Firstly; apologies for the lack of updates recently…no excuse!

Secondly; Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Our retreats went well, I really enjoyed my yoga retreat and got quite a lot out of it. More than anything, realising that I can do things when I put my mind to them and to start being a bit prouder of my achievements rather than concentrating on the things I didn't quite manage. I challenged myself to doing a full 2 day silence, which I almost managed - it was a great experience though and one I'd like to try again sometime. James had a great time in his Kung Fu retreat as well, how different from my week though - he certainly came out with more cuts and scrapes than me! We both are keen to keep up with what we learned - however at the time of writing, we managed one morning! We'll pick it back up in the new year…

So, after our retreats, we met back up in Pai on the Saturday lunchtime and got the bus straight down to Chiang Mai, arriving early evening right in the middle of the Saturday night market - more hectic than we were both used to!! We stayed back in the same guest house as before as it was cheap, easy and close to the airport for our early morning flight the next day - no chance of a lie in quite yet (both of us had been having some pretty early starts for the past week!).

The flight to Krabi was painless (although worth noting that if you are getting an early flight from Chiang Mai - take some food as nothing in the airport seemed to be open!) and we arrived early morning with only a vague idea of where we needed to go. James had found a place to stay a while before but they didn't take bookings over the Christmas period, so we took our chances and headed straight there (Laughing Gecko huts near Ao Nang beach) - luckily, they had a bungalow so we booked in. To say it was basic is probably an understatement, but it had somewhere to sleep and sort of a bathroom, so all good. We'd been warned how much more expensive it was down south, especially at this time of year, but it's still a bit of a shock trying to get used to it…never mind, it's Christmas and Ken is with us!

Before Ken arrived, we had to go to Krabi to extend our visas (they ran out on 3rd Jan!) and also find somewhere to stay for Christmas. So we jumped in a local bus (basically a big taxi) and headed into town. It was quite full and there was nowhere to sit, so we hung on the back until one guy pointed out that it was a 30 minute drive - at which point everyone squished up and let us in! All up for trying new modes of transport, we then hopped on a motorbike taxi to the immigration office which was quite far out of town. All in all, the journey to the office took longer than it did to extend our visas! Almost £70 lighter, we walked out 10 minutes later with a visa until 3rd Feb - lovely. We were just around the corner from a passenger port, so headed off there to catch a boat to Railay beach to look for accommodation. Railay East and West (only a short walk between the 2) seemed to have more hotels than bungalows, so we walked over to Ton Sai beach, which had been recommended by a few friends. It's ok as far as beaches go, but it's more famous for its rock climbing, and you can see why - with huge limestone cliffs surrounding and jungle in the middle. We managed to find a few bungalows up in the jungle - perfect for a quiet relaxed Christmas with Ken. Although Railay and Ton Sai are part of the mainland, there is thick jungle and huge cliffs, which means there is no main road access - the best way to get around is by long tail boat - or walking - at low time you can walk over the rocks from Ton Sai to Railay, but at high tide, it's the option of a very short climb over the headland (we did this on Christmas day and it was quite tough!) or a 30 minute jungle walk (which James did and it's not much better - very up and down!). You can't however, walk back to where we were staying, boat was our only option. The slight problem with the boat is that unless there are other people (max of 8 per boat), you have to charter the whole boat for yourself (about £16)…so we waited….and waited….eventually we found another 4 people and fed up of being bitten by sandflies, headed back home to wait for Ken!

We had one more day in Ao Nang with Ken before we headed down to Ton Sai on Christmas Eve, the weather wasn't great, but it was still warm so we had some beach and chill time, Ken very excited at how cheap everything is! (for us though, it's more expensive than India!!). On Christmas eve, naturally, it was super hot, so loaded up with bags, we set off for a boat. Luckily, just as we left our bungalows, a tuk tuk pulled up - dropped us straight at the boat, which amazingly had enough people and was ready to go! Such a pain free journey!

The next few days were pretty much spent on a little beach about a 20 minute walk away in between Railay East and West, called Prah Nang - it was beautiful and much nicer for swimming/Frisbee - although did get a little crowded at times. Christmas was hiking day apparently and we took the jungle path up and over the headland - rather steep up and then down - hot and sticky! The boys then hiked up to a view point and lagoon, I sensibly opted out and found myself a nice shady part of the beach. They eventually made it back down an hour or so later, completely covered in mud! By all accounts, it had been a rather tough climb - I'm glad I chose the beach!

Ken really wanted to try some rock climbing while here, so he persuaded me to join him on a beginner's course the morning after boxing day. I was a little unsure as I'm not so great with heights, nor do I have a huge amount of physical fitness, but I did it nonetheless. I managed to do 3 climbs, Ken did 4 - the highest one was about 60 feet (we think!) high! I was amazed at how little the height actually bothered me and at one point, on my last climb had to sit dangling in my harness rather a long way up waiting for some feeling to get back into my arms and legs! So happy with what I managed though - even if I did come away with quite a few bruises!! We were both ruined for the rest of the day though - obviously used up too much adrenaline!

Time to move on again, and the next day we took a big boat to Koh Lanta for some island time. We had to get a little long boat out to the big boat in the bay…and as we were approaching, all commented on how full the big boat already looked! I guess health and safety is not as important as ferrying as many people as possible. We settled down on one side of the boat, legs dangling over the edge - Ken had somehow ended up on the other side…and about 10 minutes after we set off, came round to meet us, completely soaked! We hadn't noticed how strong the wind was as we'd been pretty sheltered for the past few days, but the wind was whipping up the waves onto that side…It did mean that everyone who was on the top deck was sitting on one side though and not long after we set off, the stewards came round asking for people to move as the boat was unbalanced - not what you want to hear when you're in the middle of the Andaman Sea!! So the 3 of us spent the next hour getting completely soaked by the waves - just as well it was warm!

We got chatting to a couple of guys (Adrian - French and Khaled - French/Moroccan) and teamed up trying to find somewhere to stay. As long as it was a bungalow near the beach for a reasonable price, we weren't fussed. We managed to work it all out, although it did involve all 3 of us having to bunk in together for the first night! Ken decided to stay on where he was as he really liked it, but James and I moved down the beach a bit to stay at the same places as the Adrian and Khaled as it was a few hundred bhat a night cheaper. Slightly crossed wires though so James and I have ended up with a bungalow that could sleep about 4 people! Nice to have some space though.

A couple (Hannah and Elliott - we met them in Varkala) that we met in India arrived on the Island the day after us, so we met up with them and swapped stories about what we'd all been up to since we left each other - also getting some tips for Myanmar. Yesterday, all the boys (5 of them!) rented scooters and did a trip to a cave and some waterfalls, so I had girl day with Hannah - doing basically nothing other than sitting in some shade on the beach! But it was perfect all round - the boys had a fun adventure although there were a few cuts and scrapes (not from falling off scooters I'd like to point out! But more from trying to climb down from the waterfall).

So, today is New Year's eve!! How quickly this year has flown by, and what a year! Finally putting our plans into action and heading off on our travels. We've been to some amazing places and met some awesome people. Can't wait to see what next year brings! As I lie here in my hammock, I feel very proud of everything we've achieved to get us here. Unfortunately, James is not feeling very well though, so I think it'll be quieter than planned…fingers crossed it passes in the next few hours!! Tonight, I think we're all going to meet up and head to a few bars on the beach, nothing too mental….famous last words…

Happy New Year everyone!!!

..In true beach life style, it's now the 5th Jan and I still haven't posted up the blog, so thought I'd continue writing and post it all up in one go.

NYE was great fun, although James was not feeling well (he had a movie night for one) and keeping up with true new year tradition, the 1st of Jan was a bit of a write off. Ken had decided to move back to Ao Nang for one night before his flight so that he didn't have to worry about too much travel to the airport before his epic journey home, so we had a nice breakfast and a mooch about the town on the 2nd before he left. It was sad to see him go - especially as he'd had such a nice time and you do get used to having people around!

We keep thinking about moving on but I think being near a beach blocks our plan-making brain cells! Yesterday we took out some mopeds (my first time riding one myself) and explored some of the South of the island with Elliott and Hannah. It was great fun, even though the others had to keep stopping and waiting for me (I need to get up some confidence going down steep hills!). That evening, we were asked to move bungalows as they had a booking for ours - nothing like being kicked out of your hut to make you get a plan together! This morning though, it turns out that we can stay…so we'll stay for one more night and then head back to Krabi tomorrow, with a rough plan of heading to some of the islands off the East coast. It's a good thing we got our visas extended, we're certainly not in any rush to leave Thailand!