Hello everybody! Well, here we are. 16 months after we kissed our family & friends goodbye and jumped aboard that Jumbo to Auckland, NZ, and it's finally time to go home. What an incredibly strange feeling - we've been talking about it for ages and the last fortnight really has been a case of counting down the hours, but it still seems slightly unreal.

We've spent the last few days in Bangkok, but before I fill you in on the details I will just backtrack and fill you in on our last few days on Koh Phangan as we had such a fab time. On our last day we made a final attempt to leave Haad Salad and see a little more of the island as the guys running our accommodation had their taxi back. We went around to the village of Chaloklum on the northwest of the island and found a gem of a place. Unlike Haad Salad which is just a resort, Chaloklum is a fishing village, hence it's a proper working village as well as a tourist resort. So we had a little wander along the pier to watch the fisherman sorting their catch and our cameras went into overdrive at the picture-perfect scene of brightly coloured boats against the white sand and blue sea of this gently curving bay. And we loved the feel of the place - the locals were friendly, not jaded by tourism and there were lots of cheap street stalls and markets stalls selling fresh produce in addition to the wonderful seafood restaurants dotted along the front. While I don't doubt that we made the right decision to stay at Haad Salad (mainly as we needed to simply chill, plus we would have spent a fortune in the seafood restaurants and the snorkelling & dive outfits here), I would definitely return here if I come back to Koh Phangan.

We returned to spend the afternoon in our favourite spot on Haad Salad beach, bronzing ourselves, having a final swim and snorkel/drowning session! Our little friends must have know it was our last day as they came to say goodbye - I think I've mentioned the unruly beach dogs, but one has a litter of 4 tiny puppies, so young they're still shaky on their feet, and utterly adorable. 3 of them bounced over and took in turns to jump on my head as I lie on the beach, then before either of us could move, Su was given a special goodbye present - puppy pee on her brand new sarong (think I found that funnier than her!)

The evening was topped off perfectly as we flopped into our favourite dinner spot just as a pretty perfect sunset was happening, to be replaced by a beautiful new moon and starry sky. And the best bit was still to come! We ordered our favourite prawn massaman curry & a beer, but a special treat was in store - after our meal, Mama presented us with 2 ginormous prawns, each the size of my hand, cooked Thai-style in onion, lemon and chilli as a special leaving present - we were undoubtedly their best customers, staying almost 2 weeks (most people were staying 1 or 2 nights) and eating there most nights, but it was still a lovely gesture and the tastiest, most succulent prawns we've ever eaten!

The following day they all trooped out to thank us and say goodbye and Mama drove us to the ferry port. And this time I was able to enjoy the crossing as we sat on the outside deck of the ferry, watching Koh Phangan disappear into the distance, Koh Samui glide by and the mainland gradually loom into sight. We found a much nicer bed for the night at the Tapee Hotel, one of the nicest rooms and most comfortable beds we've slept in for ages, and while Surat Thani isn't the nicest place we loved the night market which was full of delicious smells and tasty food. I cannot begin to describe our relief at having an hour's flight ahead of us instead of a 14-hour train journey, and Air Asia, the Asian equivalent of Easyjet, provided a good flight on a brand new plane. The journey to the airport was a different matter. We used the so-called 'limo' service of Phantip Travel, one of the more reliable travel agencies in a town full of sharks & scammers, but talk about laid back! The 'limo' was a knackered old bus, late leaving as we first waited for Mr Phantip to grace us with his presence and check our tickets, then waited for new passengers who were being transferred from elsewhere. And then we promptly pulled up at a petrol station where the driver, conductor & Mr Phantip got out, bought drinks, had a little chat, finished their drinks, then filled the bus up and we finally left for the airport! One has to learn the art of patience here - thankfully we all made the plane!

And then it was full circle as we landed at Bangkok Airport. No air-conditioned limo waiting for us this time, so we jumped on the Airport Express and headed into the Bangkok traffic. This time we'd booked a place at Phra Athit, close to the infamous Khao San Road and immediately we liked this area of town much more than where we stayed last time. It has a nice vibe to it, buzzing with other travellers. The Khao San Road is loud, full of tourist tat and people out to scam every last baht out of you and the type of tourist who makes you ashamed to be British, or a westerner, or even a tourist! But the roads around it are much nicer to explore and it somehow feels more comfortable here. We booked in to the Happy House Guest House, at a massive low-season discount, and our room is fine - not the best, but not the worst we've had - private bathroom, hot shower, air-con, plenty of shelves, but the beds are nasty - the mattresses are lined with plastic which is both hard & sweaty - oh for a soft bed and clean, soft sheets... soon, very soon. And you know you're in Bangkok when you are served at your bar by Bangkok ladyboys!

ARGGHHHH! I hate bloody computers - I've just corrected mistakes so far, finished writing the blog & it failed to save anything!!!! No problem - I have all the time in the world to do this, not like I have to go and pack anyway!!!

So where was I? Saturday we took a bus to the famous Chatuchak, or J.J. Market, north of the city centre. This place is awesome, the size of a small village with a maze of stalls selling everything from clothes & scarves, to homeware and garden plants, to snakes & fighting fish! You literally need a map to find your way around and there is no way you can see it all in one day. We had a wonderful time pottering around, enjoying people watching, musicians, and doing a little bit of shopping! Actually it was difficult not to spend a fortune and even more difficult not to return on Sunday to hunt down more bargains, but you've got to stop somewhere - hopefully before your bags burst at the seams and we go over our baggage allowance! The ride home was a little adventure. We caught the bus again, which took a little longer to get back because of traffic, and we got to the Khao San Road perhaps a little over an hour after we left, but the conductor told us not to get off as we were going round to Phra Athit which was a few steps less and our feet were tired so we waited. What a mistake that was.... first the bus couldn't turn where it needed to due to traffic, so we turned the wrong way and sat in heavy traffic. We tried to get off as it would have been close to walk, but they insisted no, no, u-turn, no problem. Shortly after this all the Thais on the bus got fed up and got off, but they were being too polite to us and insisted we stay, probably didn't want us to get lost. So on we sat. The bus was stopped from doing a u-turn by the police, so we continued the wrong way, took a huge detour and eventually the driver did a 3-point turn in the road as the conductor ran to the back and directed the driver around. Finally, finally we made it back home almost 2 hours after we'd left the market!

Aside from that we've stayed quite close to home, had our fill of the Khao San Road, sampled lots of lovely street food and played dodge the showers - the monsoon is into a fairly regular pattern now: it rains most evenings, just as people are munching at street stalls, the heaviest rain I've ever experienced that thunders down so hard it bounces back up again as you sit under an umbrella next to a naked bulb - it doesn't pay to think about this too much! Most evenings it is accompanied by a spectacular lightning show, strobe-like in its frequency, and if you're lucky some claps of thunder that shakes your bones. On the first night there was an overhead clap that was far too close for comfort and had us both shaking for several minutes afterwards! We also had a final sightseeing mission today to Wat Pho to see the famous reclining Buddha, but generally the last couple of days have been fairly tough as we wait to go home. We're tired now and desperate to catch up with family & friends again. It's time now - our undies have holes in them, our sandals smell so bad they could walk home without us, our clothes are in dire need of a proper wash and we are in need to something different to wear, Su keeps telling me that I'm turning into the Wild Woman of Borneo in this humidity and she needs her roots doing. That's it, the time is right, we're coming home!

Finally we want to send our congratulations to Elin & Will on the birth of their son, Christian, a brother for Lars, on 23rd June. Christian was born very early, weighing 1140g and measuring 38.5cm. Mother & baby are both having a tough time in these first few days and we are sending you all of our love and best wishes, and are thinking of you always.

With love, Jo & Su, xxx

ps - in the vein of 'I hate bloody computers' - can't upload any more pics as I've just found a virus on my memory card so you'll have to wait for the Wat Pho pics until I get back (hopefully) - we didn't take our cameras to the market for safety reasons! xxx