Hi Folks,

Happy New Year to you All - hope you had a good one! We spent our night on the beach with loads of fireworks which swept across the whole of Chewang bay and went on for about an hour.

New Years Day - Had a really lazy day (and probably like most of you) we had a full English breakfast! Treated ourselves to one last massage and dip in Thailand's sea and then went back to the room and ordered room service for tea and watched movies "The Holiday" and "Double Jeopardy".

2nd Jan - We were due to be collected by a bus heading for Penang (Malaysia) at 6.30/6.45am however the driver decided to turn up at 5.50am!! We were not impressed - Danny demanded that he wait for us until 6.30am as it stated on the receipt, however he just said "No - I leave in 10 minutes!". Really frustrating as when we turned up at our friends villa to collect the 4 of them we just had to wait even longer for them to get ready.

Anyway once we caught the 2 hour boat ride to the mainland (and was then on the road for 3 hours) we had to stop off to wait for another bus for 2 and a half hours!! We eventually stopped off (2 hours later) at Hatt Yai - the stop-over place between Thailand and Malaysia. Although we were meant to do the whole journey in one day we stayed the night at a decent hotel/grabbed some food (Maccy Ds arghh) and a well needed shower - Hatt Yai is a really random place and very simillar to Bangkok in ways.

One the whole we've thoroughly enjoyed Thailand (and compared to our friends have met some really nice Thai people and had only good luck here). (For my own gimp reference and for when we visit a Thai restaurant in the future) We've loved the following foods: Map Plough (young coconut), Pat Pat Boon (veggie which is a cross between spinach and broad beans), Green Thai Curry, Massaman Curry and fruit shakes!! Favourite scenery: Phi Phi island and cheapest and best party island: Koh Phangang - best place all rounder: Koh Samui.

Chow for Now and roll on Malaysia!

Lots of Love,

Meika and Danny

xxx