Haad Gruad Bungalows Ko Phangan

... we dragged our hungover bodies to the pier for what was supposed to be a short easy ferry ride to Ko Tao. For some reason the drivers and everyone working on the boat thought it would be a good idea to cruise through a monsoon so It ended up taking 3 and a half hours and it was the most disgusting/terrifying ride ever. The waves were about 5 metres high and caused every one to throw up all over the boat. We both threw up numerous times and filled up a couple plastic bags that the workers ...

... gigantic stones with a fissure at the top, allowing bright rays of light from above to shine down and light up a portion of the water. The contrast of dark and light, combined with the small fish swimming in and out of the light, created a captivating display of nature. <br><br>We explored the caves for the majority of the dive, but also headed out to try to catch a glimpse of more marine life before heading back to the surface. We took turns with the underwater camera ...

... really funny to watch. It was a great and really amazing day. That night though, we decided to take it really easy and go to sleep early in order to prepare for the long night ahead the following night. That was the night that I realized that my leg was really bad. I kept waking up in the middle of the night in terrible pain if I slept the wrong way or even touched my calf at all. I basically ended up sleeping on my back the whole night because it was the only way I could ...

... off but it turned out this was his personal stop to find a resort recomended to him by friends. It was called 'Harmony Beach'. We walked with him to it, we found it and it looked really really good but they didnt have any space so we had to walk down the beach to the resorts further down. Two resorts further down and we found somewhere with space. We booked a room for two nights with Tom to save money. Opened a coconut, took a while. We got ready for the Full Moon Party, the ...

The next 4 days on Koh Tao were relatively unproductive to say the least! I went on the odd trek, swam in the sea a fair bit, football and lay on the beach reading most the time! I met up with Tommy a few times as he was also on Koh Tao, being conversely productive with his Scuba excersions. However, there was no envy as I was quite happy taking it easy! <br>

Sawasdee ka, we have left our idylic spot by the sea for the bustling tourist town of Sairee. Tim has just completed his PADI open water certificate so is now a certificated diver. He is pretty happy about that and really enjoyed it but unfortunately seems to have come down with a tummy bug. So he is laid up at the moment and we are all fit and healthy. The kids are really good and the place where we are staying at ...

... the towels and bags.....its a tough job, needing a mean looking fella, i seemed to fit the bill perfectly! We went back to the same bar as the previous evening but this time it was much more exciting. The fire dancers emerged with a fire hoop, a fire limbo dancing pole and a fire skipping rope and invited audience participation. It was amusing watching people dice with death......i double checked my travel insurance policy and unfortunately it didnt cover ...

We said goodbye to out tour group in Bangkok and headed to the train station. The night train left two hours late out of Bangkok (we were lucky due to the political demonstrations in the city the station was closed the next day). The train was hot and it was packed. Families slept under seats on mats and in the aisles. People danced over them selling drinks, food and all manner of foods. The seats didn't recline, in fact they were just hard back ...