KOH LANTA - 23/2/2015 - 27/2/2015

"How long do you think it will take to get to Koh Lanta?" Äbout 4 hours?" WRONG!! 13 hours it took us to get there from Langkawi using a selection of transport types: 4x4 to the ferry port, ferry to mainland,long tuk tuk to Satun coach station, "luxury" coach, then a mini bus, then another ferry to Koh Lanta then finally a truck to Long Beach.

All the way with us we were kept company by a Dutch guy called Jerome who meant to stay a couple of nights in Koh Lanta but ended up staying for 7 months! He was great company and pointed us in the direction of some accommodation called Jackies when we arrived that night. We definitely felt like we were in Thailand staying in a bamboo hut surrounded by the noisy nature. Bags dumped we headed off for our first of many Thai green curries. Could Hickey make it 18 in a row again this year?!

Koh Lanta is such a beautiful place with the best sunsets we have ever seen, amazing long white sandy beaches and crystal clear blue water that gets up to chest height about 4 steps in. We were only going to stay for one night but imediately decided to stay for 4! It has a really nice chilled out atmosphere but also knows how to party!!

The next morning we got up early and walked the entire length of the beach lookng to potentially move accommodation- you know what Hickey is like, loves lookng for a bargain. We found a much nicer, bigger bamboo hut with a hammock out the front for 50 baht less. We were congratulating ourselves on the saving then realised it was only a pound difference!

Most of our days were spent lounging on the beach in the amazing heat and hunting out local places to eat rather than backpacker places or proper restaurants. We also spent a lot of time drinking - the Singha beer tastes so good!

On our second day (Tuesday I believe) we were given a flyer for a beach party so decided it would be rude not to go. When in Rome... However 4 hours after we arrived we were still pretty much the only people there, apart from 2 Thai ladies who were up dancing in front of the speaker all night. We had drank a couple of samsong buckets (standard) and enjoyed the house music, but decided to sack it off and went home, bought beers from the shop, both squeezed into our hammock and listened to our tunes and played cards for a few hours.

The other night we decided to have a party night was our last night on the island. During our exploring we found a restaurant called Thai Orchid. As this is the name of our favourite Thai restaurant in Swindon we thought we had to go there. Afterwards we went for a pub crawl down "Backpacker Street". It isn't a street, just a dirt road with bars and huts along it. We went to a cool bar called the Treehouse Bar, which as you can guess is on stilts amongst the trees. En-route to our next bar we walked past Jackies where Jerome was with some friends drinking, dancing and pumping out some great tunes. He ordered us to buy some beers and join them so we did just that, and danced with him, a crazy Spanish chick, a guy from Chile and an assortment of other people and nationalities listening to Croatian techno music!

They were all off to a beach party that happens each week and is reportedly awesome. We decided to nip home to get changed and meet them there seeing as we were having such a great night.

Our good mood changed rapidly however when we got home. Hickey noticed his bag was open and stuff was on the bed even though he had packed before we went out. That's when we noticed the window had been prised open and our ipad and his phone had been stolen. After that we didn't really feel like partying.

So instead of spending our last morning in Koh Lanta on the beach we spent it in the police station!

KRABI - 27/2/15

True to form Lorry was hungover on the journey to our next destination. Hickey, true to form, got back on the beers!

We only had one night in Krabi as we were off to do our Elephant Hills experience the next day, but we made the most of the afternoon we were there exporing and walking along the beach. The scenery is amazing - huge limestone cliffs jutting out of the clear blue sea. We stayed in Ao Nang which has a really long beach. We got some street food and went to bed excited about our next adventure.

ELEPHANT HILLS 28/2/15 - 01/03/15

We ummed and ahhed about booking Elephant Hills as it is an expensive thing to do, and not really traveller-y, but we are sooooo glad we decided to go ahead and do it. The fact that Hickey got a discount through work also helped. The whole thing was amazing and we would recommend it to anyone.

As soon as we got there we started talking to a really cool Australian couple Sarah and John who were on their honeymoon. We checked out our luxury tent (which was huge), dipped our feet in the pool admiring the view of the limestone cliffs, then got summoned to lunch by a huge gong.

Our first part of the experience took part after lunch, and was where we got to meet the elephants, which was amazing. We saw them playing in the big mud pool, then when they got out we had a chance to wash them. It was amazing being able to be so close to them - wash them, hug their trunks and play with the water with them. The elephants are all female elephants that have been rescued from the logging camps in Northern Thailand.

After that we made them lunch which consisted of chopping bananas, pineapples, tamarins and sugar cane into baskets and holding them out for them to take them with their trunks. Awesome!

Before dinner we were treated to a dance show by some local school girls who are taught as part of the elephant hills project, each dance a story about a different tribe in Thailand. Dinner was another mahoosive buffet full of Thai treats - it would have been rude not to have a bit of everything! We stayed up with John and Sarah until the bar closed and went to bed looking forward to the next day.

Day 2 was a jungle trek through the Khao Sok national park, led by a really funny local guide called Bamboo. We went past the rubber plantation and the huge trees, and ended up on top of a hill in the jungle where we had lunch.

The guide found a coconut and expertly chopped it open with a huge machete, and showed us how to make coconut milk from grating the coconut and squeezing the milk from the grated mush. He then used this to make a spicy coconut soup which we had with amazing spicy glazed barbequed pork. Mmmmm!

Unfortunately when we got back to the camp we had to say goodbye to Elephant Hills. Onwards to the next stop!

KOH SAMUI 1/3/2015 - 5/3/2015

Minibus - ferry - minibus was our transport to Koh Lanta. We knew we were arriving late so Hickey booked our hostel in advance which turned out to be amazing. He should really think about doing this for a living! It was called Cheeky Monkeys on Chewang Beach which is the main backpacker area, but it didn't feel like we were backpacing at all as it had a rooftop pool and a bar! We went straight up there when we arrived and watched Liverpool beat Man City whilst drinking 2-4-1 long island ice teas #winning!

The next morning we did our usual walk the length of the beach and back which took just over an hour. There are loads of beach bars and the sea is again crystal clear, but has big waves compared to the usual stillness of the Thai waters.

After a couple of hours sunbathing we went to find a traditional Thai cafe. We don't understand why people just want to eat western food when they are away - traditional Thai food is so flavoursome, and it is nice knowing you are helping out the locals. Once lunch was done we walked up and down the main street. We weren't sure if we were going to like Koh Samui as heard it was really touristy, but we loved it. Yes there are lots of clothing stalls, massage places and tailors but you don't get hassled to buy stuff. Plus there are loads of cool places to drink!

We did contemplate going over to Koh Phangan for the full moon party as it seemed too much of coincidence that it was so close, in distance and dates. However on our explore we found a poster advertising a full moon party on Chewang beach the following night which would satisfy our craving for dance music and a boogie, so decided we would do that instead.

For dinner that night we shunned the plethora of restaurants for the food market. You could choose your dinner from one of the many stalls, and sit where you liked to eat. We parked ourselves outside a cocktail bar called "save water, drink cockails" which were selling cocktais for 70 baht (about 1 pound twenty) and preceded to road test the majority of their menu whilst listening to the entertainment - two young Thai boys trying to make their singing heard above people eating, drinking, chatting and having a good time.

After another day sitting on the super soft white sand, the next night was full moon night, and we started the evening as we started the evening before at the food market, but this time with the addition of John and Sarah from Elephant Hills. God knows how many cocktais later we headed for the beach party.

The music at the party was awesome, and we spent a good few hours bustng some shapes on the dance floor until the cocktails caught up with us and we decided to walk home while we were still capable.

Hickey's Dr Doolittle powers failed him on the walk home and he got bit on the hand whilst trying to make friends with a dog. After getting home and reading the advice on the internet which included "100% mortality rate if you don't go to the hospital" and "if you don't get treatment you will die", we knew the next day would be spent at the hospital.

So as soon as our hangovers subsided that's exactly what we did. Hickey had the first of 5 injections he needs to make sure he doesn't start howling at the moon. They say bad luck comes in 3's - what will happen next?!

The rest of our time in Koh Samui was spent on the beach, wandering about and eating, having a relax before the super long joureny to crazy Bangkok.

BANGKOK 6/3/2015 - 9/3/2015

We arrived on Khao San Road in Bangkok at 5am and it was still buzzing! Mainly with drunken men and lady boys mind!

Luckily our room at the Khao San Palace (nowhere near as grand as it sounds) was ready so we went straight for a couple of hours kip before heading out to expore. First stop was lunch where Lorry had the hottest soup known to man - the jungle curry. Definitely not for the faint hearted!

As Lorry's heat rash had come back we tried to stay out of the heat - difficult when it's 35 degrees, it was boiling even in the shade. We walked down all the side alleys where the locals sit under covers selling food, lottery tickets, clothes, basically anything you can think of. We decided to look for somewhere different to stay for the next night onwards, and found a great little guest house called BB's which was really quaint, cheap, and set back from the main drag.

The next day, after Hickey's injection, we walked to Siam Square so Lorry's poor skin could cool off in the air conditioned malls. The malls in Bangkok are amazing, The shop fitters have all put loads of effort into making each shop look realy cool and stand out, and there are loads of things to look at and play with. Our favourite mall was MBK where you can fnd yourself some bargains. After a day mainly window shopping and playing at the mall we went home for dinner, which was... yep you've guessed, street food!

The day after we got up early to go to the Damnoesaduck floating market and village. It is crazy - so noisy and colourful! You get in these long boats and there are people rowing up and down the river selling things, as well as stilt shacks with stall holders hooking your boat in to try and get you to buy stuff. The only thing we bought was a homemade coconut ice cream served in a coconut shell, and a tacky souvenir plate at 1/5 of the asking price. Hickey also got a slap from one of the traders for being cheeky and laughing at them!

That eveing was the event we had been looking forward to for a while - Liverpool vs Blackburn in the FA Cup Quarter Final. All the tuk tuk drivers found it really funny that a couple would be supporting different teams (we both had our footy shirts on) and were shouting out predictive scores and giving Hickey/Blackburn the thumbs down.

We found a place showing the game and drank Singa whilst watching the match. As it was a good game and a draw we were in high spirits, so decided to go on somewhere for a bucket (of cocktail) and a boogie. There is supposed to be a curfew in Bangkok at midnight where all of the bars turn off their music. Which they did. For about 15 minutes! We got in at 3am - not good when we had to leave for Cambodia at 7:30 the next day!!

So, that's Thailand! If anyone is thinking about going - GO! I can guarantee you will not regret it. The heat, the beaches, the people, the food, even the frog noise that follows you around Khoa San Road, everything about Thailand is amazing. Fact!