Hello everybody! Well, we've made it back to Thailand but it was a bit of a trek and not entirely without incident, as you shall see!

We caught the Transnasional (government) bus from Cherating to Kota Bharu, once again the only travellers on a bus full of locals, which we've found an interesting way to travel - a slice of real life. These buses are quite good, only 22 seats which are comfortable and recline a decent way. Of course they don't have toilets on board so you have to bear this in mind while keeping yourself hydrated. We did think to check this time, unlike the journey from KL to Cherating when we arrived dehydrated, having sat through an hour's stop. We were told that yes, the bus would stop, entirely at the driver's discretion and for as long as he feels! Helpful! As it is he stopped only 2 hours into the journey, for approximately 45 minutes, and then we continued for another 5 hours or so with our legs crossed as time went on. The driver however didn't have this problem as new drivers kept appearing at different stops and they just swapped over - I think we had about 3 drivers in total, each equally crazy: terrible tailgaters, a bugbear of ours from NZ, and ever heard of a large coach overtaking a petrol tanker on a blind bend? Alerted by the sudden slamming on of brakes, I looked up only to find that we were attempting just that as a car came around the corner towards us! From that point onwards I kept my eyes focused firmly out of the side windows to stop myself going grey! But thankfully we arrived in one piece.

Kota Bharu, now that was a strange old place. We were expecting to see quite a few other travellers as this is one of 4 major border crossings between Malaysia and Thailand. And granted we thought it might be quiet as travellers are finding alternative routes due to the problems in Southern Thailand, but we saw few other travellers and found a place seemingly not set up for tourists. In fact we found ourselves somewhat of a novelty and were often approached by Malays in the street or at a table, just because they wanted to practice their English. We planned to stay a couple of nights, mainly so we could explore the famed Central Market, and booked into the Ideal Traveller's House - an ironic name perhaps? They did surprise us by remembering to collect us from the bus station, but it was a long way from ideal! It could have been a nice little place, the building was decent enough, but it was utterly unloved - a spring clean and lick of paint would have done wonders, but it felt kind of like the owners had given up, and also a little like they just wanted to screw you for every penny, or sen should I say? It wasn't a particularly nice place to be. We had a wander around the hot, dusty city, glad we had done our research and covered up - it is a very strict Muslim state with some strongly fundamentalist ideas. The market was good to see, we went a little crazy buying batik materials and enjoyed the view down into the central dome looking over the colourful wet market. However it was most memorable for the 2 gorgeous young Malay girls who appeared from around a corner, really curious about us. We spent ages with them, trying so hard to have a conversation with the aid of a phrasebook and also showing them some pictures of our friends and family back home. One of the girls (and I didn't get the proper spelling of their names unfortunately) was desperate to make herself understood. We left them with huge smiles on our faces, plus a fan which they gave me in return for taking photos of them.

By the end of the second day we were desperate to leave and get on with the journey, though a little apprehensive about the train journey through Southern Thailand, but unfortunately we met with a little hitch - I picked up a stomach bug and while I was determined to leave no matter what, after the day started in a fairly explosive manner we decided it would be sensible to stay near a toilet that other people didn't have to use (sorry Su!) But it was a really horrible day. We had slept badly as the room was so hot and tried to catch up the following day, with the balcony door (nothing fancy I promise you!) and windows open, but the constant banging and drilling from the building site opposite made this impossible. It felt such a wasted day, though on the positive side at least the money I spent on various medications at the Travel Doctors in NZ has now proven worth it, plus I did get to spend the day playing with the adorable and very well loved 6-week old kittens.

The next day we decided to risk it, the medication having improved things a little. The first part of the journey was a 45 minute taxi ride to Rantau Panjang, the Malaysian side of the border. This we did in a deathtrap, a taxi quite literally falling to pieces, broken speedo, no petrol gauge, springs sticking into our backs from the seats and an alarming rattle. Amazingly the driver wasn't a complete nutter and actually drove quite sensibly, staying well behind the vehicles in front (possibly as the car would have fallen to pieces if we'd tried to catch them up) although he sped up a little as we got nearer to the border, to prove his masculinity I presume? But we arrived still in one piece and exited at what felt like the end of the world and once again we felt a bit of a novelty - do any other travellers actually use this route? (Well, actually we knew they did as we'd spoken to a few who had done the opposite journey in Kota Bharu, but we felt very alone).

The border crossing itself involved passing through a complex of buildings with a checkpoint at either end, which really did feel like crossing No Man's Land. It was mostly set up for vehicles - we followed the walking route but the path often disappeared leaving us suddenly on the road at frequent intervals. Unsurprisingly the Malaysian side of the border was pretty well organized with a foot crossing and several vehicle lanes in either direction, while the Thai side was a total free-for-all, all squashed into one tiny space. But we got through with the minimum of fuss, had our temperatures checked for swine flu, 'forgot' my stomach bug for the health questionnaire and walked out into Sungai Kolok, looked around us and thought 'oh crap!' This place isn't described in the guidebooks as Thailand's Wild West for nothing! But trying our best not to appear daunted, we slung on our backpacks, which now weigh considerably more than the 13 kgs we had when we left the UK, and headed for the railway station, a kilometre along the road, breathing a considerable sigh of relief once we arrived! I left Su with the bags and headed off to buy tickets, where the lovely man at the ticket office firmly waved aside all the Thais who were trying to push in front of me. And the price? About 6 GDP for a 10 hour journey - are you listening Mr Branson? Then I took a more daunting trip into town to find an ATM, asking only security guards outside jewellers or police for directions as I didn't really want to advertise my mission. As it was I found the first security guard I'd asked standing, looking up the road when I returned, and call me paranoid, but he sat down once he saw me again, looking relieved as if he'd been waiting for me to come back!

We had a little time to kill waiting for our train so we sat on the platform, people watching, mostly locals milling about waiting for the train, people on hugely overcrowded mopeds slowly crossing the rail tracks, and soldiers with guns the size of Su! This was the part of the journey that we were particularly wary of - Southern Thailand suffers from terrorism from its fundamentalist Muslims and while tourists are not targeted, trains can be: Hat Yai station has suffered several bombings and in April the line was closed for 10 days after a gunman boarded a train. But we'd spoken with other travellers who said it was ok if you did this during the day, plus there is a huge armed police and army presence, which is actually quite comforting. And the alternative was 3 flights via KL and Bangkok. By the time our train pulled in, confirmed by a soldier with a huge gun and smile to rival our friend Chong Lay in Cambodia, there were a handful of other travellers waiting, and we jumped on and settled ourselves for the long journey. The Rapid train takes 10 hours from Sungai Kolok to Surat Thani, almost as long as our flight from Auckland to Bangkok, only without the free movies! We spent most of it travelling through the Thai countryside, through jungles, past rice paddies and strange karst formations, passing the occasional little village or town, and noticing huge spiders on webs along the lines. It seemed kind of never-ending, our eyes sore from the dust and wind coming in the open window. The police and soldiers kept moving throughout the train until we passed Hat Yai, people were constantly walking up and down the carriages selling food and drinks, and amazingly the toilets were cleaned frequently, something we noticed as we had the misfortune to be sitting quite close to the stench, which was only momentarily covered with the smell of bleach!

We arrived at Surat Thani hot, dusty, and tired, at about 9.30pm and headed straight to the Ban Don Hotel, reported to be cheap and clean which it was. The train station is about 12 km out of town and I spent that journey chatting to the driver who was a Liverpool fan. Turned out he also worked at the Ban Don Hotel so he checked us in and sold us ferry tickets for the next day, with a bus to collect us at 7.30 taking us to the nearest port for the boat at 8am direct to Koh Phangan. We awoke at 6.45 to find that course of antibiotics hadn't worked so I took the tablets for giardia, which made me feel kind of shaky. This coincided with a knock on our door at 7am to say that the coach was leaving in 10 minutes! We both tried to explain that we were told 7.30 and we weren't ready - some of my stuff had got wet on the train and things were hanging out to dry, plus I hadn't showered. So this brought on a frantic rush in which we pleaded on deaf ears for them to wait for us, threw stuff about manically and got dressed without deodorant, suntan lotion or mosquito repellent, and ran downstairs to find a group of people waiting for the bus, which didn't arrive for 20 f**king minutes! During this time I stood on the side of the road, slapping on deodorant, suntan lotion and deet, repacking my bag running upstairs twice for lost items and failed completely and utterly to see the funny side! To say I was furious would be an understatement, the tablets weren't helping my mood and neither did the journey. It turned out the bus took us to another bus, which in turn took us to another port much further away, then on a ferry which went via Koh Samui. If I see my Liverpool friend when I return I shall point out to him what the Liverpool spirit actually means, likewise 'You'll Never Walk Alone'! And we arrived at Koh Phangan, me furious, unable to enjoy the ferry journey, sad as I love boats, found a port of screaming touts and were saved only by the appearance of a driver from our guesthouse who had remembered to collect us. We drove to Haad Salad, checked into Haad Salad Villa and I collapsed on my bed and slept solidly for an hour!

And it has taken us a couple of days to feel settled here. It's strange because Haad Salad is beautiful, a picture-postcard beach with white sand and coconut trees, a sparkling blue sea and a handful of shops and restaurants. Our accommodation is gorgeous, a very sturdy little bungalow with fan, fridge and a lovely balcony - all very safe and secure from the various nasties. But we didn't get here and feel instantly comfortable as we did in Cherating. While the people running this place are very sweet, many of the people in town seemed miserable and unwelcoming, plus we felt quite alone - it is low season here, and there is a noticeable drop in tourism to Thailand, and it sort of feels as though the Thais have been spoilt by tourism. On our first full day we met Paul & Marianne, a lovely Canadian couple who treated us to dinner and we had a lovely evening, eating, drinking and chatting, only to come back and be surrounded by a pack of dogs who followed us home. If they hadn't been with us we would have faced this alone as this place was closed up for the night. So the next day we went to Haad Yao, a neighbouring beach that was a little larger, to see if that would be better, Again it was picture-postcard material, but it felt even more unwelcoming and equally as quiet. So we returned to Haad Salad and then we felt like we'd come home. We realized how beautiful this place actually is, how lucky we are that the people running the accommodation are friendly and even people in town are becoming friendlier as they recognize our faces. So we negotiated a lower rate to stay here for 2 weeks, picked up a stack of secondhand books and some snorkels and made ourselves at home. Oh and thankfully my stomach is now back to normal!

Before I sign off we send a huge happy 1st birthday to James for 10th June, and birthday wishes also to his mum, Em for 11th June. Elin, we are both thinking of you in Norway, sending you lots of positive thoughts, best wishes and lots of love - please keep us posted with your news. And Dad, Happy Father's Day for 21st June - we'll have to celebrate this one properly when we get home in 2 weeks time!!!

And that's all for now - I'm starving and Su is patiently waiting for me so we can have dinner and perhaps a little beer to celebrate!

With love, Jo & Su, xxx