Phuket - 7th - 11th July

We finally tore ourselves away from Koh Phangan on the morning of the 7th and said goodbye to the south east coast of thailand as we were about to make our way to the islands on the south west coast of thailandw. We got a pick up truck from our beach at 9am to Thongsala (the port) on the other side of the island and then had to wait 2 1/2 hours for the express boat at 12.30.

As the it got nearer to us going we got abit anxious again as there was a storm brewing and we had been told that everyone was getting the express boat as the cataramans (the one we were sick on) had cancelled all their boats for today as it was too rough. We boarded and the trip was uneventful except for the western man sitting two rows infront of us with handcuffs on and with a policeman next to him! i was dying to know why he had been arrested but never found out!

We had to stop at Koh Samui before reaching mainland at Surat Thani. Then once in Surat Thani we got on the back of a baht bus to a little restaurant where we then had to wait another hour for the minivan to leave. The minivan left at 6pm and we finally arrived in Phuket at 10.30pm. The plan was to go straight to Patong beach from Phuket toen but it was late at night and they were trying to rip us off by asking us to pay 200baht (3 pounds) each to get there, we said no as knew we could get there ourselves the next morning for 20baht each (30p), bit of a difference hey, still cheap i hear you say, but every penny counts! So we had got talking to a few people on our minivan and we all went in search for a room for the night and ending up out till 2am with them in a karaoke bar, if your reading, emma, andy and glyn, hello!

The next morning we checked out and got the bus to Patong beach and didnt really do much (for a change i hear you say!) for the next few days. We realised this was the first place we had visited that had been hit by the tsunami in Dec 2004. They have recovered well and you wouldn't know that it had even happened here if it wasn't for the tsunami evacuation route signs and signs advising you are currently in a tsunami hazard area. We spoke to a local at our hotel who said that she left for a month Patong for the mountains after it had happened as it was not a nice place to be, she said it smelt and there were dead bodies being put into the back of pick ups trucks.

We had a good night out in Patong which did remind us of Walking Street, Pattaya and we got accousted by two lady boys in the street who were dressed upto the nines and kept telling us they were men! They wanted theri photo taken with me, god they are vian and then surprise, surprise they wanted their photo taken with Si and one of them grabbed his hand and put it on their boob! It was hilarious, check out the photo!

W ended up bumping into Andy and Glyn and had a few drinks out with them in various bars. Si and i played this game too where you each have a nail with just the end put in the wood and then you take turns on hitting your nail with a hammer into the wood. The first person to get the nail all the way in, wins. The bar girls are great at it, its funny to watch big tough guys try to beat them but fai miserably!

We left Patong after 3 nights in a lovely cheap hotel room with a/c, hot water the works, was gutted and arrived in Kata Beach for 2 nights and stayed in cosiderably sifferent accomodation to say the least! Again we didn't do much here except sunbathe and relax so we left on the morning of the 12th to go to Koh Phi Phi where we are now and i never want to leave!!

Just incase any of you have been watching the news we are not going to Bali now. We had decided a while ago that we wern't going to go as time wise we couldn't fit it in despite moving our flight dates but don't think we told you all. Now its all on the news over here for no westerners to travel to Indonesia at all as their are terroists threats galore and they are targetting tourists. So don't worry we are not going anyway!

Ok thats us for now, love and miss you all shell and si xxxxxxxxxxxxx