neutral bouancy with the jacket, so that esentially your depth in the water is controlled by your breathing. We then went for 2 dives in the day, first to about 8m and the to 15m. After the 2nd dive I had managed to get the hang of it all and loved the freedom of being able to fly over the coral and then swoop down to the sea bed. It was a fantastic experience that I wll not forget and may pick up again at some point!

Back on land, I had arranged to catch a boat and a bus to Krabi on the West coast, as there is some excellent rock climbing in that area. I said goodbye to Vikki and as I went to catch my taxi to the pier I bumped into Maite, who happened to have booked onto the same boat, where we met shortly afterwards. The boat mildly resembled Noahs Ark, if a bit smaller, and inside, the floor space was lined with small matresses, this then being the seafaring equivalent of the sleeper buses I'd seen in Vietnam. While some found the exceptionally rough crossing uncomfortable, I found that once lieing down I was rocked to sleep quite nicely, only waking up when we reached Surat Thani for the bus. After the long ride to Krabi, I got a longtail boat round to East Railay beach, past the amusingly shaped and aptly named Chicken Island and getting drenched on the way. The final leg of the journey was to Ton Sai beach where the climbing is but to get there at high tide, which it was, I had to walk, with an American couple from the boat, inland through a steep jungle track, which would have been slightly easier but no less tiring had I been wearing my boots instead of flip flops. Once at the beach, however, I found a wooden bungalow for 150 Thai Baht (cheap!) which had gaps between the walls and the roof, hence being open to the jungle, which was excessively noisy at night with the sound of many different species of frog. I also had the occasional squirel join me in the hut. I stayed inside my mosquito net and fell asleep. The following day, however, despite being an ordinary Monday, all the shops selling climbing gear were closed and although I could have hired gear I had nobody to climb with. I did not fancy going on one of the expensive guided climbs so I just chilled out on the beach for a couple of days, enjoyed the food and organized a bus back to Bangkok, from where I could catch another one to Chiang Mai. As a parting gift on the last night there, though, I saw some real fireflies flying around and flashing at me on the beach. So, I departed as planned the in the morning.