Hi Everyone Well - we are back and apologies for sucking at blogging!! By the way - this is Lindsey here - Trace is currently sitting next to me trying to download our photies - it's no easy job out here. We are currently on Koh Pha Ngan in Thailand and have just survived our first full moon party... it was crazy but more on that later. We have been here for 4 days after spending a week and a half on Koh Samui which was fab. Koh Samui is a much more populated island and is totally geared to the tourist. The beaches are lovely with soft white sand, there are hotels all along the beaches and shops, shops and more shops - well most of them look more like stalls but there is lots of shopping to be had. We managed to refrain from most of it other than a few essentials which we are both very proud of. But first back to the beginning, we flew from Cape Town, to JHB, to Kuala Lumpa and then to Bangkok - we did not stop there because of the riots but flew directly to Koh Samui and after about 22 hours of travel landed on Buddha Beach. We had booked into accommodation called Shambala, which had no aricon - we thought we'd be fine.. well we lasted exactly 10 minutes and moved down the road to a lovely aircon room in a guest house called Kinnaree. We stayed there for 2 nights but Big Buddha is a bit quiet and we wanted to be closer to the touristy bit where there is a bit more to do. So we moved to Chaweng beach and stayed at a place called the Ark for another two nights. The Ark is right in the middle of the tourist section which was good but a little too close to all the crazyness. It is right on the beach though so great for getting up, putting on our bikinis and heading directly for a sun lounger - which we managed quite well. At night they turn the sunloungers into tables and chairs so you sit on the beach sipping cocktails and watching the world go by and boy you see some sights down there. We managed not to move off our sunloungers other than to get our beauty sleep and of course to spash in the crystal clear sea to cool down. Although the sea is like bath water so not very refreshing but lovely to float about in for hours at a time. We then decided to look for accommodation further down the beach a bit away from the crazy sex tourists and found an amazing room for about 8 pounds per night. We booked into the Chaweng Cover budget hotel which is attached to Chaweng Cove 'posh' hotel so we got a lovely cheap (but clean and very comfy) room and all the facilities of the posh hotel - gym, swiming pool, sun loungers, beach towels, free dvds - you name it. We were styling for all of 8 pounds!! We stayed there for about 6 nights which was lovely and relaxing and gave us time to go on a few advetures around the island. Our first adventure was a boat trip to Ang Thong marine national park where we kayaked around the islands for about an hour or so. We then did a bit of a hike up to a viewing spot where you can see this amazing lake with blue blue water. The hike nearly killed us in the heat but it was so worth it. Then it was off for some snorkelling off another island and a bit of tanning and resting after the hike. It was a really great day and so incredibly beautiful. After a day of rest on our sunloungers we then decided to go on an elephant trek which was fun but not very long and then we hiked up to some waterfalls in the mountains which again were incredibly beautiful. We swam in the ponds beneath the waterfall - we needed to cool down after the hike - the humidity is incredible here - you sweat all the time from morning to night - its hot hot hot 24 hours a day. We also managed to get attacked by bugs on the way down but it was all worth it in the end. Koh Samui is absolutely beautiful, the beaches, the forest and the people are so friendly and lovely. After 11 days on the island it was time to move on and we left for Koh Pha Ngan excited about our new adventure but sad to leave such a beautiful place. Well, i think my time is almost up so I'll say goodbye and we promise to be back blogging soon to share our adventure on Koh Pha Ngan and the full moon party... Lots of love, miss you all Linds and Trace xxx