Sawasdee!

Apologies for the delay in bloggage but as we are now on Phangan internet is pretty expensive and we have had to go to some lengths to find some reasonably priced today...we are staying on quite a secluded beach at the north of the island at the mo and the main way of getting there or away is by longtail boat, so rather than pay for that this afternoon we thought we would take the nice (what we thought would be fairly easy and leisurely stroll) through the jungle to get to the other side of the bay. 2hours, one mountain, one jungle, 4scratched and aching legs later and a very near miss with an angry hornet later we arrived at the internet place!

We were only planning to spend a couple of nights here on Phangan but as has happened so far at every stop here in Thailand, we are going to stay a little longer. 2nights at Koh Chang became 3, 2nights in Bangkok also became 3 and 2nights here is now going to be 5! The beach we are staying at is absolutely beautiful and the people so friendly, so with all the constant moving its really tempting to just stay put for a little while. We had drinks at the bar where we are staying last night, after having locked ourselves out of our hut for the possibly the 3rd time since we started travelling, and while i was (shockingly) sensible drinking mostly water Joe treated himself to a bucket of gin&tonic. Jammy blighter that he is though feels ok this morning, so alls well! Was a great night, dancing, chatting, helping near comatosed guys up from the beach and into bed - great fun! Amusing to see everyone stumbling out of their huts and onto the beach this morning also.

Randomly and totally out of the blue decided to go diving yesterday at a spot halfway between here and the island north of here, Koh Tao. Joe had a refresher session, diving 21 metres and i did a beginners session going to 12. Although i am now fairly hard of hearing today what with my ears being particularly bad at coping with pressure (diving possibly not the most sensible hobby for me then but felt it was worth a go) it was well worth it! Scary at first, but absoltutely incredible after getting over the initial odd feeling of, well, being strapped up to an oxygen tank! Also well worth it to see Joe in a wet suit...unfortunately i dont have any pics as i was concentrating too hard on getting my uber cool and sure to be the next fashion must-have flippers on! We were both also mesmerised, possibly even more so than by the fish, by one of our instructors incredible eyes. It's hard to imagine eyes more blue and with longer more beautiful lashes, we were both in agreement that they were the best we had ever seen! The fish and corals were pretty cool too! I wish i could have made a slighter better first impression than stumbling across the (possibly MOST rocky) boat, losing my balance and flying into the bench, smacking my chin against one of the oxygen tanks. Very cool!

So before here we were in Bangkok and were both totally amazed by how our expectations were completely shattered. Joe hadnt much liked the city 4 years ago and i was expecting something very noisy, very smelly, very congested, tacky and in your face...though i almost immediately loved it! We were both so impressed, hence the slightly longer stay and some presky cockroaches which practically chased us down the street one night (slight overexaggeration perhaps). It's got such an atmosphere and was basically the perfect city for me as you are surrounded by shopping and food! We obviously did plenty of both - shopped at one of the biggest markets in the world (i think - about 15,000 stalls) and ate our way through practically every food stall down Koh San road!

I had a sneaky suspicion that Thailand was possibly going to have this effect on us, as it obviously does on sooo many other travellers, but was sure that after seeing Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos that it wouldn't even compare. It is so so different, but is also so far from what we both expected and we've been fully sucked in by it's atmosphere, beautiful scenery and great people. And, finally, we are having some amazing sun - it just gets better!

Only 2 weeks and 2 days now until i fly to Oz, and so we are both trying not to think about it too much as the thought of going our seperate ways after having lived in each others pockets for 2&half months is pretty grey and scary. Im not sure how im going to cope having to get used to enjoying my own company - i can barely sit in peace and quiet with my book for more than 10mins before i get bored and start rambling to Joe about something random...much to his annoyance and despite the fact that he makes an impressive effort to ignore me! Still, lots for us both to look forward to, will likely be heading down to Malaysia on monday where the islands are supposed to be incredible and blessed with lots of sun. Touch wood!

As usual i am sure there was more i was going to tell you all about here, but as i've forgotten (still feeling light headed from our treacherous and knackering mountain/jungle trek!!!) this will have to do for now!

Love to you all, missing home as always and jealous that Joe will be seeing you all very soon!!!

Vic and Joe

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

p.s. pics are downloading now so this one here is actually Koh Tao, close enough, but not quite where we are staying!