Hello again, This will probably be the last update from me as I'm heading home on Thursday night :( Looking forward to returning to cups of tea, flushing toilets, my own bed :) and to catch up with everyone in Cambridge. Its going to be a bit of a shock to cook for myself aftr 5 weeks! And to pay more than 2 pounds for a beer. From Ko Pha Ngan, we got the ferry to Ko Tao planning on spending 2 nights there. Well turns out they were the same 2 nights that half the Thais and every other backpacker in Thailand were planning to spend there - due to the Thai national holiday in honour of the Queen's birthday (and perhaps everyone else who'd been on Ko Pha Ngan for the Full Moon Party had decided that it was a good next destination). We had a very long 3 hours trudging around with our rucksacks asking every guesthouse we passed for a room - but all full. We were offered the floor in two restaurants and one man offered us Papas house and Papa would sleep on the floor outside - it is still unresolved whether it was his father's house or his dog is called Papa - if it was his dog's house its a very lucky dog to have his own shower and wide screen TV. We refused all these offers of help determined that we would find somewhere eventually. Then a taxi driver stopped and asked if he could take us anywhere, we explained the situation and he helpfully phoned round a few places on the other side of the island - all full. So we decided to settle for the restaurant at one of the first hostels we'd tried and got him to take us there but he kept stopping at places along the way determined he would get something. And he did - we ended up staying in a room in a bar right up on the hill which was built like a tree house and had an amazing view out over the sea. Concerned that we were depriving someone of their bed for the night we were assured that it was an empty room which was usually used to store staff's belongings and presumably as a crash pad. So finally we could take off the rucksacks. Unfortunately for me (but lucky Kathy who just removed her hearing aids!) the bar was very popular from about 12 and they had a troop of cockerels, cats and dogs who did a fantastic job of waking me up at 5.30. So next day we decided to make the most of the morning and then start our journey to Malaysia a day early. We got the overnight train from Chumporn to the border. Another dubious night's sleep as we were in chairs. A very helpful girl from the Phillipines who was heading to the border to renew her visa for the month told us where we could change money and got us local rate on a moped taxi to the border. Half an hour later we were in Malaysia. Managed to share a taxi to Kuala Besut with some people who'd been on the same train (turned out they live in Dubai - near Safa Park) it was all a bit of a squash but at least it saved us a few ringets. From there we took a boat to the Perhentian Islands. The water there is just beautiful - amazing shades of turquoise and blue. And we made it our home for 6 nights - and actually unpacked!! We went to investigate starting our Open Water Diver course the next day and once paid up we were handed a textbook and told to read chapters 1-3 and complete the question sheets for each chapter that night. This was not an easy thing to do particularly having not had a great night's sleep on the train and having arranged to meet the people from the taxi for dinner. I fell asleep on top of chapter one so arrived next day panicking that I would be found out for not having finished my work!! Thankfully we watched videos on the first day of chapters one and two so was able to get by. The first couple of days was all theory and some practical in shallow water. Spent much of the week checking e-mails waiting for clearance from kathy's doctor that she can dive to 18m despite being deaf otherwise she couldn't complete the course - finally got it on Thursday night so were able to do the open water dives the next day. The diving was amazing - saw loads of different fish, corals, a giant moray eel and some rays. So now both qualified open water divers - yey! Managed to squeeze in a bit of sunbathing too :) Unfortunately also dropped a scuba tank on my little toe which is very bruised now and possibly broken ?? Yesterday we got the boat, bus, another bus to Taman Negara - the jungle in the midde of Malaysia where you can do treks etc, (not when you can't walk properly though). We ended up staying just one night as all the accomodation is really busy - it's Malaysian school holidays this week! This morning we walked along the canopy walkway - 500 metres of rope bridge 40m up. It was cool. Then travelled down river for 2 hours in a river boat to get us to Jerantut - from here we catch the midnight train to Kuala Lumpar - our final destination of the trip. Hoping to do some shopping (despite depleted funds!) and sightseeing there. Then Thursday night its time for me to bid farewell to Kathy and return home - will be gutted to leave her after 5 weeks of fun!! Hope to catch up with you all soon, Jo xoxo