PHUKETT 22ND FEBRUARY - 1ST MARCH 2007Phukett is dubbed' the pearl of the south' by the tourist industry. A province onto itself, the 810-sq-km island is Thailand's largest, wealthiest, most populous and most visited. We had a pre-impression of Phukett as being trashy and sleazy and the area of Patong being at the centre of this trashiness. We decided if we were going here we may as well embrace this and not hide from it, so found a guest house in Patong. Patong is the epicentre of the tourist earthquake, it is a bazaar place and we've never seen anything like it. Patongs beautiful curved beach is packed with sun-be on to of the next that you have to pay for and guys trying to ell you over-priced jet ski rides and parasailing. it's a beach where anything goes; retired, over-tanned, over-60's, wear brightly coloured minute thong style bathers, men and women, and this is a common scene here. Europeans are abundant here, staying for weeks on end when they might as well be in Majorca! This place is not Thailand! The steamy streets seethe with souvenir shops, girly bars, pricey seafood restaurants, dive shops, travel agencies, hotel and everything in between. The best thing about Patong was to experience the main strip at night; its alive and crazy with loads of impressively sexy ladyboys. A big eye-opener for all of us, it was great fun!On the 22nd my dad and myself went for an amazing massage, its normally pot-luck in Thailand whether it's a good or bad massage but this one was great, and a bargain for a fiver.On the 23rd my parents had to fly out of Phukett to Bangkok and after three weeks with them it was time to say good-bye. We saw them off at the airport which was a bit tearful. We had such a great time with them and as hard as it was to say good-bye I'm so grateful to see them.Once they'd left Lewis took me to the mall to get some ice-cream and cheer me up.On the 27th we went diving on the Similan islands. This was over double the price of most dives but being one of the best dive destinations in the world we had to do it. The Similan island have huge and smooth granite rock formations that plunge into the sea and form seamounts, rock reefs and dive-throughs. It took about 3-4 hours by road and sea to reach the Similan islands from Phukett but it was well worth it. We had two amazing dives, great visibility and loads of marine life, the highlight being the five foot Manter Ray gliding alone.On the 1st March it was time to leave Thailand and so we flew out of Phukett airport to Singapore.