islands and beaches

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hi there, i wrote this a few days ago and wanted to upload it to facebook yesterday but the blog there doesn't seem to like me anymore, so i got this one now.
actually in kuala lumpur now, one more day here and then off to melbourne tomorrow, im sooooo excited 😉
here's what we did over the last few weeks:
its been a while since my last update. jamie and i have been busy island hopping at the andaman sea 😊 (west coast thailand)
the fist island we went to was ko lipe. a tiny island with gorgeous, clear water! we stayed there for 8 nights, we had lovely little bamboo bungalow and a perfect view of the so called sunset beach. our days were filled with snorkelling, sunbathing, eating delicous coconut curries and drinking beer.
next stop was ko tarutao. this island is part of the national park. everyone who enters the island has to pay an "entrance fee". there is limited accommodation on those islands and usually only one restaurant serving up very simple traditional thai food. we stayed for two nights. our plan was to cycle to an old prison site, unfortunately we weren't quick enough and all the bicycles were already rented out for the day so we set out on a 20 km walk to find a waterfall. we found it and were dissappointed by it... on the way some termites decided to bite into my feet and i screamed so loud that jamie thought i saw a lion or something. it was unbelievable how painful such a little bite can be... jamie was brave enough to pull the thing out, he got bitten by it too but were both still alive 😉
we talked to a couple on tarutao and they said they were heading to ko surin, supposedly the best islands in thailand for snorkelling, right next to the similian islands which are the best ones for diving. the surin islands made us really curious, so off we went and bought ourselves a tent, as camping only costs a fraction compared to staying in bamboo huts or bungalows.
so we put up our tent bang on the beach and the snorkelling began. however there was big disappointment, all the coral is dead. after speaking to some people we learnt that is was still alive in march this year and must have died over the summer months. we were gutted. that was one very expensive boat journey down the drain. hey ho, we still saw plenty of very pretty fish!
the weather started playing up a little so after 3 nights of camping, it was time to see another island, off we were to ko chang. this island is very close to the burmese border. its very quiet there and not a lot to do. we stayed in a stunning yet very simple bamboo hut with an amazing view of the water. we had a day exploring the island and then the rain caught up with us so after 3 nights we decided to head back south in hope of some sunshine.
the last island we went to was ko muk. we had such a great time on there, stayed in a place called mookies. the owner is building and changing quite a bit so its not officially open for business yet but we stayed there anyway (in our tent, cheap, cheap, cheap) along with a few others. every night (we had 4 nights all together) we would cook something together and then sit around the table. it was a great atmosphere!
one of the main attractions on ko muk is the emerald cave, you have to hire a kayak or a longtail boat to go along. unfortunately the waves were so big that it was unsafe to do so. apparently the locals hadn't seen such big waves in 5 years... the waves were good fun to play in tho!
its now early in the morning and we're in had yai where we arrived yesterday and in a few hours is our flight back to kuala lumpur.
it was great sleeping in a nice bed (we didn't have any mats for camping) and to have 24 hour electricity... never mind that there's no hot showers in this hotel and only squat toilets, guess you can't have evrything 😉
i'm getting really excited about flying to melbourne on thursday, it came around so fast!!
i hope you're all in more of a christmas mood than i am and that the snow has not been too harsh!! take care and talk soon xx

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