Thursday 1st MarchIt takes us 30 hours of non-stop travelling from Siem Reap to reach Ko Phangan. This is my last week with Kate before she heads off to Perth and around Australia. Simon arrives in 12 more days - very exciting.We stay at White Sand at Thong Nai Pan Yai beach on the north east coast of the island. It's beautiful, no hawkers, hardly any tourists, nothing to do but sunbathe and reflect on the last 4 months journey.I also try to forget that we...

Thursday 1st FebruaryWe arrive in Chiang Mai after a good nights sleep on the train and got a tuk-tuk to our hostel called 'Nice Place 1'. Chiang Mai means 'New Town' as the people moved here from Chiang Rai due to the severe droughts they suffer from up there.We came to the conclusion today that we just haven't allowed enough time to do everything we want to here in Asia. So we decided to put our flights to Australia back by 2 weeks. The peop...

Wednesday 31st JanuaryWe head to Ayutthaya today. This was the capital city before Bangkok. It's beautiful here and a huge shame the Burmese raised it to the ground. It must have been stunning in it's time. We visited various sites around the city. At the first one we climbed the stupa whereupon hordes of thai schoolgirls proceeded to shyly say 'hello', 'you're beautiful' and 'i love you' to us before giggling behind their hand...

Saturday 27th JanuaryWe arrived back in Bangkok from Ko Tao and go to meet Kate's Mum and her boyfriend Nick who are here on a tour for a couple of weeks. It's lovely to see someone from home. I miss everyone heaps.We've been on virtually all forms of public transport possible within the last 24 hours - the boat from Ko Tao to Chumpon, the overnight bus, then a water taxi and the Skytrain up to Khao San Road (backpackers hangout), and finally on the M...

Monday 22nd JanuaryWe arrive in Ko Tao and get a dive course and accommodation sorted out but it takes most of the day what with the boat trip here this morning too.Ko Tao looks like a beautiful island - I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.Tuesday 23rd JanuaryUnfortunately the flu I'd been trying to ignore since flying from Hong Kong has finally taken hold so I can't dive because of the cough and cold. But Kate has a good time doing the course an...