Koh Chang has been the best of the Thai islands for me. I headed for Lonely beach and splashed out on a seafront bungalow with a hammock and a deck chair.

As soon as I'd checked in I went for a walk down to the beach and instantly bumped into half 4 Argentenian guys that had been on the bus trip from hell to Luang Prabang. And there were a few other familiar faces that I'd met along the way. The Island is so chilled out including all of the locals who run the bars and restaurants and after a couple of days you feel like a regular.

On the first night I went to the barand got chatting to a couple of guys at the pool table, and it turns out one of the guys, Rad and his wife Linda lives 100 metres down my road and drinks in all the local Teddington pubs, including even the Builders Arms!

I must confess I didn't do much in my eight days on the Island as the beach was so good, and everyone just congregates there day after day. There werer travellers who were staying for weeks and I had to tear myself away in the end. Nights were just made up of lazing on the hammock watching the the sun go down, small stake poker games and the occasional beach party ;-)

But whilst lazing around I did meet a girl called Angela who had just come from Cambodia after having volunteered at a children's orphanage for kids with HIV.I had thought about volunteering before I came away, but I was worried that a token gesture of a week wouldn't be really be adding anything. However Angela said a month would be good, so she contacted the orphanage on my behalf and I signed up. Little bit worried about giving English lessons but we'll se how it goes. It also gave me an incentive to leave Koh Chang.

So that's it for Thailand for a least 3 months. I've had a great time over the last 6 weeks, and whilst it's a very well trodden path for travellers, it's easy to see why because it's a cracking country. I didn't even put on that much weight with all the food I'd been shoving in my face!