Ko Phangan and Ko Tao

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We are in Ko Tao at the moment, we arrived here four days ago after spending six days in Ko Phangan.

We enjoyed our stay in Ko Phangan and the Full Moon Party was really good, as was the build up to it the nights before hand. It was quite a crazy night, the beach was jam packed with people (around 10,000) so you can imagine what a huge party it was, quite an experience. Unfortunately we didnt make it out long enough to see the sunrise as we peaked a bit too early and staggered home about 4:30 but the party continued right on the next day until around 7pm!

Ko Phangan wasnt all partying though, we went to some lovely beaches and did a day trip where we went elephant trecking, went to a lovely waterfall and a chinese temple. The trip was really good but we didnt really like the elephant place as some of the elephants were tied to trees on chains which seemed really really cruel, we didnt stay there long.

Ko Tao is a nice contrast to Ko Phangan, its really chilled out here and has some really nice restaurants and bars along the beach. We started a PADI Open Water Diving course the day after which got here which James completed today. Hayley unfortunately couldnt finish the course after passing the exam and the swimming pool sessions, on the third day the open sea was too much for her so she called it a day! James loved the experience and is now a certified PADI diver but diving is obviously not for everyone!

We have had some really early starts the last few days with the course (7:00am/8:00am in the morning) so we've had mostly quiet nights here but its been really nice and chilled out. The weather here has not been as great as the other islands as its approaching their monsoon season so we have witnessed some massive downpours (one of which while we were on the boat yesterday, very rough!) We plan to leave here tomorrow (21st) and head to Bangkok then up to Chang Mai and from there to go trecking which we are really looking forward to.

All in all still having a fantastic time and enjoying every minute (except for the few minutes under the sea for Hayley which were the 'worst in her life'!!!).

Hope everyone at home is well. We will update you soon after our trecking in Chang Mai!

Hayley and James xx

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Photos

Full Moon Fun
Full Moon Party - whilst we were still relatively sober with some friends we made in Ko Phangan.

Another Beach!!
One of the beaches on Ko Phangan

James' Hammock
James loved this hammock - he fell asleep drunk in it after the full moon party & woke up with a fat lip (from a mosquito bite) and couldnt speak! Very funny.

Elephant Trecking
Us on the elephant - which wasnt as much fun and we'd hoped.

Pretty Waterfall
The water was freezing here but we still went in for a dip!

Chinese Temple
One of the monks asked James to light some insence at the temple & pray to some godess for good luck. James felt like a plonk and it was very hard not to laugh as they took it quite seriously.

Sunset
We watched the sunset the first night in Ko Tao which was very romantic until we realised we were laying on a bit of sand which was actually a restaurant and they started laying out tables around us spoiling our view.

Scuba Hooper
James in his scuba diving gear after the second dive