4 DecemberKoh SamuiOn the Beach to Paradise found!KIM: As I opened my eyes this morning I smiled at the sounds of the waves crashing… wow! However, as I lay fairly still I noticed that it was louder than I would imagine for a calm summers day in a Gulf. Hmm… Mark pulled back the curtains and pouring down was buckets of rain! Back to sleep then…A little later it seemed a bit better and besides, this is the day we were checking into LUXURY! After agreeing to ...

3rd DecemberKhao Sok > Koh SamuiKIM: After breakfast, we joined Nid and her silent husband/friend in a lovely 'soccer-mom' car to Surat Thani. Much more comfortable than the public bus for what turned out to be actually quite a far way! Nid dropped us at the Raja ferry company office, where we soon discovered we couldn't book a ferry ticket and could only book through Samui Tours. Now, Samui Tours is recommended in our travel guide, and advised against in Maik...

2nd DecemberKhao Sok National ParkKIM: Since stumbling across some website that mentioned this park, all I've wanted to do was the overnight trip to the Lake. However, after doing the trekking in Chiang Mai and roughing it in the hilltribe camp, we took an executive decision not to overnight it at the Lake. Coupled with the ridiculously high price (everything in the south seems to cost so much more!) we opted for the one day trip. To put the price thing in perspe...

1st DecemberKhao Sok National ParkMARK: Our package deal at Morning Mist consisted of 2 nights accom including brekkie + Elephant ride + Tubing, so our itinerary for the day was clear - elephant trekking in the morning and tubing in the afternoon. On the way to the ellies we met a british couple - Matt (who should be a Chris) and Sarah (who should be an Emily), who were also doing the ellie trekking tour with us. Matt is a history lover and we spent the rest of t...

30 NovemberSurat Thani > Kho Sok National ParkMARK: Sleeping on buses is near impossible for me. Kim manages slightly better, but even with the leg room in the front row seats, neither of us managed to really sleep. When we arrived at Surat Thani at 6am we felt quite drugged with tiredness. Everyone off the bus, Kim and I grabbed our bags and headed down the road for the local bus station. On the way a well dressed gentleman approaches us and asks where we goi...