After such a long journey from Koh Lanta, we arrived at Koh Tarutao feeling it all worth while. Paradise!!!!

This island is the long awaited undeveloped paradise island we have been looking for in our stay in Thailand, with absolutely everything in its untouched natural state. There was very few people on the island and since the island is part of a national marine park, the only sounds we heard were the birds tweeking and the sound of the ocean.

Upon checking in we got pointed in the right direction to the tents. We picked one that was situated on Ao Pante Melaka beach, which was at the main headquarters of the nat park - under lush trees and right on the beach, it was perfect. the head quarters, restaurant and bathroom were nothing like the usual campsite, it was so well kept and clean. In the surrounding trees there were so many colourful birds singing like toucons and Macaques. There were also snakes and monkeys which we saw upon exploring the island, it was great.

Chris and I spotted on the Toe Boo Cliff, a really nice viewpoint area, so we decided to drop our bags of and take a walk up. On the way up we heard so many strange animal noises, but we couldn't point the finger on what they were or where they were coming from - we wouldn't make great wildlife watchers. We did however spot a huge (and I mean huge - thousands and thousands) trail of red ants .... We watched them for about 5 mins to see whether there trail would ever end - but they kept on coming. Chris thought it was funny trying to block there route and put lots of obstacles in the way but they just went straight over and around them haha.

After about 15 mins walking up we arrived at the view point, it was gorgeous. We saw a great view of the national park, the beautiful beaches and the turquoise sea. It was such a great camera moment however forgot the camera!

Later on Chris and I ate dinner at the restaurant ..... and we were happy to find the place really cheap with decent simple meals. After dinner we got some beers and played some connecter four in the tent. Although the tents were a great idea, fun and different to what we have been staying in so far it was like sleeping on a brick for the next four nights - so uncomfortable. We didnt actually realise until the last night when speaking to our neighbours that you could rent mats lol - typical!! Chris woke up about 10 times a night urging the ngiht to go faster so he could get up and lay on the beach in comfort, but it was definitely a great experience that we won't forget - the location made up for it 10 fold.

The second day we spent here we decided to get a map and walk so of the trails. So of we went, to start witha 4 km journey up and down hills to Ao Molae. Walkign this way felt like we were the only ones on the island - we passed nobody at all on the way. I was a little dubious about sucha long walk in the heat, although it wasn't so bad. I declined Chris's ridiculous offer of walking on a round trip around the island - 48km. What a joker!!

We arrived at Ao Molae to find sucha beautiful bay, with nobody at all on it, it was amazing. We spent about 3 hours on this beach, shell collecting and swimming. The water was calm and perfect - so clear and the sand was so soft.

After lunch, with our huge friendly neighbourhood pig inviting himself to join us haha we headed again for another 4km walk. We arrived at Ao Son, themain nesting beach for turtles on Tarutao. After a short scramble around some rocks we saw the beach ... it was to die for! Huge, we have never seen a beach so big and there was not a single sole on it. Chris and I ran on and started being idiots and doing cart wheels on the beach etc haha. The sea was quite choppy hear and the wind was fairly high set on a steep hill, the beach was so picturesque.

After about 2 hours a guy walked onto the beach - but drifted onto the middle of the beach where we could not see him - thats how big it was. In the meanwhile, Chris did a large patch of artwork - and enscribed "I LOVE KOH TARUTAO, BUT KATE 100% MORE". It looked so good as the whole beach of sand was so smooth! A little cheesy I know, but the moment and the setting was perfect hahahaha!!! It took me a while to talk him into letting me write this part haha.

The straight 8km walk home was a little tiring - however the jungle noises, nocturnal animals kept us amused the whole journey. We even saw a snake on the path, recently eaten we had gathered as it was so lazy and not in a rush to scurry off, it was so scary! We even found out what the constant noise in the trees were and they were large crickets, which we realised when one got on our tent and went mental.

That night we ate dinner again at the restaurant and had some beers as usual. Seeing as the island is so undeveloped and there is not muchto do at night, we and most others ate our dinner and sat in the restaurant talking until they turned the electricity off. One ngiht whilst asleep in our tents, i woke up disorientated. As Chris and I found it more comfortable sleeping top and tale in the tent as we both like to put our leg up haha, i woke up half asleep with my feet touching Chris's hair - I managed to think it was a squirrel and screamed out backing myself into the corner of the tent. CHris absolutely crapped himself, I don't blame him!! and then I lied down and went straight back to sleep, in the morning forgetting it had happened until Chris mentioned how funny it was and then I remembered everything- so weird.

For the next few days we literally chille dout on our beach and enjoyed the natural surroundings. Oh, and one morning we woke up and Chris had realised he had left his swimming trunks on a stick to dry on AO Molae beach, which meant another 8km round trip, I was so happy!!

For the first 3 days we had no neighbours whatsoever and on the 4th night we met our new neighbours. they were both really nice and had led two seperate lives. Mary - has part ownership in her familys 200 year old pub in Ireland. A complete mad head who goes on her hols (for usually no less than 6 weeks at a time). And a Bob, 13 years older than her at 44, is a real life hippy gypsy - but they were so fun loving, really nice people.

Chris and I have had an amazing time on this beautiful island and would recommend it to anybody - Paradise!!! with Koh Lipe being our next stop.

So, the next day we took a boat to Koh lipe. This island on first arrival looked gorgeous, however alot more developed. Koh Lipe is still part of the National Park but is the only island that hasn't escaped tourist development so far, which was a shame. It wasn't your typical development, no huge buildings or anything and very chilled out with wooden bamboo bars etc.. but after being on Tarutao we were still on complete chilled out mode.

We got off the boat and practically straight away we found a tent to stay in. It was in some shabby back yard, next to the beach which was really not very nice but cheap!! We checked out the island, which is only small. We took a look at both sunshine beach and sunset beach, which were meant to be two of the nicest. They were very nice, but whilst walking around we found ourselves a beautiful little cove with a gorgeous view of the turquoise water.. so our next few days were spent here, sunbathing and relaxing. We were planning to stay on this island a little longer, but there was nothing really to do here except the two beaches. So we decided to travel into Malaysia a couple of days early, to the popular Duty Free island of Langkawi by speedboat - which was really fun and so quick!!!