SAME, SAME BUT DIFFERENT DAY

DAY 69: Koh Tao

Didn't get to sleep until about 3.30am this morning for the noises being made by whatever was running around on the roof and the slightly loud and heavy rain throughout the night. Our room is really nice but you can hear a pin drop about three doors down, the walls are so thin.

After breakfast I felt like wandering into the main village of Sairee, about 30 minutes away, and as the weather was cloudy I thought I'd take advantage of the cooler weather for my exploration. Jen decided to stay in the room and read.

After about ten minutes I could tell I'd misread the temperature as I was starting to get really hot, even though it was overcast still. My main aim, other than just nosing around, was to see if I could get my hair cut as my clippers have run flat and I'd forgotten the mains lead.

All that's down either side of the long narrow strip of Sairee Village are a few bars and restaurants, hotels and tons of dive shops. Oh, and a lovely beach. Not wanting to stop, I headed back and stumbled upon a barbers - basically a small lean-to against someone's house with two chairs and some hairdressing tools. Grade 1 all over: 100baht (£2). That's more like it. At last a price that's reflective of the hair taken off my head.

When I returned to our room, soaking wet due to the humidity, I couldn't wait to jump in the shower. What was I thinking of, doing anything but nothing at all, especially today. We then went down to the beach, once I'd cooled down in the air con a bit.

We then followed the same blueprint for our other days here so far; beach, sunbathe, read, snorkel, sunbathe, snorkel, sunbathe, read, beer, room, shower, relax and then dinner. Not just any dinner though, but dinner in a great location with a stunning view as per our other nights. You'd think this would get boring but it really doesn't. Given how much we've done and seen in the last ten weeks, how much we've travelled and how many beds we've stayed in, it's nice to stay put for a bit and do nothing. Especially somewhere as nice as this.

Our waiter at dinner is a really nice chap. In fact, he's our waiter at breakfast too and he's always working at the beach during the day. Turns out he works 12 hours a day, fifteen days on then he has a day off. That's tough going, especially in this heat.