Well on Ko Phi Phi we had done as Prince said and partied like it was 1999 and hit Railay Beach for a bit of a more chilled out vibe. Railay Beach itself is a province of Krabi and we made it there via ferry from Ko Phi Phi. Our price had included a free bus transfer down to a small dock where in Krabi where we would take a long tail boat to Railay. After getting off the ferry at Krabi we walked along the arrival dock to where the bus would pick us up from. The bus was a truck that had been converted into a large type of tuk-tuk, like the ones used as local buses in Cambodia that can fit around 25-30 people on. We are used to the look of these buses and were more than happy to load up our bags and climb on. The bus was pretty full and Bev took one look and said "I'm not gettin on that like! No way! I will pay for a taxi to take us there instead" So we found a spacious air conditioned mini bus that would take us to where we needed to be in comfort and in a lot quicker time all for the price of 300 baht (around £7) and Bev would not accept a penny for it bless her. She's a good egg. So shaving about an hour off our trip we hopped out of our mini bus at the little pier where we paid 60 baht each for a long tail boat that would take us round the sharp gutting outskirts of the Krabi coastline and drop us off on the east side of Railay Beach. Like Ko Phi Phi, Railay is roadless with a network of paths leading from the east beach to the west beach. It is a place you wished that you could have all to yourself but there is not much chance of that as the package holiday scene seems to have taken over a little. After walking with our bags to the west beach in the blistering heat, Bev and Cat went to check out places in the flash packer territory as me and Ash trudged on up the beach in search of some budget accommodation.

After being quoted stupid prices up and down the beach we decided to head back towards the east side of Railay in hope of finding somewhere more in our price range. After a good walk about with our backpacks strapped on for what felt like a lifetime, caked in sweat, we finally found a place that suited our purse strings. We had found some bungalows a good mile and a half's walk away from the beach but it would do for a few nights anyway. It wasn't the best bungalow we have stopped in but it wasn't the worst. We woke up a few times with a scratchy sound coming from inside the roof, it was probably a rat but he wasn't doing us any harm so we let him be. Anyway, after losing half our body weight in sweat we had a quick shower and made our way back down to the beach to meet Bev and Cat for a spot of lunch. That is where I had left you last as we sat in the bar on Railay Beach in the previous blog. That day the weather had been fine and we could only fit in a bit sun shine before the heavens opened up and well and truly fell.As the rain died down we went our separate ways for a bit time out before we hit the bars for a few drinks that night. We had arranged to walk down to where Bev and Cat where staying to meet and it was also a good chance to check out what we wished we were staying in. It was luxury, well we thought that, but Bev wasn't happy and said that "there's not enough lights in here, I can't see nowt!" which made us laugh. The picky cow. Only joking Bev but it was funny though. We made our way out of the maze of a resort and made our way up the east side of Railay to hit the bars. After a few drinks here and there we made our way to a place called Last Bar which funnily enough is the last bar on that side of Railay. There is a cool and funky vibe to the place with a large raised seating area covered with low down tables and cushions scattered everywhere to put your bum on.Ladies get there first drink there for free and even with my best efforts to show the waiter I had breasts, he was having none of it. So four drinks ordered and muggin's here was the only one who had to pay. The place was buzzing with other travellers and people on holiday with people constantly stumbling upon the last bar. A father and son acoustic act played a number of covers from old to new and they both had amazing voices and done the songs great justice and went down a storm. They even pulled off 'Hey Jude' with ease as the crowd sang in harmony "NA, NA, NA, NANANANAAAAA, NANANANAAAAA HEY JUDE...." The night was going great and we were well in the swing of things assisted by a few Thai whiskey and Thai rum buckets. The party was nearly in full swing as the fire show started. We had seen plenty of these over the past few days on Ko Phi Phi but one of the kids in this show was out of this world. The things he would do were amazing. He would throw his flaming chains high into the air and after a few spins would catch them in his moth at the last moment and carry on with his routine. Watching how he would do different tricks using different fingers to control the chains was mind blowing and the speed of it all made it extra hard to see how he was doing it. It's hard to describe to you what it was like but there was just something a little bit more special to this guy than the other fire show artist we had seen. After the flames died down, the music was turned up and that was our cue for a good old boogie into the small hours.

The next day we all woke a bit worse for wear and the weather seemed to imitate what our heads felt like as it rained pretty much none stop. We had arranged to see Bev and Cat just down on the beach somewhere and some time as Railay isn't too big and it's not hard to spot people. To keep out of the rain we had set up camp in a bar down on the beach on the west side of Railay and had a few fruit shakes to nurse our hangovers. After a while Bev came round the corner closely followed by a hobbling Cat with a heavily strapped up ankle. We would understand if it was Bev as she was always tripping over things or up things much to our amusement. On walking back to their digs, Cat had not seen a step downward and walked on resulting in a twisted ankle. Hope it feels better soon Cat if it's not already. But as a collective we felt like we had maybe enjoyed ourselves a little too much the night before. We were all in agreement that our last night together would be a toned down affair with a nice bit of grub and if we could stomach it, a glass of wine. As time passed we made our way back to our digs to get dolled up a bit for our last supper. The path leading to where we were staying was completely flooded due to the heavy rain and there was no choice but to wade through it. It was rather dark by this point and the amount of frogs around the area was unreal. You couldn't see them but you could defiantly hear them. Paul McCartney's 'Frog Chorus' had nothing on this. So with wet feet and squeaky flip flops, we made our way to our bungalow and pulled on our glad rags and hot footed it back down the path, back through the water and onto Bev and Cat's boudoir. With Cat's ankle we decided to stay around the area so Cat didn't have to hobble too far and found a great place offering fish BBQ with all the different types of fish that had been caught that day laid out in front of us. Bev and Cat opted for a whole BBQ Red Snapper that fell of the bone and was absolutely beautiful as me and Ash went for the Barracuda, reminiscent of the BBQ fish we had had back in Cambodia on Bamboo Island. The girls were a lot braver than me and split a bottle of wine, as for me my stomach still wasn't 100% ready for booze so I opted for a softer option. The food was great as was the conversation as we talked about what we had been up to the past ten days or so laughing pretty much all the way through. We paid our bill and the time had come to say goodbye. Cuddles and kisses were handed out like they were going out of fashion. We had a right laugh together and we were really sorry and sad to say goodbye to Bev and Cat. It had felt like we had been on a holiday away from travelling with them and the next day moving on without them felt a little funny. But we have to get back into travelling as our holiday with the girls was sadly now over.

The next morning, we had arranged for a ferry to take us from Railay Beach to our next port of call, Ko Lanta. We picked up our backpacks and set off down towards the beach on the west side to where we would take the ferry from and after two days of rain, the sun had put his hat on. Typical, the only time you don't want the sun to shine is when you're weighed down with your backpack on. It didn't take us long to reach the beach and we sat as we had some time to kill before the long tail boat would collect us and take us out to the ferry. With it being sunny I decided to sit on the beach for a while as we hadn't actually had a chance to sit on it all the time we were there due to the rain. After a while we were shouted of, dumped our bags onto the long tail boat and made the short trip out to sea to board the ferry that awaited us. The ferry was great and we sat up on deck in the sunshine with our feet hanging down over the sides. As the ferry made its way toward Ko Lanta cutting through the sea with ease, watching the flying fish fly along the surface out of the way of the ships path was fascinating. We couldn't believe how far they would go, some of them carried on until you couldn't see them anymore, maybe a good 50meters or so. The trip took around two hours and we arrived at Ko Lanta dock at around 1pm and were a bit taken aback with how busy and bustling the place was. People touting and handing out flyers for guesthouses and resorts, car's with speakers on the roof pumping out the many offers at the different bars on the island and many more. Ashleigh got talking to a woman who had told her of her family run business down on the beach offering bungalows and rooms starting from 250 baht. A free taxi/tuk-tuk would take us for a look and if we didn't like it we could simply move on. We climbed aboard our free ride and made our way down the island taking about 15 minutes to get there. We checked out the different rooms available and opted for a supper clean large room for 300 baht a night. That is a steal in these places. The location is great to as you step down from our reception and you are on the beach, keep walking another 10meters and you are in the sea. Needless to say we had spent the past few days getting our tan on and not really doing much at all bar walking up and down the beach trying the foods of the many restaurants that are on offer. It is funny to think that as we build sand castles, you lot are probably building snowmen. I'm not trying to rub it in, it's just hard to get your head around that it is snowing back home when you are sat on a sunny beach. It is so easy just to sit by the sea all day there and we have read about people getting stuck there because they just find it too hard to leave. I can see what they mean. The most stressful thing we had to do was make sure we made it to the White Rock bar in time for the free BBQ before the Newcastle-Chelsea game. Stone me, what a life. We stayed on Ko Lanta for four days and decided it was time to island hop once more.

We were up and on the beach by 8am as we had a long tail boat booked to take us to Ko Muk, a small island part of the Trang province further south down the Southern Andaman Coast. We waited for our boat to come and nearly an hour later we were told that a car had come to pick us up as the waves were too strong for the boat to collect us from the shore. A short drive to the southern tip of Ko Lanta, we boarded the long tail boat that awaited us. The boat was full of other people who had booked the boat out for the day for a snorkelling trip around the islands close by. So we had the pleasure of watching people snorkel for an hour or so en route to the island of Ko Muk. As the others were snorkelling, the boatmen were fishing for Cuttle fish using a simple lure and fishing wire wrapped around a water bottle. They would throw the line out and pull it in slowly by winding the line around the bottle. Who needs fishing rods when you have a bottle and some wire! They must have used their best lures as they caught four Cuttle fish within five minutes. I even had the pleasure of being inked by one as the boatman pulled it into the boat. Right up my back it went and pretty much all over the back of the boat. Not a single drop hit Ashleigh or the bloke pulling the spurting creature into the boat against its will. Well I suppose it is something I can cross off the things to do before I die list, get inked by a Cuttle fish: TICK! So after my favourite vest was ruined by an angry ugly looking fish, everybody in the snorkel group climbed back aboard and we made our way toward Ko Muk where we would disembark and let the snorkel group get on with the rest of their day. After a cheeky bonus of some fresh pineapple and watermelon being handed out on the boat, we could see Ko Muk in our sights. We pulled up a good 15meters from the shore were told that we had to get off the boat here as the boat would not be stopping bar dropping us off. I didn't really think that the water would be as deep as it was but after jumping over the side of the boat found myself nearly waist deep in the warm sea water. I made a few trips back and forth for our backpacks and carried them held over my head so the precious contents of our lives for the next X amount of months would not get soaked through, unlike my short pockets. We had told the boatman that we wanted to stay at Coco Lodge and the ticket agent said if we told him where we were staying he would drop us off at the correct beach/pier. We knew that Coco Lodge was within walking distance of Ko Muk Pier via reading up on it in the mini bible that Bev gave us on the Thai islands & beaches (cheers Bev) After a few steps onto the soft white sands we noticed that there was no pier and by the sign of the resort just ahead that we were on Charlie beach....the other bloody side of the island we needed to be on.

After a bit of a giggle at the situation we soldiered on and found a small taxi office that would take us to Coco Lodge for 100 baht (£2.20p-ish). We sat and waited for our taxi to arrive and were both surprised by what it was. We have travelled on many a mode of transport so far but to see a motorbike with a half steel cage welded to the side of it with a padded seat as a taxi took us by surprise. We loaded our bags on, Ashleigh clambered into the cage whilst I sat on the back of the bike and we held hands for a bit more stability. Once off the dirt track the ride was ok and we started to enjoy our motorbike come cattle cage taxi ride through the small island that is made up of little shanty villages. The road itself was only around 2-3meters wide with only a few turning points as it is the only road on the island. I was told that there are only around six cars on the island and only seen one in motion all the time we were there. The locals mainly get around the island by motorbike or bicycle. After our ride across the island taking about five minutes we finally pulled up at Coco Lodge. First impressions were great as a number of palm thatched bungalows sat happily between a breeze swept coconut grove with a small restaurant come reception sat looking out toward the pier and the fishing boats that sat emptied of their days catch. Within seconds the friendly owner was there to greet us and ask how our trip was. Beckoning us to sit down he asked "have you ate yet?" which was music to our ears as we both felt like we could eat a scabby horse. A menu was brought over and no time was lost in putting in our order. We were both pleased with the price of the food too as it was rather cheap but we were more pleased with the taste of it. It was great and we ate pretty much every meal there. We have found that just because it's cheap, it doesn't mean that the food is going to be crap. We have splashed out on food on some occasions and have been rather disappointed with it, and then you spend peanuts on street food and it turns out to be some of the best food we have ever tasted. But as I was saying, as we ate the owner sat with us chatting about what we had been up to and where we were from etc, etc. He is a really charming bloke and he has the quality to make you like him within seconds of talking to him. With his long black hair the length of his back and his wiry gray beard and wispy moustache, he looked like an old master from vintage martial arts movies. After we had practically licked our plates clean our friendly host showed us to our room. We had booked ahead whilst on Ko Lanta and had booked a 400 baht a night room (about £10). Walking towards these rooms, our friendly host lead us up a path towards the bungalows and said "In the room you book, no air, not fresh, not good for you. Take one of these as they are better, plenty air, same price for you" we were over the moon as the bungalows were 600 baht per night (£15) so we had scored a free upgrade so to say. We have stopped in loads of bungalows and this one was rather charming with a balcony and it even had stairs to the rear leading out down to a beautifully kitted out open air bathroom, well as beautifully as an open air bathroom at the back of a bamboo bungalow could be anyway. After making ourselves feel at home in our new bungalow, we took a stroll out to have a look about our side of the island. Walking through one of the small fishing villages passing houses built out of anything and everything that looked like they would fall down with the slightest breeze, we passed the pier and walked down the beach looking out toward the few small islands that were dotted about and the peaks of the mainland in the distance. The sand was brilliant white and was incredibly fine, it was more like a powder and it would squeak against your foot as you walked on it. It sounded like we were playing a game of basketball, not walking along a beach. The beach narrows inward from both sides to form an arrowhead of sand. We sat at the tip looking out to sea benefitting from the breeze for a good while. Ashleigh even had time to build a sand man instead of the snowmen that people are probably building back home. Using seashells for his eyes, mouth and buttons, he was finished off with two little sticks for arms and a bit of dried sea plant as a nose. With the sandman complete he was aptly and originally named Sandy. As the clouds pulled over the blue sky we headed back to Coco Lodge to sit on our porch for a while, reading our books and drinking some cheap beers we bought at the local shop.

The next day we woke to weather that was a bit grim. The rain seemed to be in for the day but that would not stop us getting out and about on this canny little island. After a good breakfast and a good old chin wag with our friendly host, we took out some bicycles from our digs to have a good nose around the place. At first we thought we had to rent the bikes as it was advertised on his notice board but when we asked our friendly host the cost, he closed his eyes and said "Free, free, free!"We loved this, first of all an upgrade on our room and now free bikes for the day. I'm not sure if it was because at the time we were the only people stopping there or if he was just being nice. But either way we weren't going to say no to anything free. So with grey skies above and the rain always promising a downpour, we cycled round the island and through the different villages stopping near Charlie Beach for a drink. We got chatting to the owners of the bar and spent a few hours there out of the rain. "The Eagle has landed..." said one of the owners of the bar which threw me a little "Follow me" he said as he could probably tell by my face that I didn't know what he was going on about. We walked just down the path from the bar and he pointed up into a tree over the road and there sat on a branch was a white headed sea eagle. It was a fare size to, I would say it had a wing span of around one and a half meters. The local man who owns a restaurant over the road from the bar feeds it each day and the man said that you can nearly set your watch by it returning each day to be fed. We got back on our bikes to ride back to Coco Lodge stopping at the shop first for a few treats and some more beers to enjoy on our porch. Ashleigh was over the moon because she finally had some groceries to put in her basket at the front of her bike. Later that evening we ate at Coco Lodge with our friendly host walking back and forth serving different customers whilst having conversations with every table. People staying at the other resorts would come here each night to eat and drink simply because the food is better and cheaper. The cook come waitress brought our food over for us and as she put it on our table let out a little laugh. She would do this every time she brought us something over the couple of days we stayed there. The laugh reminded me of Yoda's laugh from Star Wars and she would do it without fail each time, even if we asked for the bill. After it died down a little our friendly host sat near us to have a cigarette and as always we got talking. He leads a very interesting life as he lives on Ko Muk for six months of the year and lives the other six living in France with his wife and child working for a camping company. After paying our bill and saying our goodnight's we hit the hay in our little home from home.

Our time on Ko Muk was near an end and we just had a bit more time left to sit and eat a late breakfast with our friendly host. As we ate and chatted he picked up his plates and said "Try this, real Thai food, I can't put on the menu for customers as it's too spicy". One of them was like a fried egg salad with a tomato spicy salsa that was really fresh and vibrant and the other was probably the best curry I have tasted. We both lapped up our little free sample and told him that no matter what he should put them both on the menu. After paying our bill, our friendly host called us a taxi that was the same as the first one to take us back to Charlie Beach where we would catch a speed boat to Ko Lipe at 2pm. We said our goodbyes and shook hands and he didn't stop smiling till we were out of sight. It's funny that I have been referring to him as 'our friendly host' all this time but it's because we never did get his name and he never got ours. Funny how you can talk to somebody so much, on so many different occasions without even knowing what they are called. Just goes to show what kind of a guy he is when you just want to talk to somebody because of the way he is. We are on Ko Lipe now but I have gone on far too much already so I will leave that till another time.

Love Peter and Ashleigh x