So after leaving Koh Samui we landed safely in Phuket - much to our relief, as we hurtled past the crash site from last month. It was an incredible flight however as we flew over James Bond island east of Phuket with the sun setting, just incredible!

From the airport we jumped in a taxi to Karon, a beach south of the well known Patong! The taxi driver was a complete nutter! We cannot stress how incredibly crazy this Thai man was driving. If only Lewis had driven the same, the F1 championship would have been wrapped up by now!

Our hotel in Karon was stunning, steps into the pool from our room! See the photos! Had a fantstic time in Karon, very laid back (apart from the suit sellers - including my new best friend Jonny Armani, apparently, who did not give up on the 30th attempt of trying to sell me a suit!). Much to Ems amusement she made us have a photo together - it is a forced grin trust me. I'm not the kind of person who gets stressed easily but even Mr Armani got to me!

The highlight of our stay (other than England beating the French in the semis) was our trip to Koh Phi Phi. It has been one of the highlights of our trip so far - visiting Maya beach (where the film 'The Beach' was filmed), and snorkelling in 3 different locations with incredible coral reefs and thousands of amazing fish! We also stopped at the larger of the 2 islands, Koh Phi Phi Don, an island which is joined by a sandbar in the middle, and which was completely swept away by the tsunami. There is still a lot of work going on in the recovery of this island but it appears to be slower getting there! We also had the delights of someone being sick on the boat with the usual (it must have been something i ate, when in fact she had got rat arsed the night before!). As a marine biologist i also take it very badly when some speedo wearing sun burnt German decides to use the coral as a climbing frame! I don't think Em has ever seen me so angry! The trip itself was just magical.

After almost a weeks stay in Karon, we headed to the backpacker mecca / party centre which is Patong! We originally booked a 4 night stay at the Baan Sukhothai resort, but it was awful after one night we have now moved further north to the Kamala beach, staying somewhere much better.

Patong is an interesting place, and although it is somewhere that didn't necessarily appeal to me or Em it is worth visiting, just for the sites (and i don't mean the surrounding countryside). It is also excellent for........shopping! It is a fake designer hypermarche! After some haggling we have come away with only 2 designer bags! Not quite sure how i managed to get away with that but Em is extremely happy with her purchases. As we strolled past Burger King, Macdonalds and Subway we stopped at Haagen Daas for some ice cream.

After a sleepless night and fireworks going off till 8am in the morning we got a tuk tuk to Kamala and are enjoying a much more thai environment. Off to the crazy Phuket Fantasea tonight which is a Las Vegas style show with apparently 30 elephants and a 4,000 seat restaurant......should be interesting. We will keep you posted!

We are heading to Singapore on Friday for 3 nights before flying to Melbourne. Hope everyone is well and we hope to hear from you soon!

The Zeales!

xxx