Thailand - The Islands (16/3 - 27/3) Ko samui- After a long overnight bus from Bangkok, we were dropped off at a bus stop somewhere on the mainland at 6am. 2 Hours later another bus picked us up and delivered us to the Ferry. A 2 1/2 hour ferry ride and we arrived on Ko Samui, paradise awaited us. We jumped in the back of a pickup truck, which I think act as bus's over here and were whisked off to the Hat Lamui beach. After walking along the beach for over an hour to find a cheap place, we came across some bungalows on the beach for just 5 pounds a night. Not the nicest place in the world but it was on the beach. The day was spent sunbathing, taking in our new surroundings and watching the sunset. We spent 2 days aon Ko Sumui relaxing on the beach but the place was very quiet and the town area was full of go-go bars, massage parlours (officially) and old western guys hanging around with young thai girls. We decided it was time to move on and Ko Pan Ngan was calling us. Ko Pan Ngan - The 10:30am ferry from Ko Samui whisked us across to Ko Pan Ngan in just 45 minutes. We found some nice accomodation with a pool for a fiver. The first nice rich ventured out to some Jungle club with marie who we met previously in Cambodia and Marie's mate. Unfortunately I fell asleep at about 10pm and was unable to drag myself out of bed to oin them. The next night the beach party was calling me. After a day relaxing round the pool we set off to the bars about 11pm. We found this amazing place on the beach called "Drop Inn Bar" great music and a dancelfloor on the beach. The night was spent jigging on the beach and in the sea to the killers, plenty of house music and even a bit of Ian Van Dahl, which i enjoyed. Drinks were readily provided in bucket form containing Thai whiskey (samsun). We had a great night and eventually ventured in at 7am. Just a few hours rest before we caught the morning ferry to Ko Tao. Ko Tao - A terrible 2 hour ferry journey in choppy sea's had me feeling ill. This was the second worst journey of the trip so far behind the bus journey from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. After a knighmare tryig to find somewhere cheap to stay, we relaxed on the beach in the afternoon. Ko Tao was an amazing place, the scenary was unbelieveable, crystal clear waters, palm trees swaying in the wind and magnificent sunsets. For our only full day in Ko Tao we went snorkeling. The sea was to rough to see the sharks but we still saw loads of fish, the visiblity under the water was great. Desperate to get back to Ko pan Ngan for another party we left the next day. Ko Pan Ngan- We returned to Ko Pan Ngan just initially to spent 1 more night, we managed to get a room in the same place, coral bungalows which was good. After relaxing in the day we ventured out to get some food about 8 and to watch the film the beach, with it being soo famous in this part of the world. Another fantastic night was enjoyed accompanied by the great music and the some samsun buckets. While walking home at 7am the next morning we could not bring ourselves to accept that this was our last day here so we delayed our departure for another day. We spent most of the day sleeping, watched a film in the afternoon then packed our bags ready for the mornings departure. Unfortunately our final night was disappointing, the bars were quiet and full of thai prostitutes and old western guys. It was like they were all on a night trip form Ko Samui. We got in at 6am and jumped straight in a taxi to catch the 6:30am departure to the mainland. Krabi - We arrived in Krabi town about 2pm after a bus from the east coast. Our boat to Thong Sa beach where we were staying did not leave till 4pm so we chilled in a cafe. Before we had time to finish out lunch, it started to rain ..alot. We had a massive thunderstrom I have never seen rain like it and it rained for hours. Our boat was delayed till the storm finished and eventually arrived at 5pm. The boat dropped us on Riley beach, the next beach along from where we were staying. At low tide you can walk along the beach between the two places but it was high tide so we had to catch a boat around an outcrop of rocks. We stayed in a nice place but Thong Sa is a bit of a hippy place that is cut off from most of the services. After a well earned lie in we ventured round to Riley beach to phone home for mothers day. The thing that strikes you most about Krabi is the stunning scenary, huge limestone rocks rise out of the sea and surround the beach's. This place was awesome, but the weather was not, during the afternoon we had another thunderstorm and it threw it down for hours. We had to catch a boat back to Thong Sa beach while the storm was going on. Feeling very unsafe in a tiny boat in the middle of a thunderstorm was quite memorable. Just as we got off the boat at Thong Sa beach I saw a flash which was followed by the loudest bang I had ever heard. What did I do well, instead of turning to check if rich had been struck I sprinted off the beach into the relative safety of a restaurant. The next day, completely fed up with the rainfall we left for Malaysia.