I think George and I were glad to get away from Khao Sok. It was such a beautiful place but the rain was a bit too much I think. We got a bus on the 7th with the intention of having one night there before getting a long awaited flight to Chiang Mai where we would go our separate ways, him to continue to travel Thailand and myself to go up through to Laos.

We booked a cheap enough place, this time about £7 a night called Hit Box 26. It boasted that it was a "boutique" (still no idea what this means) with a swimming pool but upon checking in we realised the "box" part of the name of the hotel literally meant that. We were basically stopping in containers similar to what I've stopped in before when deployed. It was fine though. We dropped our bags off and headed for a shopping centre in search for a store that could look at George's phone after it's water intake. We walked a few km to the nearest centre and soon learnt that his phone was beyond repair. The chap that looked at it said "byebye phone" after opening it up which naturally tickled me, but annoyed George somewhat. If you look on trip adviser for Surat Thani it comes up with about 10 options all of which are probably not worth seeing. But we spotted a recommendation for a night market and went there

It definitely wasn't the greatest night market I've visited on my travels but did have loads of options for food. We bimbled through and had some chicken, squid and fish cakes before taking a break and buying a beer at the shop. We then got straight back involved. We spotted a chap who was being followed by cameras and appeared to be a bit of a celebrity. We were gonna try the delicacies at this stall anyway but when we popped up next to him, he insisted on giving us what he had. It was a crab turned ups-side down with crab eggs inside. Served with a delightful salad. Another plate he gave us was oysters. I've only ever had oysters once, just off Blackpool beach so was a little reluctant to try these as I really couldn't stand the ones I tried a decade ago. I'm so glad I did though, they were absolutely amazing. This chap was having pictures taken while talking to us and giving us these plates of food. At one point he picked up some sort of twig/leaf off one plate and fed it to me saying I need to taste it with the crab, which was a bit weird seeing as though he wasn't the straightest bloke I've ever met. I can't wait for that to get on Facebook. It turns out this guy is a man called "Chef Mcdang" and after researching him, he's probably the most famous chef in Thailand. He was on one of Gordan Ramseys shows a while ago so he must be a big gun!

After that we walked around aimlessly looking for some sort of bar but really struggled. The place, although having a population of over a million really has very little to offer for the tourist. However, we found somewhere and picked up a German lady on the way who also wanted a few beers that night. The bar we found boasts live music but we got there far too early and had a few hours to kill before it got lively. So to save money we went to a shop literally 2 houses away and drank out the front. Locals joined us, we enjoyed an amazing whiskey that they served which I don't remember the name of. But for less than £2 for a big tot and as smooth as all I've ever tasted, it was a right bargain. By about 2100 we were sufficiently fuelled to hit the bar. The live music was great, they went out their way to play English music and banged out a bit of Oasis for me which is always good. We staggered out at about 0100 and dropped the German lady off at her hotel before getting back to the box.

The next morning I awoke feeling pretty ropey but not too bad. I had received an email the day before off future employers and it turns out I have to be back in the UK a month before I wanted really which meant I only had about 3 weeks left. So last minute I decided I'd much rather see Cambodia than Laos, if it was my last blast on this trip, and booked a flight there. I then said goodbye to George. He really is a great man. I remember first meeting him when I got to volunteering. I was hanging out for my bed but this muscly German young guy was bouncing around asking if I was heading out to work that afternoon. I said no because I was tired but then had a word with myself and joined him. Turns out he couldn't hack being a gladiator but still... I forgive him for that. Also over the last few weeks he's only beat me at table-tennis and a very narrow defeat at connect4 (I was seeing double)... I thrashed him at pool, golf, cards (I'm sure there's more?!) ahh yes when we played footy against the locals I had him in my pocket... On a serious note though, one of the most genuine blokes I've ever met and I feel very blessed to have spent the last 5 weeks with him. He's a mate for life.

So it's Cambodia tomorrow. Cannot wait.