After the rainstorm and the electricity blowing, it was pitch black for about 10 minutes before it started to get light.

At 6.45am we boarded the boat and sat at the front. There were seats downstairs but we decided once the sun came out the top deck would be nice, it was! I sat on my inflatable pillow with my feet hanging over the side of the boat, watching the sunrise over a nearby island with the breeze going past it was pretty much paradise! I kept falling asleep after a while and banging my head on the rail, so I laid down instead and put my pillow under my head. After a snooze I thought I should check that my bag hadn't fallen overboard, so I lifted my head up and put my arm up to stop my pillow from blowing away, but I was too late and my pillow blew overboard! I will miss that pillow. I will probably buy another one in Singapore airport in a couple of weeks time as I'll probably need it for the Greyhound journeys in Australia!

We arrived at Koh Tao at around 10am and were met off of our boat by a lady, who took us in a truck to our hotel. It is down a small dirty road, but then you turn one corner and you're on the beach!

Our hotel is quite nice, and we have two rooms. We had breakfast sitting on cushions at low tables next to the sea. Once we had our rooms we found a spot on the secluded beach and stayed there all day. The sea is bright turquoise and the sand is white - I spent so much time in the sea (although a small fish bit my leg). After all of the travelling at sightseeing I am so in need of this time to relax.

I tested out my Soltan Once cream - I applied it before the beach and didn't do any more applications all day and I was absolutely fine - no burning! I am glad my investment was worth it, I won't need to use so much suncream now.

I left the beach at around 4.30pm and showered and changed for the evening, and went outside and sat with Keith, a Canadian guy we'd been at the beach with. I took my doxycycline tablet, but because I hadn't had lunch, it made me
get really bad heartburn and feel really nauseous. I was really annoyed because I'd been looking forward to a nice evening and a few cocktails. We all walked down the road to get some beers from the minimart, but I just got some water and a bag of 'American corn snacks' to try and stop the sickness and heartburn. I also realised at around the same time that I had loads and loads of mosquito bites so I had a bad 20 minutes as I itched all over and had painful heartburn and felt sick. Luckily it all subsided after a bit, and we went to meet Rosie and Vix. They had met some people on the beach, two girls called Hayley and Katie who had done a year at Nottingham uni but had dropped out so are travelling together, and at 18 year old boy called George who is on his gap year after (boarding) school. He is really immature and full of crap but funny to listen to nevertheless! We all went for dinner together at the restaurant, overlooking the sea, of the Ko Tao Resort, a really nice resort on the same beach as our hotels. It was nice having a big group at dinner, although I was still feeling a bit funny so I had an iced tea instead of a beer like the others. After a long dinner we wandered back along the beach and went to a bar which is on stilts over the beach (it is over the sea when the tide is in). The bar was sunken in so to order you sit on the floor on cushions, and all of the tables are really low as well. I had a mojito diablo, which involved tequila, creme de cassis, and mint. It sounds horrible but it was really nice!

Everybody got tired quite early after the lack of sleep the previous night, so we all headed to bed at around half eleven. The atmosphere here is so chilled out and the bay is beautiful, so I'm really looking forward to a nice few days here before the full moon party on Saturday.

xxx