Our train out of Bangkok was delayed :-/ so we had a few hours to wait until we finally got underway on Friday 17 August. For this trip we had decided to go with non-aircon sleepers, as the previous trip we had almost frozen to death. Also, we had the added bonus of being able to pull the windows all the way down and enjoy the warm, fresh air blowing through the cabin. After a while a man came to make up the beds where we read for a while before settling down to sleep.

Saturday we arrived in Surat Thani early in the morning. We grabbed a quick breakfast at a cafe near the station and then, after a bit of a wait, climbed on a super-overcrowded (Monique was sitting on Kevin's lap for first 2 hours) bus down to Phuket, where we then caught a tuk-tuk to our guesthouse at Kata Beach. We dumped our stuff and headed out in search of food. We were shocked to see the prices of things here - it seems everything is like 5 times more expensive than anywhere else in SE Asia! We ended up eating at our guesthouse's restaurant - was so great to eat some good Thai food again :-) Afterwards we headed up to our room to relax - we'd been moving around for almost 2 days straight and were pretty tired. Later that evening Kevin popped accross the road to join some other Saffas (and a few Ausies and a Pom) in watching the Springboks beat the Argentinians - not exactly a thrashing but a win is a win :-/

Sunday we woke up to a gorgeous sunny day, so we packed a few things and headed down to Kata Beach (about 5 minutes walk away.) The sea was a beautiful turquoise colour and so warm that you could swim for ages without getting cold. We spent the rest of the afternoon just lazing around, returning to our room just before the sun went down. After a quick shower we walked back down to the beach to watch the sunset, and then had dinner at the nearby "food court" area. Afterwards, we wandered around town some more and then bought some delicious Thai-style pancakes to eat on the way back to the room.

Monday was another sunny day, so after a bit of admin stuff in the morning, we headed back down to the beach where we spent the rest of the afternoon. That evening we bought our ferry tickets to Ko Phi Phi and then, after dinner, went in search of some more of those delicious pancakes - the banana & nutella ones are amazing :-) We took a stroll back along the main strip to our room, did a bit of packing and went to bed.

Tuesday we were up early to be ready for our pick-up. Once we were finally united with our driver (he could not find the road :-/ ) we set off for the pier. It seemed we had times things right as it was overcasst and rainy. Fortunately we got an inside seat on the (again overcrowded) ferry, and set off for the 2 hour ride to Ko Phi Phi.