We left Laos with a little more than we had hoped for.... a big case of food poisioning. But we were lucky that we had already planned a well needed R+R trip to visit Chris (Steve's brother) near Nong Kai in Thailand, just across the boarder from Laos. So we spent three nights here recovering. We enjoyed doing very little in their newly built home, other than walking the buffalo to the field and back each day.

Sam then talked Steve into spending more money as we decided to fly to the south of Thailand. We felt we deserved it after all the long journeys we had completed over land. So we flew to Phuket and straight away left there to spend a night in Kho Lak as a stop over before heading to Kho Sok National Park. A place Sam has been before and was very keen to show Steve. So we managed to flag a local bus down to get there. On the day of arriving we decided to go for a trek in the jungle on our own. We saw some monkeys and a massive lizard. Also a snake and more monkeys near our bungalow (yes a very long snake). Sam was sure to cover all the big cracks in the floor of our wooden hut to try and prevent any visitors in the night. The following day we did a day trip out on the beautiful lake. We visited the floating houses, went for a swim and then went trekking and caving. Sam hadnt completed the caving last time she visited Kho Sok, as 9people had died the year before due to flash floods. But it was very cool and adventurous. We spent about an hour walking, climbing and swimming through this cave. At points it was rather tight and spooky. We had to wear swimwear only as we had to swim some bits and jump down mini waterfalls. Sam was a little freaked out by seeing a snake in there and the biggest spider ever. We literally went into a massive opening at the beginning and crawled out of a meter high opening at the end. After a day on the lake, we then got the boat back to shore, which took about an hour. We met a lovely kiwi couple and three lads from Belgium on this trip and it was lots of fun coming back on the long boat back to shore as we were all getting soaked and hiding behind life jackets.... the boat then ran out of petrol only a few yards from shore and we had to be towed back!

Following our day trip we decided to head straight to Surat Thani to get a night boat to Koh Tao Island. We decided to get there by local bus, so our tour guide dropped us off on the random stretch of road. There was no bus stop, we were just told to look out for the local bus and wave at it! Hmmm.. so we tried this a few times, but each time it was the wrong bus. Luckily we were stood with 4 local people going to the same place, so initial we werent too worried after waiting an hour in the dark - but then one of them left and we started to consider where we could sleep when there were no guest houses in sight!!! Not long after a Thai guy pulled over and offered us a lift in his car, free of charge! We felt we had no other choice but to take it, but to be on the safe side asked him to take the 3 local people too. So during this journey he asked us lots of questions about England, but also about how much we earnt and how much things cost at home, what we had been paying for things in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia etc. At first we thought he may be planning to rob us... but he was very nice and turned out he owned a few hotels himself, so obviously just had his business head on. He eventually dropped us all off exactly where we wanted and didnt charge us a penny (or Bhat). If that wasnt a story to tell already, we were even more impressed with the next bit. A few days later whilst walking through our hotel (yes hotel... find out later) lobby Sam noticed a Thai magazine with a familiar face on the front page. Steve confirmed that it was indeed our friendly Thai guy who saved us from being stranded on a random road. The magazine was in Thai so couldnt tell what it was about, but appeared to be some sort of finance magazine.... so we reckon we met the Sir Alan Sugar of Thailand.... haha, Bless him!

So after being dropped off we got a night boat to Koh Tao. Its just a boat with lots of matresses next to one another on the floor and they squeeze as many poeple as possible on. The boat ride was so choppy Sam at one point was unsure whether she'd be able to make it to the toilet without being thrown onto the floor!

We made it to Kho Tao where Steve signed up to do his PADI open water scuba diving course for 4 days. Sam was very pleased that he decided to do it with Seashell Divers as we got free accomodation in a hotel with a pool (thats how the hotel comes into our travels.... it was free!) So whilst Steve got up early each day to do his course, Sam was a lady of leisure sat by the pool. Steve was on the course with two other guys he got on really well with, John and Kyle. He loved the course and successfully completed, woophie. Sam also did a refresher course to refresh her diving skills. On Steve's final day, Sam was able to go out and dive with Steve. It was great to dive together but the visibility was poor. We then went out to celebrate in the evening with the two lads, John's girlfirend Laura and Kyle's mate Damon. This was Sam's favourite night as she attempted fire skipping and fire limbo. The fire skipping went well until she tried to exit the wrong way and got hit on the head with the rope (didnt hurt just singed the hair a bit). A little embarrased when the crowd went "ooooooooo". But she then completed the limbo with more success and won a free shot to her delight!

The next day we were going to stay on the Island but decided to head to Bangkok. Sam's fear of flying was again reduced with the scariest Catamaran boat ride ever (as she nows believes it when people say flying is the safest form of transport). Whilst waiting in a queue to get on the boat, the previous passangers were getting off with faces white as a sheet, wishing us luck, saying rather you than me and telling us stories of waves 10m high...... they werent lying! Steve wasnt phased, but it was a white knuckle ride for Sam. The only fun part about it was watching two drunk Americans fall over and be whizzed across the wet floor because they couldnt stand back up!

We got the night train to Bangkok. Here it felt like Steve slept for days as he was obviously exhausted from his tiring week. That, and Sam made him shop lots when we arrived. To Sam's delight we found a cinema and watched Breaking Dawn at last. Steve was baffled by the standing ovation with the national anthem for the King before the film started, despite prior warning. We didnt do as much as we had planned in Bangkok, purely due to the amount we slept. But considering the miles we had completed in the last 5weeks and amount of things we piled in.... we werent to worried! We were very excited though to be heading to Australia for Christmas and finally made it to Melbourne after a 4 1/2 hour flight delay (left at 2am.... ouch). We were equally very sad to be leaving South East Asia so soon.... but onto the next chapter!