Ok so first things first, this initial post is going to be a long one because I have quite a lot to fill you all in on. So where do I begin? Do I start on the first day that Katie and I went our separate ways?Should I start when I arrived on a new continent?... Nah neither, the best place to start is probably when Katie and I departed Siem Reap in Cambodia heading direct back to Bangkok:

Story so far and Koh Tao

We had stuck to our planned route pretty much perfectly. It all began in Bangkok on the 28th December where we stayed to welcome the New Year, and from Bangkok we traveled northern Thailand, northern Laos, went down the coast of Vietnam and moved through Cambodia. So there was no reason why we would deviate from the plan to head south and carry on with Thailand by exploring the islands. Our aim on the east coast was to eventually end up in Koh Phangan for a no moon party on March the 4th. So we had some time to kill and decided to go to Koh Tao where Katie could get her open water diving qualification. We arrived, went straight to Big Blue diving centre and along with Katie's course i got free accommodation... all right!! :-D This meant i had four days to kill and i struggled through them by lying on the beach in the 35+ degree heat and did a refresher course and a couple of fun dives myself. Visibility was average but it was great fun to get back in the water!! I saw some spotted stingray... exciting!!

Koh Sumui & Koh Phangan

After Katie was done defying nature by breathing underwater we left and headed further south for the much larger island of Koh Sumui. The best way to describe this place was utter chaos!! Whilst on the boat down to Koh Sumui a little voice in my ear (Katie) was continuously mentioning her longing for more people to travel with, my company alone was obviously no-longer enough!! So in order to shush this little, but often quite loud voice, i tasked myself with finding a hostel. We headed for the main town of Chewang since we heard there was one there, but despite walking around for an hour during the hottest part of the day we couldn't find it. So again, much to Katie's dismay it was another guest house that was to be our home for the night. Later that evening whilst exploring my new habitat I happened to stumble across the hidden hostel!! (it was right opposite our guesthouse...) And much to Katie's delight we moved in the next day.

The reason I say Koh Sumui was chaos was because the group at the hostel were a lively bunch to say the least, I think we spent four nights there and all of them involved a night out. By day Koh Sumui was quiet as people chilled on the beautiful beaches playing in the waves or rented mopeds and zoomed around the Island. But by night it turned into a party zone with bars and clubs that i would be proud to have in the UK. Naturally I found somewhere to watch Chelsea stuff United, kick off was only 3:00am so that was fine!During one of the days Katie and I went off around the island and found a couple of waterfalls. After climbing a sizable mountain we found little pools created by the waterfall where it was safe to swim around, the little pool even came complete with a mini cave. This was perfect because AGAIN Katie and I had chosen the hottest part of the day to do the hike… Being an idiot I then managed to bash my head on a rock attempting to do a backwards roll in the water, despite the blood i got no sympathy and since there isn't much in there anyway I was fine so we carried on zooming around the island and of course another night out followed…

After Koh Sumui we rounded up all of the people at the hostel, hopped on a boat and went over to the no moon party on Koh Phangan. Expectations were high and we didn't book accommodation since we planned to just party through the night. In the end the party was a let down, astronomical over pricing put us off and our crew managed to get separated. In the end I went to bed in a hammock along the beach, I slept well :D.

Going Cross Country, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi and going separate ways

A morning boat took us back to the Thai mainland and we went across country via bus to Phuket on the west coast. Koh Phi Phi was the eventual destination but because we arrived late we had to find a place to stay. We ended up at 'On On Hotel' which is where the beginning scene of 'The Beach' was filmed and it was... well a dump really, but we new it would be. I decided that I wanted to get some work in Aus due to overspending in S.E. Asia so I spent the next day trying to get a visa sorted whilst Katie went to see the beaches. I spent that evening strolling around the massive weekend night market stocking up on essentials like genuine Ray-Bans, genuinely waterproof 50m water resistant watches and all the other things you need when moving to a different country that doesn't do dirt cheap 'genuine' shopping.

Koh Phi Phi was not at all what I expected. Renowned for its beauty and glorious beaches the island was just another Magalluf but a little prettier. Geared up for tourists the beaches were lined with bars that served hangover cures during the day and created your hangover by night. Filled with the typical classy holiday makers that you would expect from countries such as the UK, people spent their days getting body piercings and tattoos. For me it was the final place that confirmed that Thailand, or at least southern Thailand is no-longer the backpackers paradise it apparently once was and instead is a holiday destination for people with too much money and too much tattooable skin. My image of Thailand did not involve me lying on a beach being offered strawberry or blueberry pancakes by the locals, to me this seemed fairly western…

Katie and I had been talking about the trip down to Aus. I had decided I didn't want to bother with Malaysia and was going to go straight to Singapore for the 12th March when we were due to fly to Australia. Katie considered splitting for a while, changing her flight and heading to Aus a little later. Once I said I didn't mind this she got thinking about a route and then she began having withdraw symptoms from the group we had met in Koh Sumui who were now speeding north. Genuinely gutted that we hadn't met people like them earlier on or indeed anyone who was actually doing the same trip as us Katie messaged 'the Canadian boy' (Keenan) asking where they were heading. A few Facebook exchanges later and Katie was considering heading back to Laos to join them. After a day or two of indecisiveness she couldn't decide, Malaysia… or boy… that was the question! She asked for my opinion and I said she should do what made her most happy, and to help her out I told her she would be most happy in Laos. So the next day Katie changed her flights out of Singapore, booked a bus to go north and left to go party it up again in Laos. I bet she loved the bus up there accompanied by an overenthusiastic and quite irritating Brazilian!!

Fifty hours traveling, goodbye S.E. Asia & Hello Australia!!

I stayed a couple more days in Koh Phi Phi killing time with the people at the hostel before finally getting on a boat to Krabi, which for me is where the whole story began (thanks again for the holiday M+D, it was quality!!) and then got a bus down to Singapore. I arrived there 24 hours later at around 5:00am and had no idea where I was because Katie had taken our travel guide to South East Asia with her. So mapless and moneyless I explored the city looking for a currency exchange, however lazy lazy Singapore city currency exchanges don't open until around 10:00am!! Lazy Singapore. So I hiked around for around eight hours with my bags in the 30degree heat which actually wasn't as bad as it sounds. Some of the buildings in Singapore are just incredible; the place is immaculate and also a little weird. People don't cross the road unless the little green man is showing, this was even the case if there was no traffic coming from any direction (like at 5:00am…), a Londoner would go mad at the slow pace!! Anyway, eventually I managed to exchange some cash, got some grub and since I was knackered went to the cinema to kill some time, hopped on the super efficient and clean metro to the airport and hopped on my plane. Jetstar… pure class, the same airline that managed to get Katie and I to arrive before our departure time in Vietnam because they can just change the departure time whenever they want! Basically the Ryan Air of this part of the world. But efficient, clean and friendly are the three words I would use to describe Singapore.

You have to do something when sitting on a bus, and most of the time you just watch traffic, so it was interesting to see the difference between the three countries in such a short period of time. Thailand, up to five people on a moterbike, none or only the driver wearing helmets. Malaysia, designated and separated moterbike lanes, everyone with a helmet and only two on a bike. Singapore, almost no bikes, mostly cars but still clear roads and not a traffic jam in sight!

After a little over 50 hours of being on the move i arrived in Cairns. I had agreed to meet a mate of mine that had been one of the group that Katie and I originally traveled through Laos with but I didn't expect him to actually meet me at the airport, but there he was. Mike is staying at a family friends bachelor pad in Cairns who kindly offered to put me up for a couple of days whilst I sorted myself out. The family friend is named Bruce and he lives at Yorkies k*** (i'm living in a stereotype!!). I have spent a couple of days milling around Cairns whilst waiting for a tax coding to arrive so that I can get some work and not be taxed at 49% (brutal), but now that this is pretty much all sorted I'm flying down to Brisbane tomorrow (the 19th) to meet up with a friend I met in Bangkok. This reuinion is likely to get messy, he is what i would describe as a typical Aussie, exact quote from Connor 'got a crate of XXXX already chilling in the fridge for you mate' and his plan is to do a day of golf with his friends (yes dad this is going to be amusing... hopefully they won't be rolling on the floor laughing like you and Miles were on holiday!!). This golf day will be accompanied by beer and followed by steak. Sounds fun!! The reason for flying and not road tripping as I had originally planned is because basically Queensland is messed up. The weather in this region has been more severe than usual during the rainy season and cyclones and flooding has hit the region pretty hard. I can't drive down to Brisbane simply because I don't know when I will arrive, many of the roads are currently closed due to floods and I can't get work fruit picking because the fruit industry has largely been devastated by the weather, times are tough in Aus.

Anyway that should be everything for now, and i need to head off because Bruce is having the rugby mad neighbours round tonight so that they can all go mental over the Super XV matches. But I will leave you with this, i had my first schooner the other day, which was great, but i am yet to figure out why they don't just adopt the pint…