So it turns out that the 20 or so hours we spent getting from Ayutthaya to Koh Phangan via train bus and boat was actually the easiest part of the journey. After some food and a trip to the internet and the shop we got in a taxi (the open backed roofed jeep variety) across the island to our bungalow resort beach. Most of the road was an actual road, made of concrete slabs. This was grand, although it was bumpy enough, it came nowhere near to the state of the roads from the other side of the hills down to our beach. The roads along here were dirt roads, and most of them had been very well washed by the recent floods. Massive gorges ran along the road where rivers had flown along digging out miny canyons. Our driver seemed completely unphased by any of this and even lacking a four wheel drive veichle he just ploughed on down the hills. At some points the road turned to a mud bath and at some points the hills turned almost vertical, if he made it down there at all there would surely be no way he would make it back again....

We arrived at the resort about a half hour later, and very very shaken. We were shown to our humble abode and we settled in for a bit. Nice little place. Basic, sure.. there is a toilet and sink and shower in one room and a bed in the other. There is a fan and some lights but the electricity gets turned off during the day and at night... when else would you need lights and a fan sure?!?!? We almost had a view straight out to the beach, just slightly obscured by a tree. That said we did have an upstairs balcony with a hammock and a better view. The beach is about 200 metres long with rocky cliffs jutting out either end of it to form a small bay. Along the cliffs on one side are a lot of little bungalows and over to the other side is a small river with a few bungalows on the far side. Its remote here, very remote. There is two or three restaurants and a shop in one of them. No tv, no internet, no mobile phone coverage. This was going to be a test of our ability ro relax and do nothing...

Our basic day consisted of the following: Wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, go swim, lie on the beach, eat lunch, read, swim, lie on the beach, eat dinner, read, wash, go to bed. Some people might find that fantastic, some might find it boring... we were somewhere in between. It was nice to just relax and take it easy, plus the weather was lovely so we were at least able to lie on the beach. We took two walks up the road, the first lasted about five minutes before the heat and hills turned us back. The second was a lot longer as we needed to get to an ATM on the other side of a hill in the nearest town. That was a tough walk, really loose rocks and gravel coupled with some seriously steep up and downs. The views were good though and I will always enjoy hiking through jungles... not that I will ever get to do that in Ireland. Its very like Ilha Grande, same kind of jungle and terrain.

The food too was fanastic. We ate in the main restaurant every day, breakast, lunch and dinner. The food seemed suprisingly fresh, but then the taxi does arrive everyday. The fruit was definately fresh, and since we passed many a banana tree, pineapple plant and coconut trees on the island you can be sure that what you are eating is from at least just around the corner.

The best thing about the place though was all the pets they had. There were about six cats and four or five dogs. All very friendly and clean. While we were eating our dinner the cats would jump up on the chair beside us and the dogs would lie on the ground at our feet. They are skinny things, but not starved so we werent compelled to keep them or feed them either. One of the nights we were sitting having dinner with a Swedish girl who came over on the same taxi as us and she was telling us all about her travels, she has been here eight times. She was telling us all about India and how lovely and horrible it was (never going there ever). She also shed some light on the little buddhist temple bird feeding platform things we have seen everywhere. Apparently the Thai people, inspite of being buddhist are also very superstious, so before building a house on some land, they first erect one of these small houses for the spirits to live in. They then leave offerings of food so that the spirits will stay inside the house... some people leave whiskey, some leave coke and other soft drinks, some leave food.... and every morning it is all gone and instead a fully grown Irish boy is lying in their garden..... the magic of the spirits..

The last thing of note, apart from the many bugs which I wont mention, were the Gekkos. Every night you hear a small grunting noise followed by Ge - Kooo Ge - Kooo over and over. The locals count how many Ge-kos they make, anything about six is good luck. The guy living on our roof was a five at a time gekko, fecker, his last little noise was a ge-koh, like he had just given up. Still it was mad to hear them so clearly

Back in the main ferry town now, waiting to head off to Koh Tao... diving tomorrow... cant wait!!! R and R is over and back to some decent travelling again