Now this was something I had really, really been looking forward too. Phang Nga bay, or James Bond Island as they call it in Thailand.

My start wasn't too early, so already that made for a more relaxing day. I was picked up and driven out to the Phang Nga province, away from Phuket, where I boarded yet another speedboat that was moored in a canal, which looked a bit dodgy.

It was a much smaller group, thankfully, and there were no Russians in my group. Again, thankfully. There was a group of Norwegians, who I got along really well with, especially this guy with really long hair and a long beard, who insisted on making the devil sign associated with heavy metal in all his photos.

We first stopped on a small island, where we could see the outlines of great rock formations, shrouded in mist in the distance. We could also swim here in the green water of the bay. I went out a fair way and I could feel bubbles under my feel, there must be springs under the surface. After my quick swim I pulled up a towel on the bank, under a tree, in the shade so as not to aggravate my sunburn further.

Our next stop was actually in the bay for a canoe ride. We boarded our small canoes and were taken around the rock formations. It wasn't too hot and it was lovely and relaxing. I sat with my feet over the side and dragged my hand in the cool water. At one point we reached a cave, where we could canoe about half way inside. At the end of the cave I could see a light and the man doing the rowing said at low tide you could go underneath that. I asked if I could get out and swim under it, he replied I could, thinking I was kidding. "No, I'm serious", I said. Both the man and everyone in the group laughed. Yeah guys, that right…I'm kidding.

We left out canoes and moved on to lunch, on the way this young Thai man on the back of the boat made a flower out of some reeds and gave it to me, which was very sweet. We reached the lunch stop which was an actual village, floating in the middle of the bay. Home to 2000 people apparently. The food was awful and I soon left to have a better look at the place. Most of it was roped off and marked Under Construction, but my Thai friend took me beyond the signs and showed me some real village life, including a school and a few houses. Finally, something real in this country and not just set up to please tourists, it felt really great to be there. There were a few shops around and I bought these beautiful wall hangings and a pair of pants with Bob Marley on the. Guess I'm a real backpacker now! There was also another Gibbon being pimped out by a lady boy for photos, one of the stranger sites I've seen on my travels. I actually wanted to ask the lady boy if I could have a photo with her instead of the Gibbon, but didn't know if this was appropriate.

We left the wonderful floating village and headed for the so called JamesBondIslandwhere The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed. We reached it and I forgot to put my thongs back on, which made the experience quite painful as the island was rather rocky and there was climbing involved. At last I reached the view point and I could see a spectacular site. A small bay surrounded by cliffs on either side, in the centre of the bay there was an inverted needle of rock, covered in greenery and looking as if it would fall over at any moment. It was an awesome sight, I actually made a point of desisting with the photo taking for a few minutes, to just sit and look at the strange, but wonderful sight. I sat there so long, by Thai friend had to come and get me.

After that experience we headed off for a rather large cave, so large that it contained a small beach and two speed boats could fit in the entrance. It was called ice cream cave, because of the formations. This, however, only made me want ice cream again and my thoughts flashed to my Fantastic Four sundae of the night before.

We then proceeded back to the canal, which had basically dried up as it was now low tide. The pontoon was now beached and I had to almost take a flying leap to get onto the jetty, which was now at least five feet above the pontoon. Again, my Thai friend helped me. I was then taken back to my hotel, where I had dinner with Mum and Dad. How? I hear you ask? Skype on my iPhone of course. I just placed the phone in the spare place setting at my table and it was as if I was having dinner at the restaurant with my parents. Isn't modern technology wonderful? After dinner, which also consisted of another major awesome ice cream moment and my chat with my parents, I went off to my room for a quiet night, to ponder the horror of my crazy, non-though ticketed, double flight connection tomorrow. God help me!