Right, so I've just realised it's ages since we last updated the blog. We've been to Chiang Mai, back to Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, back to Bangkok again an are now on Koh Tao enjoying the sun. Well, when the sun is out, it was grey and rainy all of yesterday!!

The first day in Chiang Mai was pretty much a total wash out for me (Zoe) after another horrible overnight buse journey from Khon Kaen. I crashed out in the hostel room while James went in search of treks. When I was slightly more conscious we booked a trek to start the next day and met our fellow trekkers, 2 American women, 2 Dutch guys and a famous Belgian guy (apparently he did some tv show in Belgium where he and his mate tried to blag their way into big parties, like the oscars, and film it - he had some good stories). The first day of the trek included a trip to a gorgeous waterfall, which we got to stand under, and a trip to visit some geysers. We then started an almost vertical 3 hour trek! Thankfully there was a stop off in a local village for an hour, where we were invited into some locals house and got to try some of their tea (it wasn't very nice but JAmes was the last to try it so felt he had to drink the whole cup!) Wer carried on our trek reaching our "5* hotel" at about 5pm. So just enough time to shower in the river before it started getting cooler. After dinner we relaxed around a fire, which was great. Our guide sang us some Thai songs, and then a couple of English ones and tried to get us all to sing along! Night was a less pleasant experience as the temperature drops ridiculously!!!

day 2 of the trek and we started trekking again! Less far this time as the elephants were doing some trekking for us, followed by floating down river on a bamboo raft. Now, I don't want to offend Bouma (our previous elephant) but Kadir (our elephant during the trek) was a amazing! He made an elephant trumpetting sound while we were on him, he kind of went up on his back legs to get some leaves while we were on him and THEN he got a branch and used it as a fly swat - how clever is that?! Bamboo rafting got off to a poor start as we tried to get used to punting (well James did. My job appeared to be staying on the raft). We crashed a couple of times going over rapids and getting wedged on/in between rocks and our guide fell in quite a few times!

A truck took us back to Chiang Mai and we decided to head stright to Bangkok aon the night coach. I was now prepared for the night travel as we picked up some sleeping pills for me in Chiang Mai. It took a while for the pharmicist to understand what Nytol was, but we found out it's just an anti-histamine that makes you drowsy. Anyway, it made me very drowsy and I was pretty much out of it for the entire journey, while James threw up (in the toilet on board, not on me). Obviously there is some problem with us and night travel!

Back in Bangkok (my new home away from home) we organised a trip to Kanchanaburi and despite feeling a bit queasy I still managed to have a yummy banana and chocolate pancake (I really think it's worth travelling to Bangkok to try them).

Kanchanaburi involved a 2 hour drive after some confusion about which minibus we were meant to be on. We arrived at the WWII memorial, built by the Thais to commemorate the POWswho died in Thailand during the building of the railway line from Burma to Thailand. It was sad how so many of the soldiers who died were our age 22/23. I think the last time I studied the 2nd World War I was 16, so the ages didn't resonate so much with me. On from the memorial we went to the bridge over the river Kwai (AKA The Death Railway Briidge) built by the POWs as part of the line. It is very easy to fall off (not that we know from experience, there just wasn't much to stop you falling). We were then meant to actually go on the train along the railway line, but due to "problems" (I suspect it was the rain) we couldn't and we were taken straight to lunch. During the minibus journey we ended up chatting to a girl (around 9 years old) who was on the trip and her parents seemed deetermined to sit as far away from her as possible. After playing a rather repetitive game with her about guessing letters or numbers 0-100, we arrived for lunch. The girl then came and ate lunch with us! We felt a bit sorry for her as she was obviously lonely and bored. Finally came the highlight of the day - Tiger Temple! It is a Buddhist Temple where the monks care for injured animals and have reared abandoned tigers there by hand. It did not let us down. Despite the fact the rain wouldn't stop andwe were told this made the tigers more frisky we braved it and got snaps with them. It was a bit weird, as you go down into the quarry, queue up and then get led by the wrist to various tigers and the only time the volunteer lets go of you is to allow the photo to take place. I don't know if they're worried you're going to jump on a tiger or try to run off with one or what, but they keep a tight hold on you. As you'll know from the photos we then also went and saw a couple of cubs, who were absolutely adorable. We then explored the grounds of the temple a bit and saw the other animals, such as peacocks, cows, horses, boar, deer, chickens, an eagle with a broekn wing and a leopard.

So that was Kanchanaburi. We didn't gdo much back in Bangkok for a couple of days and then got a night bus to Chumpon to get a connecting boat to Koh Tao. The coach left at 6:30pm and arrived in Chumpon at 2am with our boat leaving at 7am! So we had a few hours sleep on the floor of a travel agents. Nice. We arrived in Ko Tao and headed to the south beach, which were rather disappointed with. Mainly as there was no beach, there was just sea!! Slowly the tide went out and a bit of beach became visible, so we tried sunbathing. After about 10 minutes we got bored and hired snorkels. James struggled with not breathing through his nose/having water up his nose, so snorkling kind of fizzled out after an hour. We deciede to check out the more lively part of Koh Tao, Sairee. Somehow during our 1 hour visit I ended up booking myself onto a scba diving course for my open water qualification and James signed up for a deep sea diving taster!! The next day we moved all our stuff over to Sairee and I got stuck into my course. I had the morning learning theory stuff and then an afternopon dive. James was on the boat for the dive too, but he was doing a different dive. Mine consisted of kneeling in chest deep water and having to do horrible things like fill your mask with water and then empty it while still being underwater, and trying to relocate your breathing apparatus after you'd dropped it from your mouth. James did a mini version of this and then got to actually see stuff. He really enjoyed the first dive (very impressive considering the snorkelling problems from the day before), but panicked on the second dive after getting to the bottom and then swallowing water. so che ame up and it then turned out he vccouldn't go back down. James wasn't very pleased with his efforts, but considering the day before he couldn't even snorkel I was impressed!! Today I had another morning of theory and an afternoon of my first proper dives. During the first one I was too concerned with not getting kicked in the face by my fellow divers, but I really enjoyed the second one, which was deeper. Seeing so many fish and different coral. It was amazing! James spent the day chilling out, and walked towards the north of the island, which until he started walking he didn't realise was up hill. Mainly James spent today working on his tan, as he needs to catch up with me.

I've got 2 more dives to do before I complete my course, so will be doing them tomorrow morning, while James celebrates his birthday alone. Then I'll join him, and then on my birthday it looks like we might have to get a night ferry!? Excellent - sea sickness and night travel!!

Still enjoying it al, despite us both recently being eaten alive by mosquitoes, no matter how much DEET we put on!