We had an hour sawngthaew taxi trip booked to our next destination, Hat Rin, located in the south of the Island of Ko Pha-Ngnan. In fact, the driver drove like a maniac over the bumpy concrete roads and we arrived in just under half an hour with our innards in our laps. We gave him the name of a guest house we had seen advertised in the lonely planet; he shook his head and said 'I take you somewhere better, velly cheap'. Ok, that sounded like a good idea and here we are in a nice spacious en-suite room, with hot water and air con [a luxury compared to the beloved beach bungalows to which we had become accustomed] and a nice balcony overlooking the surrounding area. The racket from the cicadas blocks out any noise from the revellers staying here but the place is becoming quieter by the day as the young backpackers who came here for the infamous Full Moon party pack up and slouch off nursing terrific hangovers and poisoned livers from drinking buckets of God knows what. See our photos for the pile of empty vodka bottles we stumbled upon.

A lot of people we have met thought we wouldn't like Hat Rin, but we have found it has a certain charm of its own. It's obviously a 'party town'; any excuse and there's a party on the beach [Tonight there's a lighthouse party, whatever that is'] But the people here are warm, friendly and helpful even though they must be worn out catering for a constant stream of travellers. There are some lovely little shops selling clothes, jewellery etc. and you can browse without being hassled. We have found nice places to eat and drink and some lovely scenery off the beaten track. There are smiles and greeting everywhere and the beach, with its string of restaurants and dubious 'bucket bars' and mellow mountain, has 'character'

We ventured out last night and found a tiny ram-shackled wooden bar on one of the quieter beaches to watch the sun go down. There were a few young travellers chilling out in hammocks who were full of warnings for us about being careful if we were heading to sunrise beach where the parties are held. We were amused to hear them giving us the sort of advice we would be giving our kids at their age and, like our kids of their age we completely ignored their advice and went off to the party. Before we left the quaint little bar Dave went to the to pay for our drinks. He looked down at the change in his hand and banged his head on a shelf which happened to have a nail sticking out of it. Once I had unhooked his head from the nail and rubbed it better, he braved the pain and paid the bill, all the while mumbling grumpily to the concerned but smiling old Thai bar owner. "Youwanna ge'a nammer t'tha'mate" Dave mumbled to him. The poor old chap looked completely bemused, grinned, nodded and waved, completely oblivious to what Dave was on about. It took me about 10 minutes to unravel what he had said and then I couldn't stop laughing. Poor Dave, he's always banging his head on something here, everything is designed for petite little Asians not Big Buddha's like him.

Well the party went with a swing and, even though he had a hole in his head, Dave the Rave got stuck in and we collected more e-mail addresses from people we have no intentions of keeping in touch with. We arrived back at our lodgings about 1am, we hadn't been raped, mugged or drugged. We met a lot of other party people wandering back to their digs as we headed out for breakfast next morning.

A quiet day today as Dave was recovering from his head banging [in more ways than one]. Off to Bangkok tomorrow, another 12 hour journey; let's hope we have some tales to tell after. We have been reassured, by a reputable source, a travel agent?, that we shouldn't come across any scams on this trip and they also told us that, where we were 'swindled' out of 20 quid on our last journey [Surat Thani] is a notorious spot for mafia operations; it is quite normal for foreign visitors to be ripped off there and the only thing you can do is pay, grin and bear it and go on your way. I suppose, if we were dealing with the mafia, 20 quid is a small price to pay; at least we didn't get our knee caps blown off!