lazy days in Thailand

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Its been a while since we updated so will have to try and rack my brain for the exact places etc...

So to start off, the liveaboard was fantastic...we left Patong in Phuket on wednesday 2nd April and boarded a fair size "live-a-board" with 15 or so other divers plus crew...
The diving was out of this world, crystal clear and the you would think you were swimming in a lake its so calm. I didnt think i would do more than about 3 or 4 dives tops but ended up doing 10 dives in 4 days including a night dive which i swore i would never do (sharks...), bran did 12 dives the little die hard but we absolutely loved it and was so nice to dive together and see the underwater world. I wont go into detail on what we saw as its too numerous to mention and will upload pics when i get to download them but we saw lots of beautiful fish from little nemos the size of a pea, to angels the size of a watermelon...we were lucky enough to stumble across a leopard shark...saw lots of giant Moray eels and lots and lots of nudibranks. I am a nervous diver but its so calm there that we were going down to 30m+, swimming through swin-throughs (big holes like caves) and on the last few days some rather strong currents inbetween the rocks...We would highly recommend it to anyone who hasnt been, its the best experience ever and definately the highlight of the trip.
So after getting off the boat on Sunday night, we spent one more night in Patong and went out with a few people from the boat to some rather interesting places where anything goes..lady-boys are standard and 80+ pensioner males are partnered with 20 something or younger Thai girls...it was good fun to watch though and a real eye opener.

Monday saw us nursing some severe hangovers and off to Phi Phi Island, where we spent 2 nights and 3 days.. Phi Phi is gorgeous, its truly postcard stuff, light blue clear water, white sandy beaches and just chilled out lifestyle. We made the most of it and got massages on the beach and just read our books...(we are both on book number 6...)

Wednesday we set off from Phi Phi Island to Koh Samui...it was a bit of a long trip with a ferry to the mainland, followed by a bus and then another overnight ferry to the Island. We arrived on thursday morning and settled into a nice little place 2 min walk from the beach. Friday we relaxed on the beach in the morning and hired a scooter in the afternoon, and did some scouting around to see whats on this island... we ended up riding up to very nearly the top of a mountain and stopped for a drink (after two of us on a scooter up an almost 90 degree uphill the scooter needed a break...).. we stumbled apon this amazing resturant nestled in the side of the mountain, was absolutely beautiful...
Friday night we met up with some guys we met earlier in the day, and went to go see "Christies Caberet"... we were both a little sceptical as its lady boys doing caberet... but wow, it was fantastic... you could not tell at all...it was scary to see men dressed as women who look better then women!!!

Saturday we made our way to Koh Phangan on a ferry ... it was Sonkran (wrong spelling im sure) which is the Thai new year so it was hustle and bustle and lots of partying going on everywhere. We booked into a backpacker type place that was recommended by someone we met along the way, but after one night there we decided to move on and made us realsied that we have definately grown up... it was like sleeping in a nightclub, good fun for a while then all downhill so we felt like an old married couple already when we "retired" to our room at 10 and played cards...ha ha
Saturday we hired a scooter and went around the island, it is traditional in Thailand that on NY day its like one big water fight, but is meant as a blessing so... imagine us driving through the streets...we didnt last a minute...we were the wettest people in Thailand that day... it was hilarious and encouraged us to join in the fun by buying a water pistol and Bran drove the scooter and i was the shooter!!
We had promised ourselves that as it is our honeymoon we would spend one ngiht at really nice place and saturday night was the ngiht... we stayed in a log cabin type hut on the beach with all the works..we were in heaven...and definately felt like a honeymoon then.
Sunday we left Koh Phangan and came back to Samui where we are currently. Yesterday we went on an elephant trek, which was amazing and a little scary at times.. and then up the mountain to see some waterfalls and magical gardens... it was a worthwhile trip and so glad we did it.
So today (Wed 16th) we are making our way back to bangkok as our flight is tomorrow to Sydney so its a find farewell to Thailand for us for now. We will definately be back though thats a certainty.

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