Hey guys,

Just sat in Phuket airport and thought we should do a quick update on the last few days we have spent in the south of Thailand. For once we haven't been up to much but have had a really nice relaxed few days soaking up the sun.

We arrived in Phuket mid afternoon and got the bus into the centre of Phuket town where we had booked a guest house to crash in overnight. Most people come to Phuket and stay in one of the nice resorts on the sea front but unfortunately for us that is a little out of our budget and we arrived too late in the day to get the boat over to Koh Phi Phi so we just had make do. It turned out not to be a bad decision as the place we were staying was surprisingly nice for the price and we ended up getting some of the best food we have had in Thailand from a street vendor in town. Katie was very taken with their deep fried prawn dipping sauce and cheap Changs. Phuket town itself had nothing really of interest, it is clearly were all the locals lived that work in the surrounding resorts so we were happy to leave the next morning.

The hostel sorted our transport for us which was useful at it took most of the hassle out of getting over to Koh Phi Phi. The taxi picked us up outside and dropped us straight outside the boat. We had been expecting to be getting on a small speed boat much like when we visited the Perinthians or in Indonesia but instead found ourselves beside a ferry that would be more suited to the Dover to Calais route and had hundreds of people on board. When we arrived in Koh Phi Phi the crowds didn't disappear the island was absolutely packed with tourists, so much for our island paradise! We had treated ourselves and booked a nice hotel to stay in with swimming pool etc so it was a little quieter in our hotel complex. We hadn't expected a deserted island but the marketing of the island gives the impression that it is much more relaxed than the other Thai party islands when in reality it is the same (i.e. Ayia Napa for uni students)

We spent the middle of the day checking out the beaches and the town and once we had got over the commercialism we did start to warm to it. It was really nice to be in a resort with western luxuries and because it was so busy there was a really good atmosphere. The film 'The Beach' was filmed here and because of that the island is known for its beach but when we checked it out it was absolutely packed and didn't look as impressive as on the film and not as good as many of the others we have seen on the trip. However the beach is in a cove surrounded by huge limestone cliffs which does give it an amazing setting unlike anything I've seen before. We sacked off the crowded beach in favour of our hotel pool and spent the rest of the day lying in the sun making the most of our last tanning opportunity.

As the island was so busy and packed full of bars and restaurants in the evening we treated ourselves to a night out Thai Island style. We went for food then hit a couple of inland bars before heading down to the beach and chilled out watching a fire show and had some of the infamous buckets, needless to say we both woke up with sore heads the next morning and were very upset at failing to take full advantage of our free buffet breakfast.

The next day was very much the same; we spent most of the day by the pool and in restaurants occasionally catching the odd bit of Wimbledon. After spending almost the entire day by the pool in the sun we were both a little disappointed to see that neither of us appears any more tanned than when we went to the island, but we were still a lot more tanned than most of the other Brits so looking forward to comparisons when we get home!

In the evening we when out for Thai food and a couple of drinks but it was a much more sober affair than the day before mainly because we had to be up at 7am to pack and get the boat back over to the mainland. Think we'll leave the buckets to the Brits-on-tour from now on!

Which pretty much brings us up to now, all we have done today is get up get on the boat and get a transfer to the airport. We are flying from here down to KL this afternoon and have got a couple of days there before our flight home. We are planning on doing some of the things we didn't manage to fit in last time such as going up to Petronas towers, plus a bit more shopping so will let you know how we get on.

Lots of love

Martin and Katie

P.S. Sorry for the excessive photos of beer we're off to Malaysia now so can't afford it anymore so I'll stop!