Hey all,we thought it was time we updated this thing because we will be home soon! Ok so we left u in Laos, after surviving the speed boat ride from hell! So feeling about frazzled we explored Luang Probang and went to yet another night market!! Really nice place, according to gem its a place for the grey brigade! (oldies!) Not having a clue where we were- we had followed this lovely aussie couple to their hotel- we grabbed hold of the bible that is the lonely planet and looked up a good place to stay. We all jumped into a tuk tuk with a genuine looking chap only to find out our hotel was 2 seconds away! the little scamp tried to charge us 15 kip (about 1 pound) for the privlege!! So from here we went to Vang Vieng to experience tubing! everyone has talked about this on their travels and it did not dissappoint! its a pub crawl in a rubber ring along a river with free shots of whisky, mud fights, slides, zip lines and buckets of booze! mayhem!!! ended up completly wasted and soph ended up stranded at a bar because of her amazing catching skills she missed the rope the guys pull u in with! One of the highlights of our trip! Gemma got her moneys worth and her drunkeness lasted well until the early hours of the morning where we were dancing on the tables in the legendary bucket bar (yes this did involve more buckets of alcohol!). Vang vieng was a chilled out place, lots of cafes playing jack johnson and friends 24/7 so it was good to sit back and relax. The last stop in Laos was Vientiane, not much to report from there just had a wander around and enjoyed a lovely sunset.

We reluctantly caught an overnight train to bangkok, this in itself was an experience! we played cards in the beer carriage, but at 10 pm got forced to go to bed and were even threatened with the police if we decided to be naughty children and not do as we were told! the train was ok, pretty cramped but managed to get some sleep.

The next day was spent in bangkok (again!!) and here we said goodbye to Jo. We spent the day at siam square, a much nicer part of the city and away from all the craziness. After only a few hours sleep we got an overnight bus and ferry to Ko phangan for the full moon party. We were knackered and looking forward to some sleep but our bed was hard as concrete and our room infested with cockraoches!! Unfortunatley the weather here was terrible and rained every day, we only managed to get a bit of sunshine. The electricty kept going out on us, so it really was back to basics! we meet 3 lovely boys from hull who were our saving grace (although they were too scared to remove the cockroaches) and played drinking games. Gemma has not got the name 'toby' for some unknown reason and we have discovered she cant rhyme or count to 5 when inebriated!! lol

The full moon party was awesome, we also hooked up with a guy and a girl (Pete and Annie) along with some other peeps so there were quite a few of us that rocked up in the end to party on the beach! We got into the spirit and painted our faces with glow in the dark paint and bought some crazy glow in the dark glasses from little kids wandering around the beach harressing anyone and everyone to buy something! Lots and lots of very cheap buckets were consumed...the red bull and vodka kept us going until the wee hours of the morning! It was 7am before we knew it!!!! Ace night to be had though!

So with the Hullians tagging along as well as Annie and Pete we decided to move on to Ko Samui, very different kind of island...loads more commercial and people consistently coming up to you to sell you things whilst you sunbathe on the beach...for eg with a cornetto comes a naked woman free of charge...i think not!!!! Also Gem very quietly mentioned amongst herself that she fancied some pineapple and the lady from a good few metres aways was upon her in a flash!!!!! Sadly the Hullians left us after some crazy jetskiing, of which Gemma nearly shat herself...that John is wreckless when it comes to driving those things! lol!!!! We spent a few days chilling out on the beach here and went to see some ladyboys perform...absolutely hilarious...they're take on the Pussycat Dolls is uncanny!!!! hahaha!

Leaving Ko Samui we ventured over to the final island on the Thailand pernicular, Ko Tao. This was our favourite island although the ferry journey over was'nt sooo smooth...People were throwing up left, right and centre...literally, even poor Soph could'nt take the intense rocking back n forth trip...however Gem sat back, chilled out with her ipod and read her book amongst the caos (jammy dodger!). Ko Tao was v. small but really cute, like a tiny village but with great bars, beaches and excellent food!

Next we moved on to Ko Phi Phi, the final Thai island, this is where we bumped into just about everyone we've met in Thailand/ Laos including chums from both our uni's...bizarre as to how small the world actually is!!!! We had an ace time over here...paradise island, full of beautiful people and stunning beaches...including Maya Bay where the beach was filmed, although we weren't fortunate enough to bump into Leo! We snorkelled and saw some awesome fish! The evenings were again filled with buckets (how will we ever drink normal alcohol again?!) and more dancing on the beach until the early hours of the morning! We also witnessed Laura (one of Soph's uni mates) give some annoying aussie, pissed chick a good thrashing in the thai boxing ring! Along the way we met some amusing characters such as the israli's (3 v. good looking dudes who told us their names 'ding, dang and dong') however we did not succumb to their charms, as they attempted to woo every single female on the island...not joking!

So we eventually teared ourselves away from the stunning Ko Phi Phi to make our way into Malaysia...stopping off at yet another gorgeous island...Langkawi!

We will write your our final blog of our malayzing adventures in Malaysia before we head back to the U of the K (as Gem refers to it!) It may be on a depressing note however... :)

Take care all

Big love, Gem and Soph xxxxx