After a lot of physical activity in the north of the country we left Chiang Mai for the south and specifically the islands in the gulf for some sun-soaked relaxation. We decided on Koh Tao to start with as we wanted to visit all three before moving back to the mainland. Koh Tao is primarily a diving island and as neither myself or Dan really had a desire to go diving (only snorkelling) we only stayed a few days due to limited accommodation. However, we did stay long enough to see a glimpse of the islands beauty, even though it is much smaller than Phangan and Samui. Stepping off the boat really was like stepping onto a tropical paradise with bungalows and small shops situated amazingly close to the water. We had nowhere to stay when we arrived so after a bit of searching along the narrow streets lined with palm trees we settled on a bungalow a little bit back from the sea. We didn't have an awful lot of choice so were lucky to get somewhere really! The 2 days we spent on the island were really just soaking up the picturesque beaches and trying not to get knocked out cold by the falling coconuts! We considered doing some diving but thought i might struggle a bit to see properly so it probably wouldn't be worth it. We decided to search for some better accommodation on Koh Phangan and spend more time there.

Koh Phangan proved to be a much better island for both relaxing and socialising. We arrived a few days after the last full moon party so the island was far quieter than Koh Tao but equally beautiful. We had booked accommodation at a place caled the Lighthouse Resort which is near Haad Rin on a beach called Leela. We took a rough ride in a taxi up and down the hills to get to the beach but it allowed us to see the massive hills and scenery that make up the island. Koh Phangan is famous for its beach parties but not a lot of attention is paid to how great an island it is on the eye. Once we arrived in the town centre of Haad Rin we found it easy enough to walk to the resort (even if we did take the long route up and down the hills with our backpacks on!) The resort was exactly what we were after, the rooms were all sort of built into the side of the cliffs and all had balconys with incredible sea views. You could also easily go for a swim off the rocks and go snorkelling too in the crystal clear waters. The place was run by a women from Yorkshire so there was no language barrier and she told us a lot of good places to go in town. She ran the place herself witha team of Thai people and made us really welcome, just as most places in Thailand generally do! So once we were settled we spent 8 days at the resort, some days exploring the scenery nearby and others just reading on the white sandy beaches. In the evenings we mostly ventured into the town and sampled the restaurants which offered much better seafood dishes as it was so readily available. Dan has managed to break 2 hammocks since we've been here and we've had a fair few comedy falling over incidents as we battle over the hillys and cliffs. We haven't found as many people to mingle with as we did on the mainland but it hasn't mattered too much as we've really found it relaxing. There will be plenty of people to meet as the journey continues. We move on next to Koh Samui which is the last island on this stretch of the gulf. It's supposed to be more modern and quite different to Koh Phangan so we're pretty excited about that!