30th October 06

After catching the Fast Boat to the Small Island (the Perinthians are made up of two islands - Small Island and Big Island!) we realised we were in our own episode of Lost!! Everything was closed up as the monsoon was on it's way so only 2 places were open - a swanky honeymoon resort which had about 2 guests...and Paradise Bungalows where we stayed!! It was pretty amazing though as we practically had the whole place to ourselves so we explored the island and ots of cards and frisbee were played! Tom had also bought some Poy (fire chains) in Bangkok so we all gave that a go (although we decided not to light them as thought that would probably end in tears!!) There were also wild monkeys from the forest hanging around our hut which was pretty exciting!

One day we decided to hire some kayaks and headed over to check out the Big Island...it was really fun (but hard work!) although the waves picked up as we headed in to Long Beach so both kayaks rolled ... not very smooth...amused the locals though!! Realising that there were more than 3 people on the Big Island we booked a bungalow for the following night!! Shaun and I decided to take the boat back to Small Island as the surf was getting pretty big and Chris and Tom kayaked back...which was pretty impressive!

Had a great few days on the Big Island, we were really lucky with the weather and there was some surf so got some body boarding in too! There were quite a few jellyfish though and a strong rip tide at one end of the beach so had to be careful!!

We were staying at Lilly Chalets and had a massive hut which was cool...and saw lots of wldlife - BIG lizards, massive butterflies etc Chris also spotted a Komodo Dragon coming out from under our hut (atleast we thing thats what it was...although could have been a MASSIVE Monitor Lizard)!! You could see the drag mark from its tail infront of the huts!!

After a really great time on the Perinthians it was time to move on and head back to civilisation so we booked a boat back to the mainland and started to make our way to Penang on the East Coast. The weather turned the morning we left so the boat journey back was VERY choppy to say the least (sidways rain which felt like hale etc...nice!)...