Well after the madness of Bangkok we decided to escape the hustle and bustle and headed to Phuket to beach it up for a few days! We got onto a sleeper train which was very comfy and the 12 hour journey was a pleasant one!

The first day we headed to the beach, it was like being in tenerife or something - sun loungers all over it and hundreds of overweight europeans - not quite what we expected! The beach itself was beautiful and the water crystal clear but a bit too touristy for our liking!

Our hostel is pretty nice, it seems to be in a nice enough part of the town. The streets here are similar to bangkok, full of market stalls and more crazy drivers! We've walked all around the busy little streets although theres not half as many people here as bangkok. We've tried some of the local cuisine, most of it has been pretty nice but some things suprisingly spicey or just a bit weird - like some horrible large noodles I had that just tasted like slime!

We booked onto a tour which turned out to be pretty good! First stop was Suwankuha temple, which was basically a temple inside a cave with loads of wild monkeys running around outside! There were also hundreds of bats inside one part of it - pretty cool! We then got onto a longtail boat which was fun - splashed us quite a lot but was refreshing in the heat! It took us to koh panyee where we had a big buffet lunch, some of which was lovely - the squid soup and a few other bits looked absolutely disgusting - even steve didn't try it! There was a big market there (they are everywhere actually but here was another one) Whilst we were looking around we walked past a lady holding a baby monkey. I started to look at it and before I knew it I had it in my arms! Then another woman came and shoved an even smaller one on my shoulder - it was a bit ahh! But they were sweet little monkeys so I didn't mind, but then of course the women wanted money, but they didn't get much.

Next we got back onto the boat and taken to james bond Island, where one of the films was set. ( I forget which.) It was pretty cool although a bit touristy, but we climbed around into some of the caves a bit! Last but not least we went to phang nga bay where we got into canoes and where paddled around and into little coves and stuff - was fun! That was our final day in phuket - just a short visit! Off to Koh Samui next so will update you from there!

love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx