Trouble in paradise

An over night train journey, two coaches and a tuk tuk got us to argument central, otherwise known as Ao Nang in Krabi. We had decided not to book any accommodation beforehand so spent a sweaty afternoon trekking around the town in the blazing heat trying to find somewhere. This, along with me being a lot more fussy than Daniel, led to us both getting crabby and ending up having a conference in McDonald's where we resolved our issues and checked in to J Mansion. The only thing to report about here really are the terrifying men holding lizards on the street and trying to make you hold them for money and the small street of go go bars with neon lights and a scattering of lady boys.

Next stop was a long tail boat to Railay Bay, which was paradise if it weren't for the monsoon rains that decided to join us for the majority of the time. We enjoyed swinging on rope swings tied to rocks over the sea and lounging in the joy bar with a delicious pizza by the mangroves. A speed boat tour took us island hopping to Ko Phi Phi and Maya Bay, which is where they filmed The Beach, so that meant, although it was beautiful,it was also jam-packed with tourists. We saw crystal seas at Bamboo Island and monkeys in trees overhanging the sea on the aptly named Monkey Island before stopping off to do some snorkelling. This was a both a wonderful and terrifying experience, with amazing coral and brightly coloured fish that did not seem at all scared and swam so close to you, I was literally surrounded at one point! Another highlight was on the way to the second snorkelling spot when our guide told us not to touch the coral as it could kill it and also some of it can be very sharp and cut your feet and at the same time the lady next to Daniel was looking at his blood covered toes and stifling a laugh. Caught red footed!

A ferry to Phuket and our last stop in Thailand. We were the only people in our great little hotel in Kata so we had the tiny pool to ourselves which was great as the sun had decided to make an appearance and even got breakfast delivered to us in bed. We found a great little reggae bar right on the beach and sipped beer and whiskey (Daniel must be trying to reclaim his Scottish roots) to our hearts content. That was until some noisy Australians started belching and asking them to play Peter Andre and Marvin Gaye. Laterz Thailand!