Well met me new group and they are lovely. Still mainly younger than me but at least they know how to have a conversation. Our new tour guide is another local Thai lady called Wasa (her real name is impossible to say!). She is just crazy but knows so much information it’s amazing. On the Sunday a few of us went on a local boat trip along the canal and then to Wat Po. The boat trip was ok although we saw a lot of river snakes and considering we were in a boat that felt it could topple at any moment we were pretty glad once the trip had finished. It was a really good way to see how the local people live though as they wash clothes and dishes and also swim in this river which is just filthy! Wat Po is a temple where there is a huge gold reclining Budda. It was quite impressive to see and its feet are covered in mother of pearl. The colours at the temple were very ornate just like the Grand Palace.

That night we caught an over night train, which was very basic and probably one of the worst I have been on although saying that I did not see one bug, which is a bonus. I was in the very last bed of the train and was pretty rough ride being thrown around everywhere. I was on the train with my new group and the group I had just done the trek with so we pretty much filled an entire carriage. We arrived Sukat at around 7:30am and had breakfast before boarding a private minibuses for 2.5 hours to Ao Nang which is near Krabi. Koa Phi Phi is off the coast of Ao Nang and is famous for the film ‘The Beach’ with good old Leo D.

This is a proper beach resort and the beach is amazing although there is a lot of jelly fish washed up on the beach, which made us reluctant to swim. Plus it’s like having a hot bath in this water! Yesterday we went on a speed boat for the day that took us to several islands. It was amazing to see as the water is so clear here. Had the best time snorkeling and saw so many amazing fish but no Nemo unfortunately. Although our guide kept shouting ‘shark’ in order to scare us! We stopped off at several beaches as well and one in particular was called bamboo island and was just like paradise.

Last night a few of us tried food off a local stall and have lived to tell the tale…so far. I am finding Thailand a lot more expensive that Cambodia or Vietnam and I am sure Malaysia and Singapore will be even more expensive. A few of this group are staying in Singapore past the end day of this tour so we are planning a few days together and might visit the new universal studios that opened this year!

It is super hot today that even the locals are suffering. So many of the group burnt yesterday that we are living I aircon internet cafes! It must be well over 40oC right now.

Tomorrow we have a 10 hour bus journey over the boarder to Penang in Malaysia. One of the girls on my trip realized she has over stayed her visa date by 13 days and so we expect a bit of a hold up at the border tomorrow in order for her to pay the 10 UK pound a day fine! (sorry no pound sign on this keyboard!). Should be interesting! Our mini bus has a dvd player so we went and got some dvds yesterday to watch to break up the trip so fingers crossed it will go quite quickly.

Next time I blog I will be in Malaysia :)
xxx