Hello again!

After what feels like days of travelling I am now in Auckland, the lovely capital of New Zealand. I have only been here for half a day so so far I haven't been able to form much of an impression of it, apart from it's cold (a nice change after sweating for a month in Thailand), the people really are friendly and go out of their way to help you (so far), and it's a lot more multi cultural and diverse than I imagined - it reminds me of London in some ways. Tomorrow I'm jumping on the Kiwi bus which is what will get me round the country, and heading north to a place called the Bay of Islands, which is meant to be really beautiful. A bit like the whole of New Zealand really - I wonder if I'll get bored of it?!

Anyway, I feel quite pleased that the first chapter of my travels over and I'm still all in one piece. I also have a great tan which I'm gutted about as none of you will get to see it! Thailand was amazing though and I'm so glad I went there - as first place to go in Southeast Asia it's quite good as it's very easy to get around and so tourist friendly. I definitely want to go back to other, less touristy parts of that area of the world though!

So since I last was in touch we've crammed in a lot. After Ko Chang we headed back up to Bangkok and then got a train down south, our first stop being the beautiful Khao Sok national park. That day was particularly tiring as we travelled for 24 hours - was well worth it though! Khao Sok was amazing and the scenery was stunning. We had a bungalow that was pretty much in the rainforest which was fun - all sorts of wildlife to discover! One day we went on a tour to a massive lake there and saw the most beautiful limestone scenery and monkeys in the wild. We were swimming in the lake and it was 25m deep which terrified me a bit.

After the national park we headed further south to the Krabi province, which is near Phuket and the Ko Phi Phi islands, which took the worst hit of the 2004 tsunami, and the Beach was also filmed there. We ended up staying in a lovely resort called Ao Nang for a few days which was really nice and relaxing after the national park, and we spent a few days just chilling out, eating Western food which was a bit bad (Chris kept wanting to eat pizza!) and wandering around the market stalls. We weren't that lucky with the weather so decided not to go to Ko Phi Phi in the end, it is also very expensive to get there as it is so touristy. Apparently it is one of the most beautiful places in the world but never mind!

After Ao Nang we had to head back to Bangkok, to meet Chris' friend Gaz, who was just beginning his own travels around Southeast Asia. We met him on the day before my birthday and Chris and Gaz reckoned they 'did' Bangkok in about 2 hours. No one was really enamoured with the place so we decided to leave the next evening. However, seeing as it was my birthday and Gaz's first night in Thailand, we decided to go out on the Khao San road. This was lots of fun but I consequently had a pretty bad 22nd birthday as a result of the hangover, and the fact we had to travel 10 hours north! Khao San road is an experience though and it has to be seen to be believed! Chris did give a guy 20B to play me happy birthday on his trombone which was pretty cool. We also annoyed a man who was trying to get us to go to his ping pong show until he wanted us to go away!

Anyway, as I say, my birthday was a bit of a write off and I was feeling a bit homesick, especially when I opened my cards! I'm such a loser. However, things picked up when we got to Chiang Mai, and we made the most of the last few days visiting the zoo, which had a really good giant panda enclosure, and we got to see them really close up. In the evening we watched Muay Thai (Thai boxing) which was amazing, a really good experience of Thai culture. It was all new to me as I've never seen live fighting - when I saw my first knock out I was really shocked! The boxers were so strong though, and had such unbelievable power in their legs.

On our last day we did another tour, which Chris treated me to as my birthday present. It was a really good day and the best bit was definitely white water rafting - I can't wait to do that again here! It's quite scary but as long as you're with people who know what they're doing it's all good.

This takes us up to Sunday which was Chris' last day, so we flew back to Bangkok and waited for his flight. I had an extra day until my flight so I stayed in a local hotel and then went back to the airport yesterday. I have to say the last few days have been a bit boring and lonely - that's a downside of travelling though! I was sad to leave Thailand (although there's some things I won't miss, for example, not being able to drink the water, the toilets in public areas, constantly having people trying to con you) and I had such a great time there. I would love to go back one day but now I'm away I keep thinking of more places I want to go!

Anyway, I'm off now to try and get some sleep as my body has no idea what time it is. It feels like the afternoon but I need to get some sleep so I can get up at 6! I miss my lie ins!

As ever, missing you all and looking forward to seeing you soon. Love you lots, keep in touch! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx