We boarded the train in Penang and took our seats on in the 2nd class sleeper carriage - this train continued all the way to Bangkok so most on the train were headed there.Not us, we were headed to Surat Thani, a small town where you get the ferries over to the islands on the east side of Thailand.As we were waiting on the platform there was a big Aussie guy around 50 waiting to get on, he was chatting to all the westerners about all sorts of rubbish.Within a minute he had told us we were stupid to be living in the UK and that we should have filled out forms to emigrate to Australia.Slightly confusing that he was such a fan of Oz and yet he had moved to Bangkok!Anyway, the first thing I said to Liz was "please god don't let him be sitting near us".As we boarded and found our seats for the 11 hour journey, there he was sitting in the seat opposite me, shirt off with his sweaty belly sprawled out under the table.Nice!

As he didn't shut up, and I mean he barely took a breath I announced that I was very keen to get stuck into my book so stopped listening to the utter rubbish coming out of his mouth and buried my head in my book.He continued to talk however saying that whilst Liz and I only had one trade he had many - he had "apparently" been a politician, a hostel owner, a labourer, a doctor, a vet, an author, the list of make believe went on.However, a publisher in London has assured him that his life story will be published and made into a film - so interesting he says it will be in two parts.

We eventually arrived at our hotel in Surat Thani and the numbskull behind the counter had no idea regarding the reservation we had made so we booked another room for £8 and went to sleep seeing as it was now pretty late.

We sorted our tickets and boarded the boat to Koh Pha Ngan where we figured we would spend a few days relaxing.We got off the boat and were bombarded by people trying to get us to stay in their accommodation; we had done our research though and knew where the more relaxed area was so found a cheap and cheerful place with a pool on the north west coast.The room cost us £5 per night and was very basic with a fan and cold shower.Once we were in and settled we realised how basic these rooms are with a loo you flush using a bucket of water and a bathroom that is no more room than it is a breezeblock surrounded toilet attached to the bungalow.Having said that we quickly grew fond of the room as it was comfortable and cool.Also, once you were out in the "resort" you were in a beautiful bay with a pool looking over the sea and the sunset.Our bungalow (hut) may have been very basic but it did withstand a massive storm on our second or third night, not letting in one drip of rain.

We whiled away a few days by the pool, occasionally strolling to the other beach for lunch having to wade through the hottest seawater we have even experienced, so life is really not too tough.

We realised that by staying stationary for a few days we can start to live for a lot less money so we decided we would settle for 5 nights here before heading somewhere new.We had got chatting to a cool couple from New York called Jon and Danielle who were similar age to us and who saved up, quit work and booked a one way ticket our to Indonesia and who are just travelling until money runs out.They had told us they had hired a moped and had been exploring quite a bit around the island so we hired a bike and went out for the day to some other parts of the island to see other beaches and to eat in different places.Surprisingly easy to hire here - quite simply "I'd like to hire a bike please" they hand you the key and that's it, off you go!

In the evening we had agreed with Jon and Danielle that we would all go to the night market for dinner and then to the Big Fight Night at the island's Muay Thai Boxing Stadium - needless to say I was very excited.£12 each and 7 fights including one 10 year old's fight and a ladies fight.Before we got there we visited the flea market, wandered around and watched Jon eat some deep fried crickets and maggots and then headed to the night market.So cheap, 30 baht for a really good green curry which was perfect pre boxing spectator grub.We got to our seats in a make shift grandstand and watched about 2 hours of great Muay Thai action including 2 BRILLIANT knockouts - one a spin followed by a skull crushing elbow and the other a slightly cocky fighter getting punched square on the chin and dropping like a lead balloon.So worth it, we all loved it.

The island had been getting gradually busier throughout the week as it was the Full Moon Party on the Saturday so as we weren't that keen sharing a party on the beach with about 15,000 people we decided to jump ship to Koh Tao.

Today we boarded the boat to Koh Tao - another equally unstressful destination for who knows how long!

Sam