Five months ago today we were arriving in Nairobi ready to embark on our African adventure as white, pasty, clean and naive foreigners with no idea what the following weeks and months would bring. Today we arrived in Thailand, the last country on our round the world trip, as brown, grubby, experienced travellers for whom using squat toilets, making friends with mice and cockroaches, and bartering for food come second nature. I'd be lying if I said the past few months have gone quickly, but equally I can't believe how little time we have left until we walk through arrivals at Heathrow. Needless to say, we intend on squeezing as much into these last four weeks as we possibly can!

We arrived in Hat Yai, the 'land of smiles' according to the Lonely Planet (basically yet another place we get gawped at as we walk down the street) this morning, having crossed Malaysia from East to West yesterday after a week relaxing on the Perhentian Islands off the North East coast. Mira Beach, where we stayed in a beach hut decorated with sea shells that boasted its very own hammock, was literally paradise on earth. The sea was crystal clear and a beautiful aqua blue, and we spent hours every day floating around with the sun on our backs looking at the coral, the tropical fish and the sting rays through our snorkels - the guy in the hut nextdoor to us even saw a shark! One morning we woke up to find tracks across the beach made by a giant turtle that had come up in the night to look for somewhere to lay eggs. Even though we didn't see it, apparantly we were still lucky just to be there as it only happens on average once every two years. Perhaps the best thing about our little beach however was the sunsets. I can't even begin to describe how beatiful they were, and how amazing it was just to swing in a hammock or swim in the warm sea and watch the sun melt into the horizon and the sky fade to black. It was perfect!

Before arriving by speedboat on the island we spent a week travelling through the Malaysian jungle by train, stopping in a couple of very remote little towns and soaking up a bit of 'real' Malay culture on the way! Prior to that we also spent a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur, a place we couldn't wait to get out of on account of the mice in our room, the dead fish in reception, the woman (or was it a man?) on reception who couldn't care less, and the dead man we saw casually lying on the street in the business district of KL. It was, in a word, horrific! But as with all these things we ended up making the best of it, and had a memorable (or not so memorable?!) night out in a Reggae bar opposite our horrendous hostel where we met two other sets of backpackers who'd also had bad experiences in KL and ended up eating and drinking with them for hours as we swapped stories!

Since I last updated we've also travelled through Singapore, where we spent three days marvelling at the efficiency of their tube services and the cleanliness of their streets. Once there we also met up with Hannah, who we originally met back in Africa and who will now be with us for the rest of our trip. It's good having someone else to share our adventures with, and reassuring - dad you may not think so - that she is also on her THIRD bank card!!

We're off to catch a Tuk Tuk to a place called Krabi now with four girls we met on the train on the way over from Malaysia. When we got to the border everyone in our carriage got off until it was just me, Hannah and Kirsty at one end, and these four girls at the other, and we all just looked at each other waiting to see what we were meant to do! Whether we were meant to get off, get our passports, leave our luggage or what! In the end we all got off and now we're travelling to the island of Ko Phi Phi with them. I love how these kinds of things just happen when you're backpacking - it's so easy to meet people!

Love to you all. xxx