So we had a couple of days free in Bangkok where we said our fond farewell's to some of our group and enjoyed the capital for the last time. This included going to the seedy Patpong district, where they try and con you into paying hundreds of Baht for their "Ping-Pong" shows. But we still had two good nights in a row.

My birthday was spent visiting our last temple (can't quite decide if i'm relieved or sad!!!). They are beautiful and very peaceful but we must've visited about 7 or 8 so far. Just before we got on our overnight train to Surat Thani, i had to buy some bangkok street food for the last time. I went for the local favourite "Pad Thai". A noodle base dish with veg and sometimes chicken, pork or shrimp for a bit more. In the restaurants the price of this is about 60-100 Baht but on the street - 20 Baht! And it was the tastiest yet. The lady cooked it in front of me and i got to choose my own noodles from about 7 different types. Superb.

We took some donuts (a little birthday treat maybe!) onto the train, had half for supper and saved the rest for breakfast. Only, when we woke up, they were gone! Somebody actually stole our donuts! The cheek of it.

In Surat Thani, we got a bus to the pier then a ferry to the middle of three island - Koh Pha Ngan (pronounced koh pan yang). It was here we celebrated my birthday in style as the 28th was the night of the full moon and, on Koh Pha Ngan, the full moon brings the full moon party. A mass of tourists flock there for this special occasion of partying on the beach all night long. A superb night and a brilliant atmosphere. Slightly marred by the theft happening around us. One of our group (poor Fran) had her purse and disposable camera stolen and we found two other items that had been stolen from other unfortunate party goers.

At 4 in the morning we got a boat back to our beach apartments. Taxi'd in style!

The next day was spent recovering and relaxing on the beach. Perfect.

Off to Koh Tao on the 30th Aug - the northernmost of the three islands and probably the most beautiful. A free afternoon on the day of our arrival and a full day of snorkelling at beautiful spots the day after. The sea life is abundant and beautiful. A lot of time spent in the water following fish around and a little bit of sunburn followed even though we covered up for the second half of the day. Hot hot hot. Could easily lose days relaxing without a care on this island. Very very tempting!

Down to the third island the next day, where our tour ends. This ones called Koh Samui and it's the largest and more civilised of them all. Still very beautiful though. I had crab for lunch the day we got here and had the fun of eating it out of the shell - messy but very tasty. Seafood in Thailand is so very cheap compared to back home so i've been taking full advantage of it!

The next day we had a trip out on a speedboat for a bit more snorkelling and a visit to Ang Thong national park - a group of 42 islands near Koh Samui. These are uninhabited and are just as beautiful as any islands we've seen yet.

On the main island Sam, Suzie and I trekked up to the 500m viewpoint bypassing monkeys on the way and struggling our way to the top in the heat. Towards the top it literally turned into rock climbing and made it all the more rewarding when we got to the top because the view was stunning. Worth every bead of sweat.

On the way down was very interesting to say the least! The monkeys we'd walked past on the way up had decided to play around on the path we need to use half way down. We saw this as a perfect photo opportunity and proceeded to take photos and leave them to it before we went passed again. This was all good until one monkey got very close to us, saw my bag strap dangling down and made a dive for it!

Sara already had a monkey scratch her up north and suffered the consequences of many hosptial visits to vaccinate the Rabies she may or may not have contracted! We did not want to join her club.

So we promptly moved on after my close shave and the same monkey blocked sam and suzie's path, they tried to walk around the tree to the side but the monkey jumped up onto the branch right next to them and gave them the fright of their lives! A lucky escape followed and the monkeys happily continued without us! Phew!

The rest of the day was spent admiring the islands and a nice speed boat trip back was interrupted by sams desperation for the toilet! We were 15 mins from land and she just couldn't hold it. Luckily she did (don't know what the rest of us might have contracted if not, haha!) and she sprinted to the toilet block when we landed, refused to pay and peed away!!

The last night with our group was spent in the town of Chaweng on Koh Samui where i had Shark for dinner and we ended up at a Ladyboy Cabaret. Lovely!

We spent one more night on Koh Samui then made our way to Phuket on the Tuesday just gone (4th). Our accommodation on Patpong beach was brilliant. Very nicely decorated, very modern, pool, air-con, fridge, dvd player, safe in our room and with free internet all for 4.50 per person per night (almost as good as our dubai accomodation! only joking Alan!!). Two nights here was enough to see the immediate area. We found ourselves getting hassled more here than anywhere else yet.... NO, we don't want a tuk-tuk; NO we don't want a watch, t-shirt or dress; NO we definitely don't want a suit (although i would've been tempted if it was our last stop because they are tailor made for about 40 pound and very nice); and NO, we don't want any pirate DVD's!

A nice enough place to visit though!

From here (yesterday) we took a bus to Hat Yai then changed for another bus to Satun - A border town where we could catch the ferry to Langkawi. Our first bus driver took our ticket off us so we couldn't show it to the new bus driver. Luckily we were expected (look out for the only two westerners in sight!) and a tiket office chap explained all.

We didn't have the chance to book anywhere in Satun before we got there and the lady at the tour office back in Phuket wrote down the name of a recommended hotel. Where did she write it? On the back of our ticket, the one the first bus driver took from us!!

So the bus driver that got us to Satun asked us where we wanted to be dropped of and we didn't have a clue! So we said "a hotel please". He took us to a very cheap (3 pound a night per room) place. We checked in without thinking about how bad the rooms might be. You guessed it. They were shockingly bad!!! Dirty sheets, no air-con, hence the room was boiling, dirty toilet, dirty walls and floor - it really wasn't nice, even by my standards!!!

So we left our stuff and went looking elsewhere. By chance, we managed to find the hotel we were recommended and it was so much nicer. We upped and left the first place, promptly and checked in to the new hotel. A wise decision!

This morning we got a taxi to the pier, boarded our boat and said our farewell's to Thailand. It's been a brilliant 30 days and we would definitely visit the north again, especially Chiang Mai.

This brings is right up to date in rainy Malaysia! We've got a nice little place in Langkawi. We're not too sure what there is to do here but lets just hope the rain dies off so we can do something!