Welcome to paradise! We are now staying at the JW Marriott in Phuket....a beautiful resort with stunning swimming pools overlooking the ocean where all one needs to worry about all day is "where will I lie down next? maybe the main pool?" However, before I get into the details of the most relaxing part of our trip, a little information about the full moon party!

So wednesday was a very relaxing day. Sadly it was absolutely boiling so sleeping past 9 oclock was not an option. We got up and headed for some breakfast at the hotel - emily tried the biggest banana pancake we have ever seen. We then spent the morning lying on the beach getting the energy levels up for the night ahead. It was so hot that i even went and lay down in the water to read - quite relaxing actually! We went to go check the internet quickly before finding a place for lunch. The plan was to go back to our first resto of the island but actually found a little French place called "la pizza" so we opted for a western meal....and as the name of the restaurant can help you guess, we had some pizza :)

We then migrated back to the hotel for some chillage in the "chill out" areas...basically just little huts with cushions. I had a nap (as per normal) while the other two read. Before we knew it 5 oclock came round and it was time to get ready! At 6 we were ready with our one camera, photocopied IDs and bits of cash stashed in different pockets. We headed for the dock where there were already loads of people waiting for the boat. After buying our tickets we went to the little shop for our first beer (good old chang) of the night! When we left the shop the most daunting cloud was headed our way....and there was lighting in the clouds. Jess was convinced (probably more hopeful actually) that the boat wouldnt leave for Koh Phangan until the weather calmed down. Well, it didnt, and the cloud just got closer and closer and the boat still left at 6.30pm on the dot! The ride was a bit wavey and we did suffer from quite a bit of rain but hey, we got there ok ready for the party!

We handed over 100baht each as our "entrance fee" and were given these rubber bracelets. First we thought we had just been screwed over and paid money for a s***ty souvenir type bracelet but in the end it was actually our ticket in! Immediately there were stalls selling buckets of alcohol, body paint, UV beads and bracelets and loads of restaurants. We went to get some food first - a pretty dodgy burger to say the least - and then headed for the beach! Passing more and more drinks stalls we finally made it. I'd never actually seen something so awesome. The beach had bars all the way down, bright lights, loud music, people with jump ropes on fire, stalls and stalls and stalls of buckets filled with bottles of alcohol and loads of people walking around selling UV jewelery. There were loads of paint stands as well where you could get some awesome artwork painted on yourself too.

We decided that the cheaper buckets would be found more along the streets so left the beach again and actually found a place that we could get free painting when we bought a bucket! Deciding it was still too early in the night to go for the local whiskey we went for the "cheap vodka".....nice sounding right? After a good painting session we went back on the beach and migrated from bar to bar to listen to the different music. We ran into some guys that we met on the boat who told us about a slide that had a fire ring around it.....of course I had to try it! Quite terrifying actually.

After getting a bit more painted and a few more buckets the night went on and all of a sudden it was day time........people were still raving it up tho - a pretty wierd sight! We however were not up for raving in the blazing sunshine so headed home after an awesome night.

Thursday was painful. We spent the day lying in our room and lying on the beach. Managed to get a bit of food down too! The highlight of the day was probably getting attacked by this s***ty little dog that was running around the beach! There we were minding our own business when this stupid dog jumped all over us! He managed to rip my headband off my head and actually ran down the beach with his little friend with my headband in their mouths and i had to run after them to get it back - not really something one wants to do after a night of partying and about 2 hours of sleep! I finally got it back and my only escape from the jumping canine was to run into the water. When i was finally relaxing the damn thing came back and bit my hair bun! Emily grabbed its neck which it wasnt too keen on and grabbed her towel......she found that the way to be rid of the animal was to smack it on the nose with her suncream and then threw it for it to fetch.

We had a quick dinner that night and then went to bed as we had an early start the next day. (obivously that wasnt the only reason we went to bed early tho)

The next morning we were out the hotel by 8 30. We took the boat to Donsak where we got on the coach to Phuket. The coach ride wasnt too painful althought when we finally arrived in Phuket it turned out that we had to backtrack about 45mins...great waste of time and money that was! But finally, we were in paradise :). We were greeted by an entrance with loads of big fire torches and were each given a fresh flower lai for our neck :) I can tell you, we looked pretty out of place rolling out of run down taxi with our backpacks! We checked in and got a little golf buggy to our room where we went in to meet the parents! We were treated to japanese food for the first night and had some very delicious sushi rolls and noodles!

The next day was all about lying down. We woke up, ate, lay at one pool, ate again, lay at another pool, and then went to shower before heading out to eat again. Finding a cheaper restaurant than the ones in the resort seemed to be a bit of a challenge but after lots of confused chatter with some of the locals and sorting ourself out with a taxi we finally made it to a little local beach side restaurant.

Sunday morning was spent by the pool again but in the afternoon we headed for Phuket town - an...interesting experience. Not the nicest of places although we did go for a lovely dinner at the "natural" restaurant which was covered in trees and plants, good food too! Today the same was done again, pool most of the day except now we are about to head down to the south of the island for the sunset and some dinner :). Tomorrow we are taking a day trip to Koh Phi Phi!!!

Emma