From the lovely Chiang Mai we flew back down to Bangkok, landing in the early afternoon. Our cab into the city cost a small fortune, but by manner of some small miracle the driver did actually manage to get us to the hostel and only had to phone for directions once! As soon as he dropped us outside I was wishing we could get back in the cab. YHA Downtown Bangkok was the biggest (should I say smallest!?) dump I have ever seen. No joke. The guy behind reception was...

The four of us left Krabi on the 6th and flew up to Bangkok then straight on to Chiang Mai with Air Asia. We were lucky to be arriving on a Sunday, as this is the day they have the special 'walking street' market. Needless to say this was our first stop after checking into our cute hotel, Mini Cost, and even better - the hotel was down a soi (like a little laneway) off the market street, so super close! It all felt so exciting. Being with Michael and David was ex...

Back on the mainland, and after a little bus confusion, Soozie and I rocked up at the Ao Nang Grand Inn (again) and were pleased they could fit us in for the night. A quick dress buying expedition later we were hugs and smiles all round as Michael and David turned up on their scooter!!!! So very exciting. We felt like we'd been waiting for this day forever and here it was, finally! It was so lovely to see faces from home, especially those of two of our best peopl...

While on Lanta we debated doing a day trip over to the Phi Phi islands, then decided that we may as well see it properly and spend a couple of nights there, despite it being the most expensive island! The boat only took an hour and instantly it was beautiful. We stepped off the boat into a hustley- bustley street and were presented with a plethora of different accommodations, most of which were way out of our price range! We settled on the Ingphu View Point and w...

From Ao Nang we caught a boat over to Ko Lanta. The journey over was just amazing. We were picked up in a little sawngthaew and crammed in with a load of other people all plus luggage. It was a short drive to the little jetty where the boats leave from and straight away we could tell it was going to be a beautiful trip. There were maybe 3 large boats waiting to take people to the far away islans, but next to them were about 50 long tails making a picture perfect ...