Hi everyone,

I know it's the end of February but I am trying to catch up on my blog and so this one is about how I spent my Christmas in Thailand.

After spending a wonderful week on Koh Tao my diving was over and it was time to leave and head to the island that I would be spending Christmas on - Koh Samui.A famous Thai island, I'm not really sure why but it's kind of a nice island that everyone seems to stop in on during their trip or holiday just to be there I guess, the beach isn't that amazing, the island isn't that cheap but yet people are still drawn to it like prince to a symbol.For me Koh Samui was a mix bag of everything rolled into one, I had some amazing times and met some lovely people, yet there were lows too.The couple of days running up to Christmas I found myself in a rather nice complex I guess you would call it, it certainly wasn't a hotel, guest house or hostel - just 2 blocks of lovely rooms with ensuites, a maid service, fridge and balcony, it also had the added bonus of a clean pool which was rarely used by anyone but myself and Kim.This room became our home, we tried to keep it clean and make it as welcoming as possible in the aim of buffering any feeling of home sick we might have over the Christmas period.After only a day of doing little but soak in the sun me and Kim were having a break from the norm and … sun bathing when a very loud and annoying bunch of boys came running up, beers in hands and dive bombed into the pool completely soaking me and all of my belongings (typical!).However by the end of the day it became apparent that the boys weren't as hideous as I originally thought and over the next couple of days I spent countless hours with them, talking rubbish, making jokes and listening to Lior play his beautiful guitar.

On one occasion we were all a little bored as for the first time in a long time it was raining! I know weird right? But seriously what do you do on a tropical island where the beach is the main attraction when its raining?! The 4 boys, me and Kim all looked at each other for suggestions, when it came to me - we should all go play volleyball in the pool! I loved the idea but did wonder if anyone would join in my enthusiasm for water sports in the rain - turns out they all loved it and we all rushed off to get our bikinis / trunks on with the intention of rendez vouz ing at the pool in 10 mins.Well me, Kim and two of the boys named Michelle and Nikita were all there but Lior and Mahore were missing - soon it became apparent they had run round to the 7 eleven and bought us all some vodka and red bull (lethal stuff that's band in Uk).It was one of those afternoons that was so spontaneous, you could never plan it or recreate it, it was just perfect, the rain was pouring down relentlessly smacking the top of my head and making it hard to see yet we all bounced around in the pool attempting to play a ball game but ending up in fits of laughter as Michelle and Lior did action replays in accurate and hilarious slow motion. It was this afternoon I realized how lucky I was to be friends with this group of kind, friendly and generous boys who just wanted to have fun and get to know us - simple.

So after a couple of days of fun with the boys the magical day was upon us - it was Christmas!! Me and Kimberley woke with monster hang over's but after an hour of not talking just showering and getting dressed in zombie silence we were finally ready and raring to go.First stop was a street seller to buy Kimberley some novelty fluffy ball things on a head band which I think flashed but I'm not sure and I got myself a terribly fetching Santa flashing badge (and people say I'm not rock n roll? ) then it was off in search of somewhere that sold anything resembling an English Christmas lunch and after walking into one pub only to find out the owners whole family had flown over and were in the middle of Christmas lunch when we barged in asking if we could basically join them .. and being refused, we found a place which had exactly what we were looking for, a full roast with all the trimmings along with a cracker and a glass of cider - nice!It was a lovely Christmas lunch, we ate till we felt sick, got tipsy on good old bulmers and told stupid stories about past Christmas disasters and just to top it off at one point Santa's little helper (a bar made in a tiny red velvet costume) came over and gave us a gift something that everyone gives to their customers on a sunny Christmas day in the middle of a packed family restaurant.. A condom?! Yeah erm the Thais don't quite understand Christmas the way we do but at least the thought was there.

That evening me and Kimberley went to the same bar on the beach which we had been at during the day on Christmas eve where they had a live band and Dj which were playing together, random but amazing and everyone was in there bikinis in the blazing sun dancing, drinking and making for an awesome party.Christmas day evening was a little different not quite as crazy but still a brilliant atmosphere,Kimberley had gone to see some friends of ours in the form of the Ozzy paratroopers I mentioned in my Penang, Malaysia blog, they were on the island for Christmas and we ended up spending a fare amount of time with them, meanwhile I had made friends with two brothers who topped my Christmas evening off with a lot of laughs - we ended up sat on the beach with a load of other random travelers playing guitar around a large sand sculpture of a mermaid combined with Santa singing the classics such as oasis and Stevie wonder.Christmas in Thailand = success!

I did however mention some lows, the main one being my broken toes.I won't go into the whole long story but the short of it was that on Boxing day I think it was? I was on the beach drinking with Kimberley and the paratroopers when a very stupid boy picked up one of the heavy solid wood loungers, dragged it over (presumably so he could lounge near his mates or something) and dropped it straight down on my poor little left foot, then to add the cherry on top he sat on the lounger.I could feel them go before I saw them, but it wasn't until the boy I had broken off conversation with (I think he was majorly confused why I had stopped talking mid sentence to stare at my foot) followed my gaze and raised the alarm as to what had happened, before I knew it 5 paratroopers had the lounger slung down the beach and had me and my now blackening foot sat on a bench perfectly.My toes weren't too bad so I carried on the night but the next morning they had swollen up and gone completely back, they hurt like hell when I put pressure on them but I had to grin and bare it - 2 little broken toes was not going to stop me getting to Koh Phangan for the full moon party in a couple of days.

Yeah so Christmas on Koh Samui was in some ways very different to home I mean I spent most of the festivities in a sarong in 30 degree plus heat enjoying beach parties and cocktails made from fruit grown on the island - I won't even go into detail about the strength of my passion for Thai pineapples, I never knew fruit could taste that delicious.But in some ways my Christmas was just like at home, eating a roast dinner with all the trimmings, drinking too much random booze and then having some stupid boy try and ruin it. Oh the dramas of being a traveler.