Hello all,

Well here I am in Patong, Thailand. I flew into Phuket last Monday and caught a bus straight to Patong Beach as I needed to be near a beach with the strong humid temperature here. I have been staying at Coast Star Mansion (on Bangla Road) which is actually really nice for a Thai hotel, however, nobody speaks any english at the hotel whatsoever and all the guests are also Thai/Chinese/Cambodian etc. so I found it really hard to make friends here (and also felt very unsafe sleeping at nights). Nonetheless I have been spending everyday just soaking up the sun and relaxing as much as possible before I return to the UK.

The first 5 days were spent on a seriously tight budget as I was still awaiting my taxback from Australia and was getting down to my last 2000THB (for all of you who don't know how much this is - its about $10 or Thirty pound)!! I spent those days drinking as much water as I could from the hotel taps which is a 'no no' as far as the Thai's are concerned as it makes you sick and at about 5pm I used to go on a hunt for a 20THB meal which usually was a peice of fruit or a little bowl of rice - I am happy to say that my tax has now come through and I am about 1/2 stone lighter which is a bonus as I needed to shift this holiday weight anyway!! No matter how skint, starving and ill I felt, I still woke up with a big smile feeling like one of the luckiest people alive!

Patong Beach is really nice and the Thai people seem really friendly but the country still seems very 3rd world and sometimes quite unclean. I didn't get much chance to go into the local areas on the outskirts as I didn't have the money to rent a car/bike but I hope to do this in the next Thai Island I visit.

Well over and out for now and I will be back in touch when I reach my next destination which I hope to be Koh Samui.

All my love Steph xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx