Sawatdee Khrab! (Hello in Thai for those of you who have not been to Thailand

We only spent a couple of days in Singapore in the end because it turned out to be expensive and not that much fun. However, instead of getting to Thailand overland which was a grueling 36hr journey via trains and buses we opted for a cheap Tiger Air flight which cost us only 15 quid more than the overland option...NICE!

We arrived in Krabi just under 2hrs after taking off from Singapore but were not happy with what we found. We knew it was monsoon season in Thailand and it was very likely we'd see rain, but after 3 months of near perfect weather in Indonesia we just thought it would be ok....but it was raining....heavily!! But as luck would have it this soon changed and we've had sun for most of the 12 days we've been in Thailand.

We stayed in Krabi for a couple of nights but as this place doesn't have much to offer and really only serves as a gateway to far superior places we set off for Railay. For those of you who have been to this pensiular you'll know who beautiful it is. Only accessible by boat it's a small peninsular which has 2 of the best beaches we've ever come accross....and we've seen many on our travels! They are so unique because the water is bright green/blue, the sand is white and there are these huge limestone cliffs everywhere which look similar to dripping candle wax!!

We spent a couple of great days at Railay, but left with a bad taste in our mouths as the service was very poor where we stayed and the waiters at Ya Ya's restuarant were extremely rude to us...don't eat there if you find yourself at Railay! To be honest we were both shocked at the service and general attitudes of the Thais working at Railay. Last time we were in Thailand the service was impeccable, everyone spoke fantastic English and there were smiles everywhere we went. But here the Thais were rude, spoke poor English and generally seemed uninterested in the tourists. We didn't understand this at first but since leaving we think it could be a symptom of the Tsunami where the survivers have been effected psychologically and maybe new Thais have been brought in and do not speak great English at the moment....who knows!?

Anyhow, we were glad to leave for Ko Phi Phi, an island 2hrs off the coast and known as the location for the movie 'The Beach' and also for being one of the worst hit areas by the 2004 Tsunami. I (Jake) had already been here on a pervious trip and was shocked at how different it was. It was once an over developed, crowded tourist shanty town with rubbish everywhere and barely enough room to breathe in. This had now changed and there was maybe half the development there once was., but this won't be for long as there was construction work everywhere and the tourism industry was back to what it once was...booming!

We spent 6 nights on Phi Phi, it would have been shorter but we had 2 big nights out (one being my birthday) on the Samsung buckets (basically a bucket filled with Thai whisky and redbull for next to nothing) and this meant we couldn't move the following days! Dam hangovers...last time I (jake) was here I went out each night and didn't feel a thing the next day!

Our days were spent chilling on the three incredible beaches and eventually pushing ourselves to do some snorkeling when it got too hot.

We're now back on mainland in a town called Ao Nang. It's a newish resort that has a Western family feel to it. It's not a bad place but we're not still around for too long. We did an elephant trek yesterday which was wicked. Spent an hour on this huge elepant called Dan plodding through the jungle where scenes from 'The Beach' and other movies were shot. You know the marajuana plantation...we stood there but unfortunately the marajuana was replaced with banana and coconut trees!

Today we're going to do a bit of Thai cooking and then going back to Railay to check out a couple of places for my parents to stay in when they visit Thailand in January.

That's it for now, speak soon
J&A