We are now in our 'budget bungalow', near the beach, on the island of Ko Chang, Thailand; which, for a 'budget bungalow', really is rather splendid. We have a little veranda on which to sit, our own nylon washing line, nicely tiled floor, hot shower and a comfy bed with a bright pink mosquito net which did have a big hole in it but luckily I packed an emergency sewing kit and, low and behold, if the mosquitoes get inside it now, they can no longer get out and we will be bitten to death.

More about Ko Chang later, as always, we must tell you about the journey........

A bus picked us up from our hotel, at 7.15am; it was due at 7.30 so I was just enjoying a cup of hot Lipton's tea and sadly, had to leave it behind. The bus took us to a bus stop not far away where we all had to get off, unload our bags and wait for about an hour for another bus, all the while I was thinking about my cuppa. We climbed aboard bus number two and were going great knots, full steam ahead when we came across another bus broken down along the road. Our driver did a u turn in the road, scattering any other vehicles in its wake and went back to help the other bus. They tinkered around for about half an hour, started the bus and we were on our way, or so we thought. Our driver obviously thought it strange the other bus hadn't caught up with us and we duly turned around again and went back to see the broken down bus re-broken down. This time our driver attached a tow rope and we roared off, trailing the other bus [full of passengers] behind us at break neck speed. Dave, myself and the 3 other passengers on the back seat were worried to death that our driver would slam his brakes on and we would have a Double Decker up our jacksies.But, all was well and once we had deposited the broken down bus at a ramshackled old service station we were once again, on our way. We saw 2 nasty accidents during our journey and being a bit on the superstitious side I was hoping we weren't going to see a third. [keep that bit of information in your mind for later on]

We arrived at the border crossing into Thailand and stood, having walked a long way with our overloaded back packs for an age in one queue and then another. It was hot and humid and hard work trying to stop the French from pushing in [Luckily there was a big gruff American by us who kept shouting 'Please respect the line'!!!! Once through the border we caught another bus which took us to a bus station for lunch [which no-one wanted]; They said we had to order quickly as we had to leave in 30 minutes. I ordered a cup of tea [I was gasping by this point and there really is nothing quite like a nice cup of tea] 2 hours later other passengers had caught their busses, we were still waiting and my tea never did arrive! Then, low and behold, along came a lovely VIP mini bus with lots of leg room and reclining seats; 4 of us were told to get on and off we whizzed, just the 4 of us on a 12 seated bus in the lap of luxury. Whizzed being the operative word here, the driver drove like a madman; he had a lot of time to make up and we were glad to reach the ferry alive, which was then to take us to the island of Ko Chang. We arranged at the ticket office for a taxi to take us to our accommodation and a lady driver was called who wrinkled up her nose, spouted out something in Thai then reluctantly motioned us to get in her car. It was obvious the poor woman didn't want to do the job but she was very gracious towards us and off we went. During the taxi ride the most careful driver we have had since starting out on our travels, made a couple of hands free calls to someone we assumed to be her husband and, though she was speaking Thai, we recon the call went something like this.....

'You'll have to get a takeaway tonight love cos I've got 2 right lairy westerners in the car who wanna go over the mountain and all the way over the other side of the Island, I'm right pissed off cos I wanted to get a few tinnies in and watch Man U tonight'

Well we [Dave] also had hopes of seeing the match which was going to start in about half an hour, and I had pinned my hopes on a nice Thai green curry for dinner. Everything was going to plan when Bang! We had a motor bike up our jacksies [Better than a double decker but now you know why I said remember about my superstitions earlier] The rider was rolling about in the road in apparent agony, our driver was crying realising there was no way she was going to get to see the match now and we were wondering what the hell happens now?

Well, what we thought was a very sleepy little village sprang to life. People came from all directions to calm the motor bike driver down and put a pillow under his head, some came with flashlights to direct the traffic and others brought cones and shop A boards to cordon off the accident scene, A police car and Ambulance arrived and everything seemed very well rehearsed.

The police man marched straight over to Dave and, though he had a huge grin on his face as Thais tend to do, shouted at him, Dave looked exceedingly bemused, particularly when he demanded then in broken English to see his driving licence. We realised he thought Dave had been driving the car so we had to tell him the woman was taxiing us to the other side of the island, he looked very disappointed that he wasn't going to cop a westerner and all the time we were hoping she was registered and insured to carry passengers as there was no taxi sign on her car. My instincts told me let's get out of here, we didn't want to have to start giving evidence and silly stuff like that [We really didn't see anything anyway] so in the confusion, we hailed another taxi and fled the scene.

We eventually arrived at 'Sunflower Bungalows' on 'Lonely Beach' and estimated we might get to see the second half of the match and order that Thai Green Currys after all when, as we were being shown our bungalow along a cobweb of tiny mud paths, the electric went out in the whole district. The owner of the site said it happens quite often and it would probably be off all night. Hot, tired, smelly and hungry we realised, no Man U, no curry, no shower, no air con and we couldn't even see our room properly [the owner did give us a very dim torch with which, if we really peered we could make out the outline of a bed and a bucket of water as the toilet doesn't flush without electric and maybe we would like a shower with a bucket and a cup. We dumped our stuff and stumbled through the jungle [That's what it seemed like to us] to the wooden outside bar which is very hippyfied with low, candlelit tables, cushions to sit on [Dave loved that] and chatted to some really nice people, we could faintly make out lots of dreadlocks, tattoos and suspicious smells and piercings but, hey who are we to judge, we were the odd ones out and they were all very welcoming. The people in the kitchen knocked us up a lovely curry, one doing the cooking and one holding a torch, bless them and we had a very convivial evening, this is what travelling is all about Dave I said [after a couple of beers]but he really wasn't convinced, he couldn't even check the scores on the internet. Thank goodness Phil was able to text us all the way from Cheltenham, though the score was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The next day, we woke to full electricity and a sunny morning but with ominous clouds looming, away in the distance. [We're in Thailand for goodness sake, it can't be over cast today!] We fired up the internet and there was the lovely news that Grandchild number 13 is on its way, we checked our other messages and what everyone has been up to on facebook [snow again in England] and, though my tummy was a bit jippy from the curry the night before, we had breakfast and wandered off to see the beach. Our bit is quite rocky, we had had visions of miles and miles of sand and the picture on the internet was of palm trees with hammocks slung between them but they must have gotten the pics mixed up with somewhere else [No suing for mis-selling here], we did find a bit of sand, but the weather was, by now, becoming quite dull so we flagged down a songthaew [An open air taxi with a bench up each side] and headed, again at breakneck speed, over a mountain with hair pin bends to a little fishing village called Bang Bao

Bang Bao was gorgeous; if only the sun had been shining it would have been even more gorgeous. We walked down the long pier dotted with little shops and restaurants and stopped at the 'Buddah View', we ordered our first beer of the day, flopped on the luxurious sun beds and watched boats bobbing around and marvelled at the glorious view. Our tummies were soon grumbling, we found a busy sea food restaurant and tucked into our most luxurious meal yet, we just couldn't resist the wonderful food on offer, being undecided what to have, we ordered fish fried in Thai spices, crab in a Thai green curry sauce and the most wonderful prawns. The food was excellent and, as we hadn't yet worked out the exchange rate between the Thai baht and the pound, for once we didn't worry about the price, didn't look for the budget options and we ate like kings. I paid the price later as the poorly belly came back and I was dashing to the loo with the proverbial burning ring of fire for the rest of the day and night.

Luckily everyone here has experienced or is experiencing the same problem and we swap diarrhoea and squat toilet stories like we talk about boat trips, where we've been, where we're headed next and who we have met along the way.

Today dawned sunny with blue skies, I'm sitting on the veranda writing this interspersed with little jaunts. We found a fab laid back place for breakfast; where we sat, leaning on cushions rested on an old gnarled tree trunk looking out onto the gulf of Thailand [Hardly anywhere has proper tables and chairs here, it's all very laid back maaan] We decided to flag down a taxi and took ourselves off to White Sands Beach about 20 minutes away. On the way we got a fleeting view of monkeys swinging in the trees and elephants in a conservation area. The beach was glorious and a fitting place for me to be reading my latest book 'The Beach' sadly Leonardo De Caprio didn't make an appearance but, never mind, Dave cut a fine figure in his swimming trunks wading out to sea.

In the evening we met up with our young 'Sundowner friends' who are from Australia, we first met them on our boat trip on the Mekon Delta and we have been bumping into them everywhere we have been ever since. There are a few rustic bars here offering live music and it is quite entertaining listening to Thai singers trying to get their tongues around the words to western songs. Tonight we have been invited to a bar just up the road from us, the waitress informs us that the singer does 'legge' and 'lock an' lole' should be a good night!

As we didn't get to see much of the monkeys in the wild we decided to walk to the next bay this morning thinking we could linger longer in the spot where we had seen them yesterday. We set off fairly early before it got too hot, Dave had assured me there was only one hill so I was fairly optimistic about making it without collapsing from heat exhaustion. We walked and walked, after the fifth hill we got to where the monkeys should have been but there was no sign of them, they obviously had better places to be, so reluctantly we set off again. I felt like a little kid who gets lied to by its parents 'Are we nearly there yet?' 'It's just around the next bend' Bloody liar!

The bay was virtually deserted and absolutely gorgeous, well worth the blood sweat and tears. I was rewarded with a large glass of fresh pineapple juice and Dave was soon forgiven and the grumpiness forgotten.

We are leaving Ko Chang with its splendid beaches, beautiful birds, massive butterflies, palm trees and jungle noises tomorrow. We are headed for Phuket and a bit of island hopping, Time is wizzing by now, we have to make the most of every minute.........