Vital Statistics

Days on hollyday: 27

Number of massages since last blog: 6 (could do better)

Number of days I can go without carbs before going insane: 4

Music mostly listened to: Age of Aquarius

After our night in Chumphon, Danny and I got the 7am ferry to Koh Tao, which with Thai logic necessitated a 5 am pick up.Koh Tao is a big diver hang out, with beautiful beaches and due to the 3 monsoon seasons a very lush and verdant landscape.The only problem was that due to the upcoming full moon party on the next island it appeared to be full.Eventually however, we found a tidy little spot to rest ourselves, with the obligatory pool table (confirming I will never beat Danny - ever).

Dan wasted little time in hiring a moped (I say moped, it was 150cc), which he was brilliant at navigating, though he did mostly ignore my continuous screams of SLOOOOOOOOWWWW DOWWWWWNNNNN, seemingly delighting in shaving several years off his sisters life.Still it enabled us to explore lots of remote beaches and realise that the interior of Koh Tao is mainly mountainous, with roads made of dust and rock - as you can imagine Danny loved the down off-roading - whilst I clung on for dear life with my eyes closed.

I also managed a bit of diving, (where the manager was from Heworth!) - didn't see a whale shark but had lots of fun doing somersaults, roly polys and hanging upside down to my instructors bemusement.

With new friends , we had a lovely meal for Danny's last night.We danced barefoot on the beach and I left Danny to party until dawn - in fact he came back as I was getting up to go diving. I am really missing him, especially when he unpacked his bag of all the things he had been carrying for me (all the heavy things - including 8 books - making a total of 12, I am a walking library).He is a great little travel buddy.

After my own farewell meal with my new friend Amy, I set off for Koh Phangnan and therein The Sanctuary - a holistic retreat for a week.Lucy also met me there and bless her, after 29 hours of travel, 3 flights, a catamaran, motorbike taxi and longtail she was ready for some serious rest and relaxation.I had other plans though, it being the night of the full moon party on the next beach along.

Luring Lucy along with the promise of a great massage, I plied her with buckets (a concoction of a pint of vodka / whiskey, a can of coke and a small bottle of red bull, served in- a bucket ) and we went dancing barefoot on the beach to some great music, along with 20,000 other people!Great people and poi watching - why is it that whenever you see a group of braying drunkards, climbing up precarious wooden towers set on fire you can guarantee they are English?

After that we got into the swing of life at The Sanctuary - meditation (of the 'chi- gong' and 'finding God through love' variety - though I mainly fell asleep), reiki, massage, yoga (I even heard them play the age of Aquarius at breakfast) with most of the guests looking like variations of Jesus and his disciples - waifish with long scraggily beards, bare torsos and fishermen pants (and that's justthe women ; ).

After a couple of days I was shambhala blissed out enough to try the house speciality - fasting.Well for one day at least (I haven't gone totally crazy).The day before and after you can only eat raw fruit and veg - and on the day of the fast we were given drinks made out of clay and husk (mmm gritty).One girl almost passed out when we were shown how to self-administer our colonics - i'll never look at coffee in the same way again. Most people fast here for 5-7 days but 1 was enough for me - especially as I definitely want a good cocktail when I hit Bangkok tomorrow - I would definitely recommend this place for a blissed out time of r and r and some serious navel contemplating, and if you want to lose a few kilos too, it comes with the territory.It's a shame I don't have any photographs; swimming at sunset, in a turquoise crystal clear cove still as a millpond, by a perfect arc of white sand and fringed by palms was, well, breathtaking.

I also met an amazing masseuse at the beach there, who called me baby and has given me a large number of bruises.I made the mistake of asking Nok for a 'hard' massage, she has hands like iron vices and she was determined to knead and whittle the flesh of my bones as I alternated between shrieking and laughing.As a consequence though I feel like a jelly baby.

To avoid another 5 am start tomorrow, we are now in Koh Samui for one night - much like Benidorm in the Gulf of Thailand (they take paradise....) - Lucy has some friends here too, before we hit Bangkok for a last night of fine dining, lots of carbs and cocktails. New Zealand here I come.

Namaste

Kerry xxx