Hello everyone!
I am aware that I have been nothing short of appalling at keeping you updates with my travels thus far but this is the case no more. In what is probably going to be longest blog entry in history I'll give you a brief run down of what we have been up to over the past 2/3 weeks since leaving Bangkok

Koh Phangan (KP): This was the first island we headed to and got a night bus from BGK that left at about 8.30 pm. As far as buses go it was pretty comfortable; air con, comfy seats, lots of leg room etc, but its still a bus and there was not a lot of sleeping. To add insult to injury they put on one of the worst films of all time, Outlaw staring Sean Bean. I'm sorry Sean, but it truely is a terrible piece of cinematography. We got to Chumpon (the port where you get the ferry to KP) at about 5.30 in the morning and sat in this sort of service station for an hour just waiting and staring at the smallest dog I've ever seen. Once on the ferry Matt and I managed to get a bit of shut eye whilst Jacob and Jack went on deck to pose for more photos. The boat stopped at Koh Tao (KT) before KP and it was then that I saw some mates from Bryanston. I couldn't believe my luck when Max and Ed walked past me and the next hour and a half was spent catching up and them filling me in about KP and KT. One particularly amusing story was that Ed had been bitten by a "pet" monkey, with the teeth marks on his arm still there to tell the tale. Once on KP we got a taxi, which consisted of us clambering into the back of a pickup truck, and embarking on the half hour journey to where we were staying, a village called Ao Thong Nai Pan Noy. Once there, with our arses considerably sorer courtesy of the road we drove along, we found the huts which we were staying in, dumped our stuff and all had a huge plate of Pad Thai. The beach which we were staying on was unbelievable. With crystal clear water and coconut trees running the length of the beach it was like a scene from a holiday magazine, yet our modest yet comfortable hut was only costing us about $8 a night! (N.B. For reasons known only to Thai people these keyboards dont have pound signs on them, so whenever I say dollars I mean pounds) We went about the day lounging on the beach and generally basking in the fact that we weren't in England anymore. Our beer of choice thus far has been Chang, a really good cheap Thai beer that also has the added bonus of being 6.4%. The next few days consisted of serious beach time and trying the different bars and restaurants around where we were staying. Rasta baby was my favourite, with really good food and an equally good atmosphere. There was also the ambiguos 'Happy Pizza' which was described as "tomato, Mozeralla and a fresh blend of seasonal herbs". These "seasonal herbs" are open to interpretation, but I think we all have a fair idea of what they may entail. At this point Hollie and Charlie, the girls from Reading who I mentioned earlier, had joined us in preparation for the full moon party. For those unaware of what this is, its a monthly party on a beach in KP (on the full moon unsuprisingly) to which 15 to 20 thousand people usually attend. It was nothing short of incredible and it was also my first experience of Samsun, a thai wiskey that is about 80% alcohol. Its fantastic. Although I wont go into how much was drunk, I think the word copious does it justice and I was still buzzing when we got back at around 7.30 the next morning. Although Samsen makes you feel incredible whilst drinking it, the hangover I endured the next day was brutal. After managing to stumble to the beach, I just lay. This resulted in me getting extremely sunburnt. There was one good bit of the day, which was me smashing Hollie in the face with a football (by accident of course), which was potentially one of the funniest things I've ever seen and I think the others will agree. Another quirk of KP was the dogs. They were everywhere. Dotted all along the beach, there were at least 5 within 25 meters of you at any one time. They were all very friendly and seeing as I've had my rabies jab was happy to play with them whilst Jack and Matt (no jab) sat there staring at the dogs fearfully. After 5 sunsoaked days we left Star huts in the direction of Koh Tao, with heavy hearts and heavier bags we all loaded into the back of a pickup once more and made for the port, all extremely happy with out first destination.

Koh Tao (KT): A much smaller Island than KP, KT is a divers haven. Called the turtle island because of its shape, everywhere you look there are places advertising their diving excellence. Our stay on KT was always going to be brief so we resisting the urge to undergo a diving course, and upon disembarking the ferry (which beared some similarity to an oven) set about looking for somewhere to stay. Unknown to us, it is fairly common practise for KT to receive a huge influx of visitors following the Full Moon Party and finding accomodation was difficult. We eventually came across some nice huts next to the beach in sairee, but they were also fairly expensive. With no other options we decided to splash out a bit, it was only 2 nights and anything was better than walking around in the midday heat trying to barter with hotel owners. Our first night in KT was an eventfull one, with the start being the Utd chelsea game. With 2 fans from either side the game was never going to be missed and utd losing just cemented my desire to reaquaint myself with samsen. Whilst watching the footie we met a friendly Chelsea fan, who ironically was actually a brummie, called Danny Mad. Since then we have manged to bump into him every couple of days in different locations. Matt reckons he's following us. Whilst walking around Sairee Matt heard 'Pistle Grip Pump' by Rage Agains the Machine coming from a tiny bar and it was cleary some time needed to be spent in there. It ended up being the whole night and due to our active contribution to the music (I ended up putting the bar owner's favorite song on. 'My own Summer' by the Deftones) our drinks were getting cheaper and cheaper. I wish I could tell you what happened after 'God is on the Radio' by Queens of the Stone Age, but I cant. Matt tells me that I returned to our hut at around 5, muttering to myself in an Irish accent for one reason or another. He asked me where I'd been to wish I replied "No! I'm from Dublin" and promptly collapsed onto my bed. I have never felt worse than I did upon waking up that day. True to form, samsen rendered me completely useless for the whole day, and to make matters worse our aircon has broken. I knew there was no point in me trying to get out of bed because I simply would not be able to do it. The second night in KT was a fairly low key affair, with most of us still feeling the effects of the night before (Jack woke up on a beach with all the money from his wallet gone, we still believe that some Thai man just might had had his way with him). One large Chang was enough and then we headed back for some much needed sleep. The next day was spent waiting for the night ferry that was to take us back to the main land and then across to Krabi, and it was here we encountered Bruce. Potentially the cutest puppy ive ever seen, he accompanied us playing pool and other activities. He looked like he might have been a golden retriever, but seeing as I seen around 3000 mongrels by this point I very much doubt it. Our boat left at about 8.30 and other than the leather pillows was pretty comfortable. I kept waking up every hour or so to peel my face off the pillow but it was definately preferable to a coach. The ferry to around 8 hours and that was followed by a 2 hour minibus trip across the mainland to Krabi, a town on the West coast. We had no idea what we were going to do next, Charlie and Hollie had left us at this point in the direction of Koh Phi Phi, but after spending about half an hour in a little travel outlet, we settled on Koh Lanta, and what a great decision it turned out to be.

Koh Lanta (KL): Although bigger than KT and Koh Phi Phi, KL was a lot less touristy. The people living on the island were amazingly accomodating and it was probably the best 2 days of our time in South Thailand. KL is an amazing island. Split down the middle by large imposing mountains, one side has large spralling beaches on the Indian Ocean where as the other is dotted with little enclaves of sand facing the maze of islands off thailand west coast. Our first day was spent lounging on the beach and looking around where we were staying. Our hut cost us 200 baht per person per night, which is about $4. Chuffed at our savings, we set out to find somewhere to eat. We found a decent looking restaurant serving only Thai food and it was here we met Soo (or maybe Sue I cant really be sure). She was the owner of the Restaurant and after complimenting her on the excellence of her Thai Green Curry we ended up spending a few hours just talking to her. Once we were done she took us to a bar up the road called 'Bobs bar' which is run by someone who, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, beared a striking resemblance to Bob Marley. The time came for Soo to leave and after promises to return the next night to sample her grilled chicken we bade her fairwell. After another couple of hours drinking chang and enjoying the music we wandered home, going to bed 4 very happy individuals. The next day we rented mopeds at it seemed the best way of getting to see the island properly. Having never riden one before and also bearing in mind Thailand's notorious road accident reputation it was fairly nerve racking at first, but once we got the hang of it it turned into our best day of the trip so far. The roads in Koh Lanta were much quieter than the other islands we visited and being able to wind our way around the island as we pleased was fantastic. After finding a fairly dogdy tourist map, we found our way to Lanta Old Town, an old fishing village on the east coast of the island. It had an amazing charm to it and the buildings were straight out of 1960's. The map also stated that Leonardo Di Caprio had a house on the island, although highly scepticle, we decided that if was there, we would find it. We didnt. At one point we thought we had hit the jackpot, but the road got worse and worse until it was a gravel track down the side of a mountain through a dense forest. Thankful that no one saw us looking like, excuse the french, complete t*** , we made our way back to the main road. That night we returned to Soo's as promised and she promptly served us a feast. We paid $5 for 2 beers, a mountain of chicken, fries and egg fried vegetable rice. The food was the best we have had so far and once again we visited bobs bar afterwards. Our stay was somewhat shorter this time and we returned to our hut, all significantly heavier than when we left. The next day we booked our Ferry to Koh Phi Phi with the intention of meeting up with the girls once more. Koh Lanta was an amazing island and it was even more satisfying because we had no idea it was there before we arrived in Krabi.

I've still got to wright about koh phi phi and Chaing mai but hopefully this should be enough for now!  If you have any questions please message me through this site and I'll be happy to chat when I can get online! Ive put a load of photos on facebook as well so please have a look at those. I'll try and get completely up to date over the next few days when I have some time. Hope everyone is well.
Rolly x