Khlong Dao Beach Bungalo Ko Lanta

... sweeping round the bay. Although not the most beautiful it was lovely and empty - all ours.

Lanta is far more couples and families oriented, certainly when compared with Phi Phi, and that suited us just fine as we recovered from our intensive diving schedule and awaited the speedboat connection to Koh Lipe the following day.

... on stage in tons of colouful clobber. I didn't know whether to greet people with "Salam Ale Kum" (for Muslims, but not all) or "Sa What De Krup" (for all Thais, pronounced and said as one word - "Sawadeecup" - "Sawadeecaa" if you are female).
I discovered after the festival that you are supposed to acquire and release a Krathong (a decorated float with a candle in the middle) into the river, which symbolises your bad luck - so your bad luck floats away ...

After saying a sad goodbye to Mary Clare in Bangkok we hung about for a few days to recover from her time with us. Our bodies were in bad shape at this stage. Mike's infected foot from tubing and broken hand from kickboxing warranted a trip to the fancy mission hospital in Bangkok and earned him a removable cast, antiseptic swabs, and a bagful of drugs. These injuries probably contributed to Mike falling sick first with feverish ...

... doors to the verandah. Disney channel for Mika and that’s how she recouperated! Nice!…..well she still had a 40 degree temperature but with good air conditioning and the pool we were able to control it. It was like dealing with the exorcist though, fever had very bizarre side effects and some notable characteristics were aggression and abusive tendencies. Still it was entertaining in a strange way! She was hell bent on writing to the makers of Nurofen- Beckett and something ...

... One stupid French girl stepped on a sea urchin and one of its spikes went straight into her foot. She had a mask on so she should have been looking where she was standing in the water. She wanted to go back to Ko Phi Phi (because we were on a smaller island just off of it) so she could go to a doctor. It's not poisonous, just hurt her a little and she was milking it for all it was worth. Everyone else said sorry love but we've paid ...

... We walked along the beach, got soaked. Remember next holiday take some long shorts!!!! I took my big camera and have loads of photos of the sea, and lots of the wonderful flowers. You can not imagine the colours. I better go now as have a busy day by the pool and on the beach. The sea is so warm it is like a bath. Until next time.....

... buckets & be as loud as we could whenever somebody from our group came walking in from the walkway. We literally owned this bar every night we were out. Which was every night. This was literally our lives for a week straight. The Swedes & Canadians are bad influences on your drinking habits. Don't ever go to Phi Phi, thinking that your going into detox. Even the day I was sick (not drunk sick, actually sick sick) I was enticed into a drink off with the ...

... out into the Andaman Sea. The aft**noons w**e spent scooting around the island on our twist and go's and the evenings spent down on Long Beech at the ultra mellow Klapa Klum bar which plays an array of decent tunes and has regular fire shows that will absolutely blow you away. Look out for a Thai rasta called Coco who hangs around this bar and is a mast** with the fire staff, twirling it around in a stoned haze shouting "AGH...AGH" like a militant *****ian. Renting a scoot ...

... it was found by a cousin of our guide, who was trying to follow bees to their hive. When the bees disappeared into an opening in the rocks, he followed. Amazed at the size of the place, he wandered around until eventually the cigarette lighter he was using to light his way started to run out of gas. The solution...use the remaining gas to ignite one of his sandals, and use that as his torch! That same day we passed through acres of rubber plantations and got to ...

... and exactly what we wanted and needed. Just utter bliss. The weather while we were there was absolutely fantastic. Blisteringly hot. However, on our last night there, a storm brewed up and the palm trees around us went absolutely mental, the rain lashed it down and there was cracking thunder and lightening. We got a mass of palm tree fronds in our pool! The next day when we checked out the storm continued until we got off the aeroplane at our next destination..... Love us xxxxx