I arrived in Ao Nang during the worst rain I had seen in Thailand since I had started my trip. In fact it was that bad it made me soon discover that everything I thought was waterproofing my things was in fact just letting the water in. This includes the cover for my big bag, the cover for my small bag and the 'water proof' mack I didn't want to buy before I left the UK. The rain soon took effect on me though as I woke up sick with a temperature of 102 the following morning. So I extended my stay in Ao Nang by another day.

It was alright though as I got to catch up on some admin and sit about with the smallest cutest little cats I'd seen in ages. (Didn't touch any so no allergy attack thank heavens!) But as with any time I sit about I get 'good ideas' into my head. This time it was to book a flight to Borneo and spend almost a week at Tampat Do Aman jungle camp, so I will be flying off over there for a week in September...oh well lol.

The weather cleared up and I finally went into Ao Nang town and yes like everyone told me, there really isn't much of anything here. Although I did get to watch a guy hop through the water to a longtail boat so he didn't get his bandages wet in the sea which was funny. I didn't make it to bed till late as I was playing very badly at scrabble with a guy from the hostel and then we went cruising on his moped looking for a bar open at gone 1 am...I will never learn to get an early night before a travel day!

Today I went to Railay Beach, the hostel I am staying at in Ao Nang agreed to hold my bag for a night which is good since I could not imagine hopping in and out of a long tail boat very easily with all of my things! Arrival was very quick and with my much smaller bag I got walking round to Railay East which is the cheaper side of Railay. I ended up staying in a little bamboo bungalow which had an incentive of free donuts for breakfast? Bit random but there you go. Since I am only here for a couple days I thought I would make the most of it and travel to see Diamond cave. Needless to say I was disappointed. It neither resembled Diamonds in any way or even had a massive 'cave' feel about it apart from the bats on the ceiling.

On the way to the bungalows I got talking to a guy called Alex and we both decided that we would take a walk over to Tonsai beach. The tide was in so this meant walking the land route. Never ever again! Wait for the tide to go out people seriously! It was an adventure, getting lost several times due to bad signage, muddy and bitten by ants but it was fun nevertheless. We also saw a Langue monkey in one of the trees which had the biggest black eyes I'd ever seen on a monkey, it was almost weird. Anyway, making it to Tonsai beach was one thing but the climbing we did was another. It was great to see climbers just go straight off of the beach front and up the limestone cliffs. We had a go at some of the smaller climbs and then messed about on the rocks where the tide had gone out which meant walking back was a breeze!

I was so tired by that point that I simply got showered and went for dinner which turned out to be the hottest curry I've ever eaten! It wasn't supposed to be spicy till I bit into something near the end and my mouth set alight! Back to bed and everything was damp, the pillows, the mattress and definitely the blanket since I thought it was a giant towel and took it to the beach earlier - whoops!

The picture is of the route round from Tonsai beach back to Railay West after the tide had gone out.