Sawasdee!

We are currently in Bangkok waiting for an overnight train to Chiang mai :)

Bangkok has been ok. Better this time round than the last, now we know what people are about ;)

We had a fantastic time in Siboya! The weather was great the majority of the time and we spent lots of time on the beach. Unfortunately the beach is covered in litter, mostly glass bottles - a lot of which are broken so you can't walk on the beach without flip-flops - from the bigger islands like phi phi. Apparently it's very common for the bigger islands to dump their rubbish in the sea and the smaller islands that are not for tourists get the brunt of it. One of the guys there told us the government has put restrictions in place and it's gotten much better but it's still bad to our eyes! He also said that there used to be fish everywhere, sharks and dolphins all over the place and now there is nothing. He said fishermen go out for miles and get no fish, they used to be able to live off the island but now they can't which is very sad. It seems the case all over the south islands, east and west.

We went kayaking around the islands one day! We got in a two man kayak and life jackets and paddled out quite a way. Then the spiders started to come out!!! Eeeeeek!! I was sat behind Eddy and saw a massive spider on his back!! In the middle of the sea. I said, ok, don't jump, but there's a spider on your back and I'm going to get rid of it. I had to swipe it off and it went in the water. Tarantulas can't swim poor thing. Then loads more started to come out! From the life jackets maybe??? Very funny looking back at it but pretty scary at the time!! Then we started floating around and saw a sea snake come up to the surface! We went to a shore and got out for a bit. We brought drink but no food so decided to head back and it took us ages!!

We really liked siboya. Would recommend it if you want a little piece of unspoiled tropical island and friendly locals - that are friendly cos they are and not cos they want your money ;) we played lots of games, went for runs, explored rock pools and found sea slugs!! And millions upon millions of little crabs! And massive hermit crabs that were bright purple and blue!

We then spent some time in krabi and mosied on back to ao nang where we got a great deal on a place with a pool and air conditioning! We had had enough of 35 degree heat and sleeping in clothes to not get bitten!! It's not so much the heat as the humidity. You're just damp all the time!!

It was lovely!!

We organised getting the bus back to Bangkok from ao nang - ten quid and 14.5hrs! From our last experience of a supposed 2hr bus taking over 5hrs we hoped it would be ok! And it was - we left at 3pm and got here at 5.30am. Two very tired and numb bums later ;)

We're staying close to the famous khao san road haha which isn't as exciting as the main strip in patong! But quirky in it's own way. We walked 2.5hrs to pick up our train tickets today! Ha! Needless to say we got a tuktuk back for about a pound! Going to visit a gallery tomorrow - if it's free - or a temple that does guided meditation/Buddhism introduction. Then off to chiang mai on the train 7pm-10am.

We'll be trekking with hill tribes when we get there so we'll be out of electricity, let alone WiFi, for a while!

Hope everyone is doing ok, keep the emails and messages coming :) love to you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx