Day 5 (Saturday 21st October 2006)

Had a decent night's sleep, but for the mysterious fighting animals on top of our roof. It must have been about 4:00 in the morning, we rushed outside with a torch and although we could still hear them screaming somewhere, we could not see the little blighters. We eventually got up around 8:00ish, had some brekkie and stroked 'Ricky' the resident pug dog. Talking of dogs. is it true that Marc's mum and Stevie are getting Neo (or Enzo as Marc calls it) next weekend? Congratulations guys...can't wait to see him when we get back. And as for pug dogs...how cute?! Dan I hope you did decide to get your dad one for his birthday, the little guy at our resort is such a character (photos coming soon...)

After brekkie we headed down to the beach for a snorkel and sunbathe. We would like to say that a dip in the sea is a nice refreshing escape from the heat, but it seems to be hotter in the water than it is on the land...the Gulf of Thailand must surely be the hottest sea on the planet! But don't worry guys, we soldiered on and went for a nice long snorkel around the rocks. As well as the usual damsels, wrasse, parrotfish, tin can etc, we saw the cutest pair of porcupine pufferfish you could ever see. They were huge and dosile, letting us get very close up. Marc even gave them a gentle poke to entice them from under the rocks...the larger one was easily over a foot long.

Later that day we phoned home, after finally working out how to use our phonecard. It was good to hear some voices from back home...Marc's mum we'll phone you real soon...!

Before bed we visited a local market where Sarah bought everything in sight...Kaileah you'd have been proud! No, she bought a few pairs of shorts,  bikinis and a Thai dress with elephants on it for a rediculous something like 1 pound. We do need to keep a tabs on our spending though...Thailand was supposed to be the cheap place. At this rate we won't even make Australia!! After eating at a restaurant we returned to find a intruding millipede in the bathroom...cool!

Day 6 (Sunday 22nd October 2006)

Elephant trek day! Our escort met us at 8:50 and took us on a rather bumby ride to the camp. Deep in to jungle territory lies the Bann Kwan Chang elephant camp. We had half a day to spend with these magnificent beasts and it was an experience we'll treasure for the rest of our lives. First we followed the elephants down to the river where we helped give them a bath. When even a pony scares him, Marc had the shock of his life when his nelly, midway through bathing, took to his feet and rushed him off through the trees bareback...hilarious! After a cuddle from Sarah, we both climbed on board for our jungle trek. Churly the elephant took us up and down steep hills, amongst banana trees and through rivers, whilst the most spectacular array of butterflies, spiders and other exotic creepy crawlies looked on. When we returned back to camp we rewarded Churly and the rest of the herd with a few bananas, which we hand fed.

Later that afternoon we took one last opportunity to stroll down to the beach and at the same time, try and take Marc's mind of the fact that his precious Spartans were about to kick off against Brass Monkey...without him! Determined to get one of those li'l puffers on film, Marc snorkelled off, armed with Aunty Wendy's underwater camera. Sure enough he spotted one of those adorable dog-like faces relaxing under a rock and took a couple of snaps before he motored off in to the deep blue.

Stevie, tell Tone we are not very happy with Sarah's mask and snorkel. She can no longer wear the mask after it left her with a bruise across the bridge of her nose...comfy! And as for the snorkel...yeah let's all pay extra for a bit at the bottom that allows excess water to flow out Tone. What you failed to tell us was the f****n' thing also lets water flow in, so you god damn drown!! Not happy bunnies, should have bought a bloody cheap one in the minimart!!!!! But we're not ones to moan.

Actually while we're moaning, we're having difficulty uploading our photos on to the site. We have over 100 already...be patient hopefully they'll come...

Marc might try and stay up for the Arsenal v Reading match, but with our day of snorkelling the islands that awaits, we'll probably nip off for an early night.

Hope the mighty Spartans could keep up their winning run...even without their top boy Jonesy!!

Night, night