Holla from Gili T homies!

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Hey fans!! Back again (after another week or more! - oops!) and lots to tell.

We wrote you last from Koh Tao, the downscaled version of Phangan. Following a great last night, and another ladyboy show - this time a lot of our guys got involved for the finale! Very funny indeed - We took a boat over to Koh Samui. Immediately you got a feel for how much bigger this island was, and much more advanced.

Having checked into our room for 3 at Ark Bar - the hub for beach/party life - and had a little nap we jumped in a cab to meet Adam at his local, an authentic Irish Pub, and a few of his friends including the one and only Clayton. A couple of pints later and we drove back to Adam's to meet the family. It felt strange being in a homely place again after all this time but in a pleasant way. We met Sar (not sure on spelling sorry!) - Adam's wife, Ock the not so chatty 13 year old, and their adorable (almost) 2 year old daughter Megan. After another beer whilst watching "Chugginton's", and introducing the world of Peppa Pig to their family, the 3 of us went out for a meal with Adam and Sar. What a meal it was! An incredible seafood feast of everything from lobster to clams (accompanied by a bottle of whisky) and even Emily managed to dive in and give everything a try! It was Delicious.

The next day we bumped into Clayton at breakfast in the Ark Bar, who genrously offered to pay for our bill and preceded to buy us a couple of pints of Chang each!! You can't say no to a free pint! Following a couple of games of pool we said goodbye to Luke as he made the daunting trip home, then had a wander around Chewang before dozing off our booze before the evening ahead.

Muay Thai!
We got a free lift down to the stadium where, after persuading the ticket saleswoman to let Emily in for free, we watched 6 bouts between boxers between the ages of probably about 12 and 44, including one westerner - a German guy of 23 who was pitted against a 44 year old Thai guy, hardly fair we thought, so rooted for the local. It was so intense! What with a few blood injuries and a couple of knock-outs (one we were almost certain the guy was dead...) it made for a thrilling show. To add to this each pair of fighters would start by doing some sort of dancing ceremony around the ring to 'Muay Thai' music - which continued to play throughout the fights.

The following day we set off towards Krabi, hoping to hop over to Rai-lay. We made it to Krabi ok and after some confusion managed to catch a longtail boat from there onwards.

First impressions of Railay were that it was beautiful. A stunning island scene with beach houses along the sea front surrounded by man-groves and high cliff faces jutting out of the lush greenery. In true backpacker style we had to wade in from our boat, but had no complaints as we watched a fellow traveller attempt to (and succeed!!) cycle through the thigh high waters.

Soon after checking into our treehouse-esque room we made the 2 minute walk to the other side of the island where we were greeted by an absolutely STUNNING sunset over the bay (we will put pictures up later I promise!) and ate in a quaint little walkway looking onto the beach surrounded by local artwork. We soon realised that this place was the paradise we had hoped to find. Even more so than Phi Phi.

Being back to just the 2 of us again now, obviously its activities activities activities again! ...and how we'd missed it. Without a phone our only alarm was an ipod. This didn't work so well and left us with 5 minutes from waking up to be down the road for Rock Climbing!
We made it in time and what a day! I've never really done proper rock climbing, and Emily only once before in Oman so this was a truly incredible experience. We did a few (pretty challenging!) climbs before hiking through a pitch black cave to yet another stunning viewpoint where we could hang out from the rock face (carabinered on) to take in the sights which had the adrenaline pumping. So far this means that Emily has: played with snakes, eaten a fair share of fishy food, AND scaled various heights! Pretty much all phobias nailed!

After another night in paradise we said a sad fairwell to Rai-lay to make our way back to Phuket for a night before hopping on our flight back to Bali (which again we almost missed due to a lack of alarm - luckily reception knocked for us after our taxi had been waiting 15 minutes already. oops.)

Another day on Kuta beach and we've finally gotten to grips with its winding roads. A strange thing though was that it was completely dead compared to when we were there a couple of weeks ago. We figured it must be the end of an Aussie winter holiday or something. So anyway we only kipped here for one night before making the gruelling journey to Gili Trawangan (2 days ago).

We left at 6 and were originally told it was a 9 hour journey - we had gone with the SLOWWW boat option which was half the price but 5 times as slow and had a stop over on Lombok. Eventually arriving at around 6 30 in the evening on Gili T after stopping at various places on Lombok where tauts try and sell you return tickets for ridiculous prices, saying that there isn't anywhere to book once you're on the island. Yeah right. After the 10th guy asks you the frustration must've been noteable in my voice as one guy told me - in English - that he was "going to kick my Fucking head in"...loooooovely. This wasn't exactly enticing us back to Lombok like we were considering.

Anyhoo, The finish line was WELL worth the journey. This place is incredible. So laid back, with beautiful white beaches, vibrant pale blue seas and the quiet that comes with no petrol driven transport. Just bicycles and horse drawn cart to get around. We have spent our first couple of days between the beach, where Jack Johnson is fittingly played at almost every beach bar (and has been at most of the beach bummy places we've been), and in the evenings their very own make-shift cinema!! We've both been craving a film or two so the open air beach shack style screenings are a welcome sight.

Our plan for the rest of the week is to chill here, walk around the island (shouldn't take too long!) go on a snorkelling trip or two; but really we have no plan! And it feels great! The only thing slightly niggling in the back of our minds is the knowledge that in Borneo you have to book things in advance. So we're currently juggling various tours, trips and jungle stays with how to get there and onwards, and the possibility of squeezing a trip to Sulawesi in.

We're both doing well despite the odd lethargic stomach bug over the last couple of weeks here and there, and having a blast! We hope everyone is well at home. Miss you all. Sorry we can't upload any photos right now, but the internet isn't the best over here (you'll see when we do get the pics up from here!). We'll update you soon!

Peace. x

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