Koh Lak/Lanta

After leaving the monsoon drenched Island of Koh Phangan we thought we'd try our luck with the weather on the West Coast, so headed across land to Koh Lak. The main attraction in this area is scuba diving the Similan Islands, which is something I'd wanted to do ever since I was aware that they are within the top 3 dives sites in the world. Plus with Easton recently passing his Open Water it would be great for us to do it together. Unfortunately Mother Nature wasn't kind to us & the weather here was just as bad as the East Coast, so all dive trips had been put oh hold! So we spent another 3 days locked up in our rooms, but luckily we did have a few movies to watch that Jamie had left for us. This was the first time that we both felt really homesick. Bad weather makes all the difference to the enjoyment of a holiday, however I'm so thankful that we wasn't only on a 2week break because the monsoons were non stop for 10days with many places flooded & the island we'd just left had to be evacuated by Navy ships because the sea was too rough for the ferry's to cross. And the islands had mudslides and floods.

I decided to pick myself up; rain or no rain some people would have given their right arm to be able to do this trip! We booked ourselves on the next bus to Koh Lanta & hoped for better weather. A stroke of good luck - when East was hunting for accommodation whilst I sipped on my Latte in a coffee shop looking after the backpacks, he saw Rod & Steph (the lovely couple from Stoke who we'd met a few times in Cambodia) & they invited us to their friends birthday bash at the Irish Pub in a couple of days' time. Barging…regardless of the weather we were gunna get pissed & have a big night! We ended up finding a nice bungalow at Wonderful Resort on Long Beach, and East bartered down the price by 50bht per night because of the lack of tourists due to the weather…bonus! Every pound helps!

The following morning armed with our brollies we went for a mooch around…my umbrella lasted all of 10 minutes, when we got to the sea front & the wind blow it inside out, snapping the metal. It wasn't the picture post card beach we seen advertised but the wind & rough seas had dragged lots of gorgeous coral & shells on to the sand along with 100's of coconuts(from a boat that had capsized carrying them). This gave East an idea to put his Wightman arts & crafts into practice! We also booked me on a Thai cooking course for the following day (it was too expensive for us both to do it, & we only needed one set of receipts).

The cooking course was so much fun & I learned loads a useful tips! Dressed in our yellow aprons, we first choose our dishes; Chicken Coconut Soup, Massaman Curry, Sea Food Red Curry, Sweet & Sour Chicken followed by Fried Banana & Honey for desert! Preparing, Chopping, Frying & Stirring…all the dishes turned out beaut even if I do say so myself! And East got to help me eat them all without doing any of the work. Look out peeps I'll be cooking up a storm when we home!

That night we arranged to meet Rod & Steph for Simon's Birthday Bash (a friend of theirs), and to be honest we needed a good old knee's up after the rubbish weather we'd been having. Few drinks whilst getting ready & we were well on form…the Changs & Vodka were flowing! The music was brilliant…throw back to the 80's so I was in my element! I don't think Steph & I stopped dancing for longer than 5mins. I even managed to get East on the dance floor for Full Monty's 'Hot Stuff' & started to strip him. The first Sambuca…no problems, but the 2nd one followed by jumping around like a crazy cow to Madness' 'Baggy Trousers' didn't mix well. The four of us went outside to the beer garden for some fresh air…all totally legless by this point & had a massive water fight, splashing the poor bleeder next to us. And after Rod robbed loads of polystyrene necklaces we decided it would be a great idea to try and hijack a tuk-tuk… thankfully there were no keys. On the way home East wanted to go sleep by the side of the road & wasn't budging but lucky for me two Swiss guys walked by & helped me get him home! The words Chang & Lightweight come to mind!! It was the best night we'd had in a long time x

We had a date with The Brit Café the next morning for a Full English Fry up with all the trimmings. I couldn't wait for my breaky so I made East get up at 8am…he wasn't best pleased, but it was well worth it! Finally the sun showed itself, so straight on the lounger followed by an Aloe Vera massage, whilst East nursed his hang over. Off to Malaysia tomorrow with Rod & Steph for few days on Penang!!