Hi Everyone,

Hope all is well in Oz.

I thought it was time I gave this travel blog a go, so I'm going to give you a quick update on my last week.

After almost 35 hours of travelling (with minimal sleep) I arrived on a little island in Thailand called Koh Phangan. The island was fantastic, beautiful scenery, great people and awesome food, not to mention the party atmosphere.

The place I stayed came close to meeting my expectations, however I had many concerns about its layout and how I would tackle it after consuming a few buckets (famous drink consisting of around 250mls of spirit - Vodka or Rum, a small bottle of red bull syrup and a can of coke).

There was a ladder like devide to enter the bungalow with no handrail and a drop of at least 50cm between the main room and toilet (with no step), oh and the toilet didn't flush it has to be filled with water. But i was luckier than several other people who ended up sleeping on the beach for a few nights.

The resort was really cool with a pool, bar aand TV area also a bunch of really cool people. Met a bunch of Aussies and New Zealenders and we all pretty much hung out for the few days.

My first experience with the buckets was ummmm... shall I say unforgettable....or forgettable. It got a little bit crazy!!! Won't go into to much detail there. Had to sleep the whole next day, was completely wrecked.

Same again on NYE but took it a bit easier, the party was awesome, will certainly return.

The beach parties are insane, there is people everywhere, plenty of variety in the music and crowds and most of all flaming skipping ropes and limbo bars!!

So many people were walking (or limping around) injured mostly from grazes from motorbike accidents, burns from the skipping rope and cuts on the feet from glass, one of the guys even fell through a bitumen road. I was lucky to get away in one piece, being a thinker I taped my thongs to my feet at the beach parties, and attempted to take moving around my room very seriously!!

Aside from drinking, I hired a motorbike and went to see the beaches and waterfalls which were really cool and pretty much lazed around.

I arrived in Chiang Mai today and will spend the next 4-5 days here.

Hope everyone had a great christmas and new years, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Will post again shortly.

Mandy x