Better Late Than Never.

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I believe the last time I made an entry was on the island of Koh Samui over a week ago. I was exhausted and badly sunburned. A lot has happened since then and we have traveled many miles. I still have a prominent hand print tan line on my stomach from falling asleep on Samui and am starting to peel. I think we have all learnt our lesson.

Sadly, as beautiful as Koh Samui was, we were only able to stay one night due to our packed schedule. We managed to grab a good night sleep and took a taxi to the islands dock (well a pontoon with a few wrecks attached)! We had to take a decaying ferry across to Koh Phangan. I did have a few doubts about the safety of the boat. These were confirmed when I saw the huge amount of people piled onto the deck with their large bags. I am glad I wasn't the girl who dropped her bag off the pontoon and into the sea!

The sky was dark and rain was imminent. Luckily we were undercover but the ships stability was again put in danger as people rushed down the boat for rain cover. The crossing was choppy, but I found it entertaining seeing the panic of people expecting a capsize. We eventually docked and the hunt for our hostel began. Phangan is a massively popular party island and there were no end of cheap hostels. After finding our reception at a random bar, we were lead to our room like lambs to the slaughter. We all knew a 24 bed dorm awaited us, very different from the relative luxury of our other hostels. Our duvet was a towel, our mattress was probably cardboard and the air-con was out of action. However, this didn't dampen our spirits and we went down to the beach for a great game of football with the local kids. We all slept really well and none of us were massively bothered about the state in which we were sleeping. We ventured out and sampled the beach and pool parties and had a great night. This was the story for all of our nights in Koh Phangan, the journey to the beach became a pilgrimage for us!

The second day in Koh Phangan looked beautiful when I woke up at about 10am, sadly I fell back to sleep and woke to the heaviest rain I have ever experienced at 12. We ventured down to the bar and had a day relaxing and watching the streets flood. The rain receeded slightly in the evening and we ventured down to Haad Rin beach once again for another beach party. The next day myself and Oli plucked up the courage to hand our passports over for moped rentals. We were charged 150 Baht, the equivelant of 3 pounds (can never find the pound sign on these keyboards)! We tentatively rode off down the narrow streets of Haad Rin and had a brief exploration of the local area. The skies grew dark once again and rain was about to fall once more. Considering we were nearly our of petrol and sand tracks and rain don't mix, after 20 minutes we brought our moped extravaganza to an end. I was relieved to have my passport back in hand but thankfully my need to drive vehicles was quenched once more. The same set up ran for the next couple of days and we only racked up 1 hour on the beach due to the weather.

The 19th of March was the night of the world famous Full Moon Party. A gathering of people from all over the world (mainly Scandinavia for some reason), good music and alcohol was consumed in buckets here. We had a great time and all managed to survive safely without hangovers. Just a mass covering of UV paint to tackle in the shower. Myself and Zach arrived at our dorm at 5am and Alex and Oli rolled in later after watching the sunrise. A great night was had by all.

Earlier in our stay at Koh Phangan we had decided to deal with the issue of crossing sea and the country to meet our plane in Phuket. We managed to get a combination of train, boat and bus covering over 200 miles for the mere cost of 700 Baht (13 pounds). The journey was fine on the whole and we managed to catch some valuable sleep! The driving of our coach driver, however was interesting. His insistence on racing rival coaches and fast cornering had us all on the edge of our seat. At one point in the journey I managed to fly four rows out of my middle back seat and thankfully landed on my feet. Some people had very sore heads after hitting the roof. I guess speed bumps were a new concept to him. We also had to rescue a fellow coach stranded on the way, doubling the amount of passengers and baggage.

We arrived in Phuket unharmed and our hostel was clean and cheap! Or so I thought until a large cockroach made a break for my loaf of bread in the evening! We had a good look around Phuket the next day venturing into the tourist districts and looking for bits to buy. I never knew a simple market stall holder could have such a complex secret door leading to an unbelievable stash of counterfeit clothes, dvds and watches. The number of fakes were staggering, even more so was the quality. I was taken to the changing rooms after showing interest in a polo shirt, from there a button was pressed and the mirror opened almost like an Indiana Jones trap door. After a disagreement on price we returned to the basic market stall, surprising a customer who happened to be trying on a shirt unaware of the trap door! We were trying to eat on a budget and we thought McDonalds would be the ideal place to go. However, it turned out to be one of our most expensive meals on the trip. The meal was spiced up when heavy rain fell once more. This lead to a leaks in the roof (common in Thai buildings) which then lead to the crumbling of plaster from the roof and heavy flooding of the restaurant. Desperate to get our moneys worth, we sat as water fell and soon after the power cut out. We were qucikly ushered out and put out on into the rain. From then the ever unpredictable weather brightened and we even got 30 minutes taning before catching a wooden Isuzu bus up steep hills (again completely safe)! We arrived back at the hotel in the knowledge we had a night sleeping at the airport ahead of us. Using the skills from Koh Phangan I fashioned a duvet from a towel and had a good sleep considering I was on the floor.

We then woke up and managed to catch our plane to Singapore, where I write to you from now. If you're not asleep, well done you have a longer attention span than me! I hope I haven't bored you too much! We have another all nighter tommorow for our flight from Australia tomorrow so will hopefully update you on Singapore then.

Love Jonathon xxx

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