Hey again everyone! I'm writing to you from Thailand once again, and, as promised, the last 10 days or so has largely involved chilling by the beach by day, and boozing by night. One might say a welcomed change from the depressing scenes that have influenced us recently in Cambodia and Vietnam. We flew from Bangkok to Phuket, then got a boat to Kho Phi Phi, another boat to Kho Lanta, then a minivan and ferry to Krabi, where we are now. Phuket is pronounced Poo-ket, but for anyone who thought it was 'f***it', they wouldnt be far off what the actual place is like. The place, or at least Patong Beach where we stayed, is an absolute sleaze fest! We noticed on the plane there a couple of western 60+ yr olds with young thai girls, and that was an indication of things to come. The island was full of old beer bellied westerners with tiny young thais on arm, it was pretty disgusting at times to be honest! Sadly while i was in Phuket i fell ill so i didnt really get to the beach or go out much, apart from for J's birthday. His birthday was a good laugh though, and walking through the streets there I've never seen so many 'working girls'! A couple of them were harassing us, which was made slightly worse when I told one of them that J was looking for a thai bride to take back to London! I later heard her say to him that she wanted to go and live with him in England!! It was a funny experience but we were well behaved!! After Phuket we went to the kind of islands that I came travelling for. We'd heard good things about Phi Phi, but when we got to the beach there at 5pm I was gutted. It looked awful! The bay was picturesque but there was hardly any water! It was only when we came back the next day at 11/12 that we saw how beautiful it actually was. Not only was there water cos it was high tide, but the water was an amazing turquoise. The sand was white, and this all within a bay encircled with forrested cliffs. We supplemented swimming and sun bathing with a healthy (unhealthy?) dose of going out and drinking at night. A favourite was the Reggae bar which had a thai boxing ring in. The bar encouraged westerners to get up and fight each other in exchange for 4 buckets of booze!! It occasionally got quite fierce! J, adorned in the thai boxing shorts i bought him for his b-day was tempted to get up and fight, but it didnt get any further I'm afraid! The next day we did a tour of some of the islands around Phi Phi. We saw some beautiful islands including Maya Bay on Phi Phi Leh which was where the bay from the film 'The Beach' was flimed. We snorkelled around there too and saw some amazing fish. We also Kayaked a little to Monkey Island and Bamboo Island. While Kayaking, I repeatedly told J the following: "Watch out J, if we capsize, make sure u hold ur ore or it will hit me in the face". Repeatedly. Repeatedly I told him. And yet, it was really of little surprise when not only did his blundering movements cause the little Kayak to overturn, but he promptly released his grip of his ore. In what is the least surprising thing ever, the ore then swung and landed straight on my nose. Why I still let this man travel with me I am still unsure. In fairness to him, and cos hes probably gonna read this and then moan at me, it was an accident. Although its also worth pointing out that one night when he was so drunk he could hardly walk I thought I'd broken my thumb punching him. It still hurts a little actually, but its on the mend! Anyway, from Phi Phi we then headed to the quiet island of Koh Lanta. This was a really really chilled out island. We hired a jeep to drive around the island but there wasnt much to do other than have a drink and relax. The people who worked where we were staying were absolutely amazing though, probably the warmest and most genuine of everyone we're met. They drank with us and were always talking to us and joking with us, trying to help us out whenever they could. The people were the main reason it was so difficult to leave that place. The Lanta part of our trip was also where Big Hanna came to visit. Yup, my brother Paul came to stay with us for a few days. It was good to see him, it had been about 8 months, what with him working in Japan. We said goodbye this morning though, we all travelled to Krabi where he got his flight and we are staying for a couple more nights. Sam and I are going rock climbing tomorrow, then we head to the islands on the east of Thailand for the full moon party in Kho Pan Ngan, and hopefully to do a Scuba Diving Course in Kho Tao. Thanks for all your messages guys, stay in touch and take care of yourselves. All the best, Si