Vital Statistics

Number of days on hollydays: 17

Favourite quote to date "Really? I thought your sister was younger than you" Mwah ha ha ha ha

Number of massages since last blog - zero!! Travesty!

Favourite Thai phrase - "I like your brother very much" - Yes - I'm sure you do ; ) Though sadly pace of learning Thai slowing dramatically - trying to make up with enthusiasm what I lack in ability...

Days taken to lose camera - 14 (I'm leaving a little trail of technology, Hansel and Gretel style, around Thailand) Doh!

Music mostly listened to - Rufus Wainwright and Nina Simone

Danny and I decided to eschew tourist transportation in favour of local buses for our 24 hour long distance marathon.Turns out we were the only farongs on the bus - we even got invited to sit with the driver and I put a good deal of effort into avoiding touching the several monks on board (they don't like being touched by women) quite difficult given the aisle was half my body width and I was surrounded - "looked like you were giving them a lap dance our Kez" - yes - thanks Danny.

Landed in Krabi where Dan and I felt we were being slowly cooked after the relatively cooler Northern climes (Luchia brace yourself).At least we got a bit of a breeze at the hotel's roof top bar, even thought Krabi s not much to write home about.

Next stop was Tonsai - rock climbing mecca and a lot like West Railay used to be, no roads or cars - tick, electricity at only sporadic intervals during the day - tick, prohibitively expensive internet access - tick, proliferation of reggae reggae bars - tick tick tick.

We got to know our local 'small world' and given the number of nationalities under one roof it certainly was.After Everything but the Girl overload I made them a playlist, which went down so well (thanks Ryan ; ) I made a few more in return for refreshments and poi lessons (a lot harder than it looks - especially when they are soaked in kerosene) - I also tried to master the tightrope but that is a lot trickier.

I was asked if I had any Ragga? "Reggae? Sure, probably" I said -"No, Ragga... Ragga" Wow, the DJ, responded - "In English it's pronounced "Reg - ae" I said, thinking I was doing a good turn for his pronunciation - turns out Ragga is Reggae combined with Hip Hop - I felt like a right idiot.

A few days later Danny and I set off for a sunset snorkelling trip and had an amazing time swimming and diving about in the phosphorescence - absolutely beautiful.

Yesterday I tried my new favourite sport for the first time - 'deep water solo' - the premise is you climb up a cliff without ropes, then either fall or jump off into the sea.I went to the climbing shop and was assured that no, I did not need any prior climbing experience, nor would a hangover impair my, ahem, 'performance.'Tong also assured me no one had every broken a leg on his watch - just as well given Danny refused to join me or carry me back to the shack with broken limbs.

The 'tricky' bit is shimmying up a rope to first get onto the cliff first.Actually, the tricky bit is the jump when every fibre of your being is telling you to cling to the rock.I managed to jump from 8 metres and yes I'm including my height into that equation - my eyes were at 8 metres and that is how far away the sea was from where I was looking.Some people managed 25!!I jumped twice and fell a few more times (thanks Eric), quite an achievement I felt given my general lack / existence of upper body strength (Stanton you could only do so much) and paralysing fear of heights.Losing the skin on my hands and knees was a small price to pay.I may not be tanned but I have an incredible collection of bruises, which at this rate may soon all be joining up.

Turns out Thailand feels a lot safer than I remember and the locals a lot friendlier - I must have lost a bit of my Northern cynicism or perhaps I've lived in Hackney too long.Still, I suppose if you can walk through Brixton dressed as Britney Spears - navigating to Tonsai to Railay is a doddle.

Entertainment on Tonsai was mainly poi, tightrope and hula hoop - with the bars looking like circus training camps.Also a lot more new friends and pool, happy to report England 6 France 3.

Now we have just landed in Chumphon, gateway to Koh Tao where we are headed next.There has just been a tropical monsoon and the sunset was spectacular. The food markets are calling as Danny is gearing up to shave off his 10 day 'beard.'

Chok dee

Kerry xxx