We arrived back in Bangkok in the evening from Siem Reap. One more night was enough to arrange a night train south to Surat Thani. The train journey was fun, much cleaner in Thai 2nd class than in
Vietnams 1st class! The seats were in pairs facing each other on either side of a central aisle for the evening part of the journey. There was hostess style service as we rumbled through the Bangkok
suburbs and into the night. Later they came to make up the beds. The two lower seats pulled together to make the bottom berth and the upper berth folded out from the wall above. Curtains were then
drawn round for privicy. It was comfortable and clean and there was a fun communal atmosphere, but still no sleep!

We arrived in Surat Thani in the early morning and were immediately hustled onto a bus. This took us the hour journey to Krabi town and the jumping off point for the islands on Thailands west
coast. After hanging around the bus station and some bargening we set off by bus and ferry for Ko Lanta.

We had decided to stay on Lanta for Christmas and it was no dissappointment. We originally booked into a shabby beach hut on Long beach, but soon upgraded to a classy place on Klong Dao beach
which gave us better access to the main town.

We had a nice relaxing Christmas without any of the hassle you get back home. We sunned ourselves on the beach, swam in the warm sea, ate, drank and watched plenty of DVD's!

Time seemed to pass quickly as soon it was approaching New Year and we wanted to spend that in Phuket. Reaching Phuket by ferry took a couple of hours. We stayed out on Karon beach but it was a
far cry from the layed back feel of Lanta. It was like being deposited in Magaluf, or some other cheesy Spanish resort! It was crowded and expensive. The beach was quite nice if it wasn't for jet
ski's and speed boats whizzing by your head as you tried to swim!

They were heavily into their fireworks too. They just kept going and going into the small hours and soon became an annoyance rather than a pleasure. With all this commotion going on we both just
wanted to be somewhere else for New Years Eve, somewhere more intrisically Thai. Somewhere more like Lanta, from where we had just come. So that is what we did. We got up early and took the ferry
back to Lanta and spent a great New Years Eve there.

We had cocktails and a nice meal and then walked on the beach looking for a suitable bar. There were fireworks and paper lanterns lighting up the night. We released our own lantern from the beach
and watched uncertainly as it struggled to gain altitude. At one point it looked as though it would be lost to the sea before it caught a big updraft and soared vertically up into the clouds. We
watched until it dissappeared from view, then headed for a bar.

We found a secluded place further down the island and welcomed in the New Year sat on the beach, watching yet more fireworks. Our tuk tuk driver had come into the bar too, to wait to take us back
to our resort. By the time we were ready to go he was a little worse for wear too. So we took a leisurely ride back to our accomodation. As we are 7 hours in front of you, we achieved all this before
you lot even went out!

The New Year also meant it was Sharons birthday soon and so we left Lanta for a second time to head to a small beach and rock climbing place called Rai Ley. This was a secluded place with no road
access, so longtail boat was the only way in or out. There was limited ammenities and electricity only ran at night for the huts. But, it was a great place with a hippie feel. It was an excellent
self contained hide away. There were monkeys jumping between the trees, (the one's with Al Jolson faces,) hooting and whistling in the jungle that fringed our bungalows. There were also massive
spiney spiders and strange coloured frogs, one of which lived behind the cistern of our toilet. A bog frog, so to speak.

We only planned on staying two nights but kept extending it to five in the end. It was a nice place to hang around. It had that feel of a more idealised Thai getaway. Not over commercialised, more
like a backpacker colony away from it all. There was only so much lazing around you can do and finally we had to move on.

Our next destination was Ko Phi Phi. This is an immensly popular place and was booked solid throughout the festive season. We came here for a few nights hoping the rush had calmed a little. Most
resorts were still full, but we came across a guesthouse that was vastly overpriced, but available.

Ko Phi Phi was devastated by the 2006 Tsunami, but has bounced back with a vengence. There are numerous bars and restaurants, even a few night clubs too. It seems to have gone from being a small,
peaceful idylic island to a mini version of Phuket. It was still much nicer than Phuket, but with new developments and increasing tourist numbers it probably won't be too long before it's ruined.

Phi Phi did provide us with the oppertunity to visit Maya beach on the smaller sister island of Ko Phi Phi Ley. This was the location for the film 'The Beach'. It is in a National Marine Preserve
and as such has no developments on it. You can only visit for the day, but we managed to book onto a camping excursion to the beach and spend the night there.

We were in a relatively small group of 30 people and sailed out in the late afternoon. There was some snorkelling along the way but at a shady cove in very deep water which put most people off.
When we got round to the beach however, we were all in the water to swim the last 300m to the shore.

We set up tents on the beach and enjoyed a meal and some drinks as night fell. Later that evening though, we had to relocate our tents due to an unusually high tide that threatened to join us in
our sleeping bags. We strolled along the deserted beach looking at the stars and paddled in the surf watching the phosphoressence (green lights from tiny organisms) in the water. There was also
lightening out across the sea, distant and silent, illuminating the black cliffs. All in all it was a magical night and one of the most memorable on the whole trip.

Now we are back on the main island, Phi Phi Don, and moving on again tomorrow. It's back a third time to Lanta and then on by ferry to Ko Lipe in the far south near the Malayan border