******WARNING, LONG BLOG, COULD GET BORING, SORRY**********

Hello again!! Sorry for the delayed update but internet has been hard to come by, and also been having too much fun when we have come across it!!

When we last left you we were coming to the end of our stay in phi phi, we decided to have a quiet last night as we were up early (7am) for the ferry the next day...best made plans and all... we ended up on the beach till 4am still with beer in hand! had a great night though, headed back to the boxing bar, met some welsh and american guys who mentioned a beach party...we declined due to having an early night....half hour later and a bucket or two more we chased them down and headed off for said party!! the journey from phi phi is a bit of a blank, some how made the ferry and made it to phuket...we hadnt decided which part we were heading to yet, but when we jumped off the ferry and a taxi driver asked where we were heading the words "patong" came out my mouth and so off we headed!!

we hit a hostel from our lonely planet and they had a room, so it saved us the trek around trying to find somewhere whilst hungover, and it had a pool so the following few hours were spent lounging and shaking the hangovers, when evening came we ate and then were forced to retire early! within minutes of getting to Patong though it became clear what this town was about....old german men picking up young thai girls for "company", was very funny to begin with but got a bit perturbing as the night went on!! the second day we had a explore of the town but wasnt much to see of interest so headed back to the pool and then off for a big night in patong!! good fun night had, it rained SOOO heavy but luckily the bar we were in had the Eagles smashing the Giants, so i was happy then we headed off into the seedy night!! we felt we had to head to a Ping Pong, when in rome, and though it cost a fair whack to get in we werent disapointed....disturbed but not disapointed... these women, using their nether regions managed to blow out candles, fire darts 3m's popping ballons, smoke cigarttes, blow trumpets and produce live fish and birds to name but a few! we left feeling abit strange, had a stiff drink and wandered back home laughing!

after two nights in patong it was time to leave, unless youre there for "a good time" a think 2 nights is more than enough so we headed to the town of Kata, about 5 miles down the coast! There were still plenty of girly bars, but a completely different feel about the place, we were lucky to find a bed quite quickly and settled in to this nice litte town for a couple of chilled days, one day spent on the beach and one doing some jobs and exploring. The town is reknowned for its surf and we were looking to have a go at surfing whilst there, but sadly when we got there theres more surf in southend, so that idea was out, but we enjoyed our stay!

We had decided in Phi Phi we were going to do our Open Water SCUBA Divers course, and after some research decided that Koh Tao was the cheapest option, so we headed off after two days in Phuket to give us time to squeeze in the 4 day course before Xmas where we had our booking on Koh Samui. We decided not to take the 24hour all in one journey being offered at the travel agents, and split the journey up with a night in a town called Suratthani on the east coast. Though this saved us from spending the night on a slow boat, Suratthani wasnt quite what we expected, it was a big Thai town and we were the only westerners about, it was nice to sample proper thai live though and we found a cheap hotel with tv and air con, so we had a walk around and then chilled infront of the Vietane games, a SE Asia mini olympics! The next day we caught our ferry to koh tao, we had booked in for our Scuba course and were met by a taxi at the other end!

We arrived at Buddha view, our dive school and accomadation for the next 6 nights, checked in and then went to the classroom for our first lesson! we met our instructor, a italian german speaker who was hilarious throughout our course and steadied any nerves we had, and also the other guys on our course, a Swiss couple who also became good friends over the 4 days! I could talk for days about how amazing the next four days were, but i'll save it for another time and give you a brief run down, we had 2 classroom sessions of about 4 hours each, usually starting early in the morning so really felt like being at school, except i got in less trouble, we also had two practice dives, one in the pool and one in shallow water of the ocean where we learnt basic skills. Then the fun began and we did 4 open water dives, 2 dives at 12m's and then 2 at 18m's, these were amazing, and on one of these dives we were swimming around with 2.5m sharks....big bad boys...was exciting, definately got the heart going! We finished the four day course with an Exam, we did actually spend a few nigths revising our material and had some knowledge reviews to complete throughtout the course, so we were ready and both passed, i pulled out 96%, chloe 86%...which just scraped her through!! was so in love with the diving that we both signed up to start our advanced dives, the two on offer the next day were deep dives, down to 30m, and navigation. Sadly chloe woke up with a bad cold and couldnt dive but i completed them both, the navigation was pretty scary when my instructor swam off and said come and find me...luckily i did and wasnt left aimlessly swimming around the ocean! We spent the final night celebrating and eating BBQ!! they had a massive BBQ everynight and it was dirt cheap so a lot of goooood meat was consumed over our 5 nights there, and often washed down with a few Chang beers....a great drop!! And im pleased to say i have had atleast one Chang beer every day since arriving in thailand, a tradition a can assure you will not be broken anytime soon!!

Our time had come to move again so we hopped islands over to Koh Samui where we had our Xmas booking, and it was the best booking we've ever made...Jungle Club was its name and hopefully our pictures will do it justice, stunning views from up in the hills! The taxi dropped us off the ferry at the bottom of a hill and pointed us up it to Jungle club...we walked for about 15mins up a very steep hill, with backpacks on in the mid day heat before luckily some kind thai lady asked where we were heading, when we told here jungle club she instantly told us to sit down and gestured there was no way we could walk it...she phoned for a car to come down to get us and on the drive up we realised there was no way we could have got up...the 4x4 jeep was struggling!! apart from the views and the cute little bungalow the staff at jungle club were really cool, mae us feel welcome from the start and were a real good laugh. We also met some really cool people whilst staying there.

We got there Xmas eve so headed out about 6.30pm, the hotel provided a lift down 24hours a day and pick up too, a got dropped in the middle of Chaweng, the main town, very touristy but we wanted top party and it was good for that!! so we got some food then crawled the pubs. We met a nice english couple on the beach shortly after midnight, had a few mroe drinks with them and then headed to a big party round the corner, the next few hours were a blur but a remember several buckets, some dancing andpossibly the weirdest thing ive ever seen...some guy getting a thai massage whislt using a urinal, all hanging out and very odd, i finished up and left sharpish! at some point we called our taxi to come and get us from the hotel, it turned out they were all out at the same party and just left so they came and got us, in the back of the taxi was several members of the staff and some guests all pretty oiled, but none as bad as the driver as we discovered when we stopped at the 7eleven for some meat on stick and the driver fell out the drivers door!! anyway we made it home safe, with a bottle of JD being passed around the taxi we passed out when we got back! the next day, xmas day was a blur, we got up about 11am with the intention of sobering up and doing something fun...we met Brad and Tanya, an australian couple and our friends for the following few days, in the bar and thats where we stayed, cocktails, shots, beers all came and went, but we had a funny day! we also met catherine, another guest who we also became close to over the next few days!

Boxing day we finally sobered up, but werent up to much so enjoyed a day by the pool, enjoying the views and resting, in the evening we just had a few quiet ones and an early night! The next day brad and tanya took us around the island in there rented jeep, saw some sights, had some good food and had a great day, then in the evening me and chloe headed to chaweng for some food and to catch up on some jobs etc, we had a couple of drinks and headed back to the hotels, where we met an irish couple and a couple from gravesend, so ended up drinking till the early hours with them and the staff. The next day was our final day, chilled by the pool, and then brad and tanya joined us...with cocktails and so our final night began, but we had a great night chilling with them, getting merry, and the owners of the hotel came and joined and we had a mini party with them and the staff once the last other customers had left!

As you can probably guessed we loved jungle club and our time there and we WILL be heading back there at some time, if not on this trip on a holiday for sure, and we will be dragging as many of you as possible!! Anyway we had to leave and we did with a heavy heart, we arrived in Koh Phangnan two days ago now! The first day we chilled by the pool and then slept off our hangovers/colds! Yesterday we rented a scooter and toured the island, which is beautiful and saw some of the best beaches we have seen to date, had a really cool day, we had another early night last night trying to shake our colds for today...new years eve and the big party!!

A couple at our hotel went over to had rinn two days ago, this is where the full moon party is held, and said it was already rammed, 20,000 people on the beach and just crazy, this morning the guy at our hotel said they arent letting any more people onto the island, turning ferries away, even people with bookings arent allowed in...sounds like it could be crazy tonight, they are expecting in excess of 50,000 people. possibly a lot more!! Its just gone 5pm here, our taxi leaves for the party at 8pm, so its time i left you guys and got on the drink!!

So HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!! and hopefully wont be so long until i update again, my hands hurt after all this, hope it wasnt too boring!!!

Much Love to you all!!!