London - Bangkok 17-21 November
So after 5 weeks back home, after multiple hospital and doctors visits, we re-started our adventure, viewing the past month as a 'pit-stop'. After waving goodbye to the parents at a Heathrow Travelodge, we boarded an A380 to Bangkok.

Our second experience of Bangkok was not unlike the first - busy, noisy, smelly. This time we were only staying for a few nights and decided to visit Chatuchak Market, a labyrinth of 15,000 stalls selling everything from diamonds to dogs! After getting lost a couple of times, and purchasing only a cupcake, we made our way back to the Greenhouse Guest House on Rambuttri Road which was our base.


Ao Nang 21-24 November
Having experienced the pitfalls of long bus journeys in South East Asia one too many times, we made the inspired decision to fly down to the south from Bangkok to Krabi - a short 1:15 journey that cost little more than our Burger King at Bangkok Airport (worth it though).

From Krabi, we caught a transfer bus, filled to the rafters with backpackers, to Ao Nang. Not really knowing what to expect, we were pleasantly surprised by the place. If you're looking for an authentic Thai experience then Ao Nang is not it, but it serves as a nice bridge between the East and West. The resort has more in common with a Mediterranean town than a Thai one, with restaurants of all nationalities sitting comfortably amongst McDonalds and Subway. It was nice to finally reach a beach to begin what we had come to think of as our 'Thai Holiday' in the south.

We spent 3 days relaxing on the beach by day and sitting in bars whilst Thai guys played live music and Janine beat me again and again at Connect 4 (she has some sort of crazy ninja Connect 4 skills). We also stumbled across the odd sight of a local in an Ipswich shirt, if only he knew!


Phi Phi 24-28 November
We arranged to meet a group of friends over in Phi Phi for a few days so we booked a ferry crossing from Krabi for the 24th. Early that morning I (JS) woke up feeling pretty rough and without being too graphic spent some time seeing my previous nights dinner again. Typical when it was one of the nicest restaurants we'd been to on the whole trip. Needless to say I was put off Thai curry permanently and even all other Thai food temporarily. After that I was dreading the crossing to Phi Phi but knew it had to be done. Poor Sean had to carry my bags once again!

We got to the ferry terminal and met up with Angie and Antonio along with Harry and Alex who they'd met in Koh Phangan previously. The banter on the ferry helped make the crossing a bit easier but the annoying unruly Thai kids did their best to piss us all off! We were met at the pier by a couple of Sean's uni mates - Chris and Kirsty who let us use their room as a base whilst we found a bed for the night.

Everyone seems to love or hate Phi Phi and you can see why, personally we loved it. The beaches are amazing, white sand, clear blue sea and very picturesque. However the backpacker centre is a labyrinth of noisy bars and restaurants with english staff handing out flyers which could make you think you are in Faliraki. Walk five minutes away from this to the beaches and you will find some fab seafood restaurants and cool chilled out bars on the beach with fire shows etc. Obviously you've also got your exclusive resorts with private beaches but these were a little out of our budget. Staying in one for a night would probably have meant missing out the whole of Malaysia!

Whilst in Phi Phi we took a longtail boat over to the world famous Maya Bay (where 'The Beach' with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed). We weren't sure what to expect from it, but the beauty of it is difficult to describe and the pictures won't do it justice. Laying on the soft white sand whilst staring out at the crystal clear sea, surrounded by high rocks covered in palm trees makes you realise what all the fuss is about with Southern Thailand. Every view is like a postcard. We also took the opportunity to do some snorkelling which was cool although not a huge variety of fish, but it's got us excited about the barrier reef.

As usual evenings were spent frequenting restaurants and bars or drinking on the beach, one bar of note was the reggae bar. Basically they encourage the punters to fight in the thai boxing ring for a free bucket. It made for some hilarious viewing especially when the girls have a go (although I didn't get to see that as I was still a bit rough), what made it pretty nasty though was watching a guy having his shoulder pushed back into place after losing a fight!

Another trip we did on the island was to Monkey Beach, basically it's what it says on the tin. A beach full of monkeys. We were lucky enough to be the only ones on the beach when we first arrived and they loved us with our bags of bananas and bottles of water. Antonio and Sean both got chased into the sea by monkeys as they had given them water without undoing the lid. I've never seen them both move so quick! We had also been warned that the monkeys like to show PDAs (public displays of affection) and we were treated to some monkey porn.

Our last night on the island and we were down to a group of 4, with Antonio, Angie, Harry and Alex having already gone ahead to Railay. We sat in a seafood restaurant right on the beach with Chris and Kirsty and proceeded to make a mess of the table and ourselves by eating crab like the inexperienced falang we are. After a couple of drinks in a beach bar, watching one of what would become a series of fire shows (they get less impressive once you've seen 15 of them) we found a place to watch the footy (Uniteds crazy 7-1 pasting of Blackburn) and contemplate the 'Banana Bar Chili Challenge', an feat which involves eating 5 spicy chicken wings, a shot of chili tequila and a bottle of ice-cold water in 10 minutes. This may not sound too daunting, except for the fact that the small-print informs that the tequila 'has been known to cause severe burning of the intestinal tract and should not come into contact with the skin. Oh and can also cause death', tempting!

The following morning we made our way to the Phi Phi viewpoint, a steep climb up the rocks to the south, to take some standard 'look how amazing Phi Phi looks from up here' pictures. Feeling like we'd had our exercise for the day, there's always some keen fitness freak jogging past you up the incline to make you feel less happy about the feat!

Railay 28 November - 1 December
Railay is one of those lesser know Thai beach resorts that all the backpacker crowd bang on about, secluded in a cove accessible only by boat with high rock walls hiding it on all sides. We bartered a great deal on a private bungalow in a nice little resort with a pool on the East side of the fork that makes up the resort. On arrival, we were a little disappointed after our Phi Phi experience. Railay is split into the East and West, with the West having all the expensive resorts and decent beaches, and the East having the cheap backpacker lodgings and bars. There's basically no beach on the East and you have to trudge along a mud path to get anywhere, whilst dodging building materials left, right and centre.

The best part about travelling as a group though is that these things become less important as you can all get together and make what you want out of the days and nights. Epic bat-and-ball sessions on the beach and in the pool during the sunny hours (bat-and-ball is awesome, and it's making a comeback) and then cards and banter in the bars with live music and more fire-shows by night. And this is basically how we spent our days in Railay.

On our last day we all hired a sea-kayak and rowed out to the rocks surrounding the bay, coming a little too close to some very large jellyfish whilst navigating through the sea caves.

Koh Lanta 1-5 December

Our final beach destination was the island of Koh Lanta, to the south of Phi Phi. After a short ferry journey and some traipsing around the island to find the right part to settle in, this wasn't helped by the pouring rain and being taken to the wrong area initially but we finally found a bungalow on the beach at a decent price and bartered down the price on the promise of staying for 4 nights.

When you arrive in Koh Lanta, the island does its best to put you off - hundreds of touts fight for your business at the port and then you are taken along a long, dirty highway to your destination. This is, we were pleased to discover, not an accurate representation of the island. All the beauty is hidden away from the main road, a short journey outwards to the beaches. Long Beach is exactly that - one very long beach - and dotted along it are bars, restaurants and dive shops. Most are nestled on the sand and constructed from bamboo, at night they light fires and encourage you to sit in little huts as you watch the sun set over the sea, sipping a cocktail or a cold beer. It's pretty idyllic.

We spent our time on Koh Lanta sunbathing during the day then relaxing in bars as the night settled in, making the most of the last of the cheap Thai beer (or Spy wine coolers in Janine's case). Unfortunately we weren't blessed with great weather for the full four days but we made the most of the sun when it made an appearance. We got chatting to the owner of one of the dive schools, and they offer a free 'trial dive' so I thought I'd give it a whirl. When they say trial dive, they really do mean it - for ten minutes I got to swim around in about 2 metres of sea whilst an over-enthusiastic South African dive instructor tried to flog me a full day course by using phrases like 'it's another world down there bro'. I was having none of his patter, especially considering that the cost of the course could have paid for another week at our bungalow. Nevertheless it was an experience to feel what it's like to breath underwater and good practice for The Great Barrier Reef, even if all I did see was sand and a South African dude's feet.

On our second night we decided to wander down the beach to see what the lights at the other end were. It's difficult to judge distance in the night time on Long beach, and a short wander turned into a yomp, and then into a trek as we made our way along stretches of sand in the dark. It turned out that there wasn't much worth seeing, just some resort hotels but it was nice to get away from the lights because then you get to see the stars and illumination of the ocean by the boats on the horizon, and all that other romantic stuff that someone somewhere has probably written a poem about.

We were joined for our last two nights by Antonio and Angie which made for some epic games of cards by night, plus it meant we could also swap books, music and movies as we went our separate ways.