Seeing as it was pouring with rain in the morning were unable to 'sunbathe' until lunchtime which soon turned into rainbathing. Despite the weather Becky still managed to obtain a spectacular sunburn with factor 50, cloud, rain and shade!! In the evening we decided to head to Ko Samui's main town Chaweng. Fortunately there were far fewer 'girly' bars and we tried some XXXXXXL shopping with Elin managing to purchase a bikini for less than a fiver bringing the saleswoman close to tears! after dinner we were cornered by yet more tailors but this was a special tailors who offered free beer, which was gratefully received! despite not offering clothing they told us to check out the local cabaret which was exceptionally entertaining and very confusing! Having been dazzled by the beauty and talents of the ... read more

Having slept until 12.30 we awoke a little delicate and so headed to the cosy bungalows chill-out area for a well-needed baguette and sunbathe! and a swimming costume repair for Becky whose stitching leaves much to be desired......! We then decided to venture back into town and looked through the market but were caught slightly off guard by the downpour of all downpours! monsoon had officially hit! seeking refuge under an empty house front Camilla ran 20m across the road and now fully soaked managed to get us a lift from a lovely Thai lady who dropped us back at the bungalows very soggy but ready for our Massaman curries and a DVD with the locals! Valentines Day it was! ... read more

So today was the day we were going to go 12m down into the ocean! After yet more theory we had lunch then headed to the boat which precariously crossed the shallow water to the Coral Grand Boat! Just as Jules was getting us set up we spotted a massive pod of dolphins which are apparently really rare in Thailand and it was fantastic to see so many of them jumping out of the water and swimming underneath the boat! And that was before we even got into the water!! Having calmed down Jules got us all set up but was a little scared that we had completely forgotton what the buddy checks were, but having been recapped we geared up and Dead Mexicaned into the water! Swimming to the line was eventful and when the ... read more

After a very early start we finally boarded the ferry following a precarious walk along a questionable 'pier'!! We arrived in Ko Tao to yet more rain but we weren't too worried seeing as we were going to be spending the next 4 days underwater learning to scuba dive!! Coral Grand Dive resort was really pretty and we were introduced to our diving instructor, Jules, who told us about the course which sounded really exciting, although we were slightly worried about the homework and studying which after 3 hours of buoyancy, density and regulators left us a little daunted about the prospect of getting in the water the next day!! After dinner with the 2 Danish girls who were in our diving group we headed back to our room where we were greeted by a delightful ... read more

Our last day in Chiang Mai was eventful to say the least!! It began with Camilla's stomach feeling a little delicate, but after some tablets we managed to go to the Tiger Kingdom where we posed with 3 massive tigers, which were a little drowsy to say the least but had very powerful tail flicks and got some very intimate tiger photos taken!! Camilla was then draped with pythons and mildly molested by them before Elin and Becky tried them too but a little less keenly!! After an exciting morning we headed back to the hotel and waited to leave to catch the overnight train to Bangkok which didn't quite go to plan.....within about 10 minutes of boarding Camilla and Elin were taking it in turns to use the toilet and were looking ever so slightly ... read more