ok, for those of you who have complained about the content and quality of our postcards, this one is just for you! currently we are in the kingdom of thailand, which, at the moment is holding the month long celebration of the kings 60th year on the throne. this involves numerous, very dull television broadcasts every night, every other programme stops, including the world cup! thailand is asia's primary holiday destination and a useful and popular first destination for many backpackers. the rise in tourism and the cash that it brings has influenced the economic growth of thailand considerably, however, thailand's cultural integrity has remained largely untouched. thailand has a population of approximately 63 million people, of which around 90% are practising Theravada Buddhists. although there are many examples of towering high rise blocks and neon-lights along the coastal areas the typical thai community is the traditional farming village. in fact, some 50% of all thais still earn their living from the land. we started our thailand adventure in the remote town of satun in the far south-western corner of the country. the town main purpose is to [provide boat links with ko atrutao malaysia, a service we used. thw town also houses a national museum based in a graceful, colonial style mansion. although this would have been facinating to see we were very short of time so we hopped onto the bus to the town of trang, capital of the trang province. the town of trang, in itself, is nothing special. despite holding an annual vegetarian festival in october, the towns cheif purpose is to provide visitors with a gateway to the islands nearby. unfortunately we were unable to visit these islands as trang was merely a rest stop on our way to surat thani, the gateway to koh pha ngan. our stay in trang was, however, greatly improved by the presence of the thumrin thana hotel, a fabulous 4-star hotel (photos on the photo album page!) in which we kipped for a night. surat thani, in the words of the rough guide to south-east asia is, uninspiring. its only purpose is for connecting boats out to the islands of koh samui, koh pha ngan and koh tao. the town contains many bus stations, a railway station and an airport, with the sea port-the don sak pier, a mere 16km away. our next stop in thailand was the beautiful island of koh pha ngan. as i have already included a lot about this island i shall merely say this. twenty years ago, the island was largely a traditional thai island, the only businesses around were fishing and cocunut selling. however, with the world famous full moon party taking place on the beaches of haad rin every month and the influx of tourism to the island, its prosperity has changed vastly, with many natives still unsure about whether this change has been a positive or a negative one. from koh pha ngan we headed off to khao sok national park. this park is covered mainly with dense jungle, interspersed with stunning limestone outcrops. this type of scenery is known as karst scenery. wildlife in this national park is nothing short of amazing, with gibbons, gaurs, leopards, tigers, elephants and up to 155 species of birds, this is certainly a place for the animal lovers among us! many buses from both surat thani and the coastal town of krabi pass this park and it is well worth the visit. guesthouse staff wait by the raod ready to meet any stopping bus and whisk you away to their respective abodes. on our stay in this park we were lucky to be met by a representative of the best guesthouse in the whole place. upon arriving we were showing to a colossal bunglow nestled beautifully amongst many lush palm trees, all this for only 300 baht, approximately 5 pounds a night! at the guesthouse we were able to book the following days activites. these turned out to be a fantastic trek through the jungle on elephants to a waterfall followed by 'tubing' down the khao sok river. both were fantastic experiences and there are photos on this site to back up this statement. from khao sok we headed over to the town of krabi and then the small tourist village of ao nang, where i am writing this postcard. interestingly, the photo accompanyng this postcard is of one of the bays around krabi, a similar sight awaits us when we round the corner onto the seafront. perhaps the two best known places around this area are from the motion pictures of the last few decades, with james bond island, the location of 'the man with a golden gun' and the island of koh phi phi, the location of leonardo di caprio's film, 'the beach'. these two islands are a stones throw away. perhaps one of the most popular tourist attractions in this area is sea kayaking. this is by far the most rewarding way to sea the fantastic array of wondeful caves and mangrove swamps that line the coast, homes to a diverse micro-ecosystem of various animals and birds, impossible creatures to spot on a roaring longtail boat, the favoured form of tranport with the fishermen of this kingdom. from our current location we head off to the island of phuket. a destination favoured, perhaps unfortunately, by many package holiday tourists. however, as our main purpose for the visit to this island is to partake in a 4-week thai kickboxing camp based in the hills we will not be surrounded by the ever-encroaching westernisation of this beautiful west coast island. for more information on thailand please visit http://www.tourismthailand.org/ or www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/ destinations/asia/thailand/ hope everyone back home is enjoying themselves as much as we are, james