A merry Thai christmas

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Hello everybody sorry its been quite a while!!
We arrived in bangkok the day before the kings 60th birthday, which meant that along with a million and one foreign tourists ,there was also half of thailands population there too!!!!
which meant that we got very little sleep whilst in bangkok due to the load festive music being played right outside the window!!
Compared to where we left off in the back end of chine thailand is very touristy and a vit of a shock to the senses.
On the kings birthday all rickshaws were discounted and all the temples free to entreso we wizzed round several of them, we saw the lucky buddha and the golden mountain then the biggest reclining buddha you have ever seen and it was all coated in gold so pretty impressive.
After spending 4 days in Bangkokwe left for Koh Tao. We travelled through the night on an air con bus then hopped on a boat the next morning over to the island. there were lots of (mainly chinese) people being sick everywhere on the boat by the time we got there we were both starting t feel a bit on the quezzy side as well.
Whilst on Koh tao Paul did the accademics half of the PADI open water course of which we are both intending to complete at some point during our travels. We also went to some amazing snorkeling site and saw lots of brightly coloured fish and corals. One day we trekked over the island to a small cove which was thankfully a lot quieter than the west side where we were staying.
We took an overnight boat from Koh Toa to Suratthani back on the main land before catching a bus to Krabi town where we stayed for 2 nights. You'll be glad (well those of you not blessed with lots of sun)to hear that it rained here however we welcomed it as its been red hot since we arrived in thailand, it doesn't even seem to get cold at night.
We spent 5 days in Railay however it wasn't quite what we'd expected as a lot of the land has now been taken up by 4 and 5 star resorts!and there are bucket loads of tourists. We did manage to find a few quiet spots though and had a good few days soaking up the sun, snorkeling and a days climbing although its all quite steep and deffinately somewhere to go back to in better form.
From Railay we caught a boat to Lanta island where we are currently spending christmas relaxing in hammocks by the beach while the tide is out and snorkeling while its in!!
We'll catch up on the photos when we have a slightly better internet connection
For now we hope you all had a fantastic christmas and enjoy the new year!
We'l try not to leave it quite so long next time
Love lots for 2008
Paul n Helly

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Photos

koh tao
the water was as inviting as it looked