Hey!

After a tiring stay in KL we decided to travel a fair way north to Koh Phang-nan Island a few days prior the Full Moon Party.

Tarry and I met a swiss girl at the Travelers lodge called Beatrice who was traveling on her own as her friend had to return to Switzerland and was heading our way too. So we took an 8hr night train to the west coast of thailand called butterworth. We had another 8hr wait unitl our connection at 2pm that afternoon. While we waiting we took a 20min ferry watching the sunrise at some rediculous time in the morning over to Penang Island to kill some time. However , nothing in the whole town of Georgetown opened until 10am! So we wandered around aimlessly in this lifeless town.

The connection train ran 2hrs late but soon we were back on track drinking beer and playing cards for a further 7hrs. This is where we met another traveler from Leeds, Alister. His friends had run out of money and were homesick , so we were glad for him to join!

We arrived at our train destination, Surat Thani, where we stayed one nightbefore hopping onto a ferry the next day for a further few hours to reach our destined Island. We took a taxi, which all are 4x4s to the other side of the Island. We soon realised the need for 4x4s as the road almost became non-exsistant and became a hilly mud terrain to reach our resort. The taxi ride was worth it as we arrived at this unspoilt white-sanded cyrstal clear watered beach resort. We soon became quickly used to lazy beach life! There is a box full of snorkelling gear that we can take out to the coral reefs only 50m out into the bay. The gear was a leaky old crap but the corals were great!

Saturday arrived and we needed to snap out of lazy mode as it was time for the party on the other side of Koh Phang-nan. The 6 of us friends arrived about midnight as we were waiting for the rain to calm a little. Each Full moon around 10,000 people turn upto this one beach where the entirety of its length are outdoor clubs and bars blarring out many types of music and selling buckets of drinks. We arrived back at the resort about 9am very drunk and tired...time to sleep! This was then follwed by 12 hours of watching dvds in the covered beach bar before heading back to bed!

It has been really great to go somewhere with a little tranquility as we have only been visiting cities on our travels so far... tomorrow morning some of us will travel to the next Island of Ko Tao for a open water diving course, which will be great!

Hope everyone is enjoying life back in england and your summer isn't too cold and rainy?!

Take care. J