We flew from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket, with the very impressive Malaysian Airlines and headed to Phuket town where we stayed for the night. Early the next morning we had the usual chaos of being picked up in a minibus and loaded onto a ferry without a word of English being spoken, people just pointing, taking tickets from us and occassionally shouting something in Thai. Anyway we safely arrived at Koh Phi Phi and carried the bags to our hostel, which was very basic but clean.

In an ideal world we would have spent the next two days (Xmas eve and day) in beautiful sunshine on the beach. However, the heavens opened and it was just like being at home, but with cheaper beer. On the boxing day the sun came out and we hit the beach, along with most A level students from Australia and South Africa! Being sensible Adam made sure that he was in the shade for most of the day, however walking home at the end of the day suddenly realised that the sun moves during the day and just because your head is in the shade, the rest of your body may not be! For the next two days Adam became Lobster man with radioactive red skin and had to keep out of the, now abundant, sun.

We had 5 nights on Koh Phi Phi, which were mainly spent reading, eating and drinking - well it was Christmas! We then gladly caught a ferry on day 6 to Krabi and then got a mininbus to Khao Lak ready for New Year.

We caught a ferry from Phi Phi to Krabi. The ferry was so disgusting we both had breathing problems when we got off and were very glad our tetanus was up-to-date! Anyway, we arrived in one piece and got a mini bus to Khao Lak, about 3 hours north, still on the west coast. We were thrilled when we arrived at the Khao Lak resort as it was really lovely and peaceful. The hotel was right on the beach, which was vast and open. A real feeling of space and luxury, totally different to Koh Phi Phi.

We filled our days by lying by the pool and relaxing. A real treat! New Years Eve came and the hotel put on a fantastic buffet meal. Followed by some entertainment. At first it was several different traditional dances, a few children's games and then the real show began…… ladyboy mime! What an experience! Men dressed as women came onto the stage and mimed very very badly to songs in English. The whole audience sat opened mouthed and this ridiculous display, leaving only the staff chuckling to themselves. Then one of them came on and lifted up her skirt, she (he) had put a long black wig down her knickers so the hair hung down her legs! Just bizarre!

Then on the 2nd Jan we got another mini bus to Surat Thani airport to fly up to Bangkok (just over an hour flight or an 18 hour bus journey…hmmm). On the way to the airport we drove through acres of jungle, and to our surprise we saw elephants everywhere being used to work the fields and carry people and goods around.

We flew to Bangkok where we only stayed one night as we come back to the city for a few days before we fly home. So we just did a little bit of shopping before catching our flight to our 14th country in 5 months; Vietnam.

Hope you are all well and had a lovely Christmas and New Year. We arrive home Jan 14, so we hope to see you very soon after that.

Mair and Adam x