Round 2... a few hours and a few Margharita's later and we've plucked up enough courage to write it all out again since losing it all!!

So here we are.... over the madness of Bangkok, the days when everything was intimidating and crazy and we now feel like right grubby travellers!!

One overnight train, overnight bus and night ferry later and we find ourselves at the Full Moon Party... it was madness!! The beach was absolutely crammed with people raving, drinking the famous 'buckets' (don't get the ones with Thai Red Bull and Thai Whiskey- they're Lethal! ) and not forgetting skipping with fire. It's amazing how many people think they become invincible when they're wasted and craving attention- and even more hilarious to watch!! Met some guys from Melbourne and some other ppl who had given us tips for where to stay on the Island... did some serious dancing and a couple of buckets later got a speed boat taxi back to Ko Samui where we were spending the first few days- that was an interesting ride when your feeling not so great!!!!!!

In the morning we escaped from the grubby 'bungalow on the beach' that probably had bed bugs and god knows what else, as we have learnt along the way to not stay anywhere you dont like unless you have to.... we then headed for Chaweng Beach. Much more like it! chillaxing on the long stretch of golden sand (as we felt we'd deserved it after the rush of the last couple of weeks!!) and drinking cocktails of an evening. The restaurants transformed sun loungers into dining tables with cushions on top for seats- was so lovely, right next to the sea and gorgeous fresh fish on the barbeques. After a couple of days of relaxing we decided to move on from our cute little bungalow by the sea and got a ferry (they go regularly to the different Islands) to Koh Phangan...

When you arrive at the ferry points you are immediately ambushed by crazy thai's on commission to get you to their resort, but to be honest it has come to be a blessing in disguise along the way, especially here as we were promised paradise for just 6pounds each a night on the beach we'd already had our hearts set on (after receiving advice from someone) .... and paradise we got! We arrived with our mouths wide open as we took in the luxurious resort- on the top part of the peaceful and most beautiful beach yet with great views from the room, our first swimming pool in the form of an infinity one- overlooking the sea.. what else can one need?! A waitor serving you cocktails from your sunlounger with the sea lapping at your feet... check!!! not to mention the air con and satellite tv... heaven!! (we were beginning to forget what they looked like!) Have we boasted enough yet?!....

OK so you all know the deal with us two blondes...we cant go far without a mishap, even in paradise!! Ando so this one is a classic... There we were taking a peaceful stroll along the glorious beach checking out the food hotspots (you know us!) ahead of the evening. We approach an English couple playing frisbee and for a moment we think the frisbee might hit us..no no, if only this was the case!! The guy was running backwards towards us to catch the bloody thing and he just kept coming and coming, we thought any minute now he is going to turn round, see us and dodge us....how wrong we were!! He ploughed full on into Katie grabbing and dragging her for what seem to be for miles! Together the random and Katie somersaulted into the sea, with the look of pure shock and bewilderment on Vyes face I didnt know whether to laugh or cry!!! Luckily the cameras, purses etc that also took a first class tumble into the sea managed to survive and once the completely embarrassed guy apologised with manier a hug we continued our stroll with a slightly more red cheeked Katie than before!!! hahahahahahahaha!!

The next day we decided to make the most of this beautiful Island and take a boat trip around it, although funnily enough there was no boat involved?! To our delight it was us two and four guys from essex and one of their thai girlfriends in tow - hmmm!! We began the day at an elephant camp which was not a patch on the one we previously visited with the elephants cooped up and not nearly as happy as our cheeky little one we rode on before. The guys took a ride at an extra cost but we opted out. We then trekked to some lovely viewpoints and bathed in a waterfall - Pang (again not as lush as the one from the trip in Northern Thailand) However the thai lunch was up to scratch and as soon as we had finished we headed to the beach for some long awaited snorkelling. At the first beach the water was too merky so we quickly hopped back in the songathew to Koh Ma. This island can only be entered by a bar of sand on foot and is completely unique. We managed to swim out a fair way and spot some cool fish before ending the day swooning over the cutest puppies that enjoyed tucking into the fresh coconut that we sampled from the trees around us.

The evenings in Phangnan were similar to koh Samui but much more quiet as the beach was not touristy at all and had only a few tables looking onto the sea this time. But there was still fresh fish and cocktails galore and we met a friend from Brussels called Amine. He was quite a character... a little campish and very generous with his money (paying for dinner on the beach and our drinks) he made us giggle a treat with his permanent 'I'm so cool attitude' flipping his cigarettes from his packet and pulling the old one liners... classic charmer but in a comical way- we took him under our wing! One night he heard about a 'pirate party' two beaches along so we made our way there with a couple of Irish lads we'd just met and when we arrived we realised quickly it was full of people off their heads and completely in their own 'happy land'- one girl was dancing sensually with a flag- nuff said!! One drink later and Amine said he'd rescue us and take us 'somewhere better' we ended up back at the resort playing Jenga and drinking with the Thai rastas (they do exist) and thanks to Amine turned out to be a great night!!

With Jemma feeling worse for wear we set off to ko Tao- another not so fun boat journey!!! The last Island of the three eastern thai Islands and the one we are at now, in our opinion it is not the prettiest and its sole purpose lies in the name- Turtle Island. (Although no turtles unfortunately said hello to us). The Diving. Why most people are here, dont get me wrong the town itself by the beach is actually quite quirky- travellers everywhere and few bustling bars and restaurants that all have the tradition of having another room where they play a film- nice creature comfort. But for us diving is what its been about, and we can safely say we are already addicted and in our opinion pretty much professionals haha!!!!!

We had to complete four dives in order to gain the PADI qualification, so a theory test and pool practice session later we were out at sea!! WOW... it was simply amazing and completely surreal looking around at all these beautiful sea creatures scuttling right past us whilst we practiced our newly learnt skills at the bottom of the sea bed! We practicaaly became pros - identifying types of fish and pointing them out to each other using the 'official' hand gestures!! So after a little convincing from our diving instructor Torben (nicknamed 'The Torbinator!') we decided to stay an extra night on Koh Tao and squeeze in a night dive and a deep dive to nearly 30 metres! As you can imagine the night dive was pretty scary with only a small torch to guide you through the deep dark water! It was well worth it though and we managed to see some great things including a stingray and illuminous green plankton infront of your face when you shielded your torch light and waved your hand quickly. Navigating under the ocean with a compass was a real test too - Katie seemed to grasp the concept pretty well so Jem just grabbed on and tagged along behind! hehe

This morning then we completed our last dive in Ko Tao- the deep dive. With a maximum depth of 25metres is wasnt much different to previous dives when we'd done 18metres. The vision was worse and it was slightly colder so we went a bit shallower again to explore more of the coral and fish. Unless you've been before it really is so hard to describe in words- the sensation of breathing at the bottom of the ocean with no noise and a huge tank on your back that feels absolutely weightless... surreal, brilliant. Would recommend for anyone to try!!

So last but not least we should just mention the bloody weather!!- monsoon rain for the past couple of days- not great for the slightly brown shade we managed to finally get last week... yup back to milky white it is then!!! So that brings us here, writing this out for the second time since losing it... did I mention the margharita's? The funny thing is we did actually have 'plans' for this evening, met a couple of lads from diving who are travelling with another girl- said they'd meet us for dinner (and to be fair they were more keen on the idea than us- honest!!) and what happened... bloody got stood up didnt we?!! Don't they know who we are??? how rude! Luckily for them we got approached by some other travellers and didn't have to drink our Margharitas on our own (after telling the waitors we were expecting people!) haha!

Anyway, off to Krabbi tomorrow... so until next time...

Sawadeekah! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx