The decision to head to Koh Lanta was based on several very positive reports I had heard on my previous travels and we weren't disappointed. Not far short of paradise, we were very satisfied with the decision to spend three days on the island. To explore the island we chose our favoured mode of transport and headed off on our tour. Over the next two days we circled the entire island in undisturbed sunshine, being treated to some awesome scenery as well as the casual monkey school which seemed to have lost some of its members who we later saw making dashes across us on the roads. So far nothing bad to report on the island which already was our favourite of the islands we had been to. This could have changed with the Champions League game drawing nearer as the outcome would determine my mood for the rest of the trip. We all know the outcome and on a personal note the result for me was the permanent engraving of Chelsea translated into Thai, sitting proudly on my gluteus maximus. With the island being pretty dead which we weren't complaining about after the antics on Phi Phi we befriended a local restaurant owner and progressed to eat, without fail, at least two times a day at his establishment. Not particularly wanting to leave the island, we reluctantly boarded our boat and headed to Krabi, our pit-stop before the next of the islands.

A side note for the next couple of chapters in my travels: apologies for the lack of pictures from Krabi Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. Krabi offered very little to show off on the web so nothing to report there, but referring to Koh Tao and Phangan both the islands look very similar to the other islands I've visited, not just in Asia. A break in photography and reporting was needed after a tiresome five months documenting my whole trip; this won't stop me from describing these locations now in well-sculptured sentences as per usual.

Although unhappy about leaving paradise, I was very much looking forward to finally getting my chance to scuba dive on Koh Tao and so upon arrival immediately booked into an advanced diver course that would take up my next two days on the island. A combination of early starts and a night dive, I successfully completed the course also including a deep 30m dive and a wreck dive, both of which I had never done before, and re-joined the others a very satisfied man. The night dive a particular highlight of the course, getting into the pitch black water armed with just a small flashlight that would light up the two sizeable reef sharks that decided to be in our company that night. A deserved detox-ish set me up for a return to the scene that did unfortunately end in poor form which I'll put down to pressure sickness from the multiple dives. We were very lazy over the next week on the island which allowed me to involve myself in a few more dives which included diving and swimming attached to an 8 metre whale shark, a truly awesome experience rounded off with another wreck dive. Other activities on the island included once again touring the island on mopeds, with guests this time, as the three of us had joined up with a group of foreign brummie girls we had seen a lot of over our travels. The rest of the island didn't offer as much as the others had done so instead we just cruised around in one of many tropical storms we saw on the island which was pretty entertaining and a chance to finally get out of the rooms. The good weather has officially abandoned us as has our bronze colour so we are praying for sun in Cambodia. A spell of mini-golf and bowling in which both cases I came out victor over a strong competitor in Felix who unfortunately lacked the edge when it came down to the wire. Despite there not being loads to do on the island apart from, like all the others, consume alcohol I was satisfied with the amount of diving I had done along with other activities and was ready to leave for Koh Phangan and our second full moon party.

The full moon again was just a savage occasion of drinking horrible quantities of rum and whiskey out of buckets and having even more poured down our throats at every opportunity. If I'm honest although I had an awesome time, two in a row along with all the other party islands I had visited was beginning to take its toll. Feeling worse every day I took the chance to rent out another motorbike and cruise the island with one of the girls as I'd been before and had enjoyed it. The highlight of this was stopping off at the island's large English pub. Such a nice treat to enjoy a pint of Heineken in good company and a game of pool and darts, all adding to my excitement to be coming home back to all of these little comforts. Renting out a jet ski was also good and of course the night of the full moon was as mental as the last one. The difference between the two being the weather, on this night was a massive thunder and lightning storm and pouring rain which was pretty cool with all the pumping music surrounding you as you were out in the storm. A final note to add about the full moon as I leave this place for good would be the activity I was a part of with the girls we were with, as I managed to convince one of them to get a smiley face tattooed underneath her toe nail which had fallen off. An inspirational moment that did well to summarise Asia in its madness.

After a nights rest (horribly late night out leaving us with 20 minutes sleep) we were leaving Thailand, having travelled the whole place over the last two months we now head for a two week trip to Cambodia before heading home, can't tell you how strange it is to think in such a short time I will be back home having been away for over 150 days up until now.