Now for Phuket part 2; we managed to meet up with Aysin (a friend from school) and booked some scuba diving to King Cruiser, Shark Point and Koh Dok Mai. An enjoyable day was had by all but Helen was absolutely gutted as 6 years ago on her last visit to Thailand she managed to see loads of leopard sharks and was told by the Dive Master that their numbers have declined in Thai waters due to shark finning for fin soup in China.

We met up with some Australian Deaf people who got absolutely stonking drunk that it was near impossible to have a conversation with them. Nick and I decided to leave and have an 'early night' even though it was 1am as one of the Australians was vomiting all over the place!

New Years eve day was spent catching sun rays on the beach and dipping in the sea. When we were ready and dresses we went to celebrate NYE with David, Megan and Aysin locally at some bars. Come 11pm we were on Kata beach watching thousands of Chinese lanterns floating in the air. All Helen could think was how many lantern frames would end up in the sea and suffocate sharks, turtles and fish! Despite this we had a great night watching thousands of fireworks going off (albeit randomly). There were no health and safety procedures and it appeared to be a bit dangerous at times.

Despite a great new years eve and bringing in the New year in style we had a very early start on New Years Day as we had to catch the morning ferry to Koh Phi Phi.

One final thing - HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody, we hope 2012 will be a fabulous year and we miss you all!