Hi Guys - me again!

So as Carly said, we left the party Island of Koh Phangan, my head was certainly feeling a little delicate and my liver needed a break from those buckets! and we headed for our next destination, Phuket via Koh Samui. Due to the Full Moon Party all the flights from Koh Samui to Phuket were fully booked so we had to stay a night in Samui and catch a flight early the next day. After another dreaded boat journey and us both feeling slightly green from the rocky experience, we arrived in Samui. We decided to stay near the airport to avoid having to get up any earlier than necessary the next day (as we both do love our beds!) and I don't think we could have got much nearer, the end of the runway was literally right next to where we stayed!!

The next day bright and early we caught our flight and arrived in Phuket. Oh I do just have to say that Koh Samui airport is one of the nicest airports I have ever been to and you even got free drinks, little cakes and internet....sorry just thought you'd all like to know that, so as I was saying, we arrived in Phuket and headed to Patong beach to find some accomadation for the next 7 nights.

We managed to find a nice clean and fairly cheap room in a good location and then headed straight to the beach to work on our tans. Oh not before popping into Starbucks so Carly could get her latte fix (well it had been about 6 weeks so she deserved a little treat!)

Our days in Phuket were spent pretty much the same each day, heading for a Starbucks in the morning then onto the beach where we pretty much did nothing apart from read (yes I read two books - very good for me!) and sun bathing plus we couldn't help but do a little people watching....

For those of you that don't know what sort of place Phuket is most well know for and who it tends to attract, let's just say it is a haven for western men seeking one thing.....a so called "massage" from a nice young Thai girl. "Bangla Road" in the heart of the Patong area is a single street with hundreds of bars, massage parlours, go go bars and caberet shows and this is the area that attracts this crowd. Some of the men with these young girls are old enough to the their Grandad and this was something I really couldn't get my head around and don't think I will ever get used to seeing. They parade around the streets and on the beach in the daytime, arm in arm or holding hands, proud as you like and all I could think was "well you are paying them to be there with you love"! Don't get me wrong it's not all sleazy and the otherside to Phuket is lovely with a great beach and really nice restaurants and bars along the beach road, attracting a lot of families (mainly Australians as it is so near for them) plus back packers or couples on holiday.

We were staying along the top from Bangla road so had to walk along there every day and night to get to the beach and bars. In the end it was quite funny to see how it comes alive especially at night and we did have a few drinks in some of the bars one night. The ladyboys came out onto the streets and were parading around which was funny as some of them really do look a state although the others have such small bottoms, I really don't know where they "put it all"!!

The majority of our evenings were spent in this really cool mexican restaurant/bar called Coyote's which was along the beach front. The food was gorgeous and they had a fantastic margarita menu with over 100 different ones to choose from (obviously we had to do our best to sample as many of them as possible!!). They also had a live band which played every evening who were excellent, playing some good old classics from Guns N Roses, The Eagles and Paul McCartney as well as some modern classics from Beyonce and Shakira. They got everyone up dancing (we didn't need much encouragement as you would expect!). On the first evening we were there, we ended up dancing with these young lads. I thought they looked pretty young and then they nearly died of embarresment as their parents came over and started dancing with us!! It was very amusing and reminded me a lot of our family....bless!

The next night when we returned all the staff and band remembered us and made us feel so welcome, we chatted to the band between sets and as the alcohol did flow we ended up getting up on stage and singing.... I loved it but really wish I could actually sing!!

As I said before, our days were pretty lazy however we did go parasailing on the beach one day which was really good fun. They took us up over the bay for 5 minutes or so, wicked fun. Another day we went to Lam Sing bay which is this picturesque little bay about 20 mins outside Phuket with a lovely golden beach and clear blue sea...unfortunately, the day we went it rained - blimin rainy season so it wan'ts quite the picture we imaged but still lovely all the same!!!

Well I think that's about it from Phuket, next stop Phi Phi (our last destination in Thailand - can't beleive it!)

Take care everyone and until next time...

Lots of love
Claire and Carly xxxxxxxx