Hello everyone, I hope you are all well!I hope you're sitting comfortably with a cup of tea and a bourbon biscuit, this is a long one.

I must say, you all make me so happy, my last blog update won STA travel blog of the day! That means you good people are actually reading my mindless drivvle. I half expected the STA team to fly out to Bangkok, treat me to a slap up meal and award me with a trophy - alas, they never turned up. Probably just as well as I did have a bus to catch that evening at 8pm.

Anyway, more importantly, once again so much has happened since I spoke to you last. I left Chiang Mai, not before sneaking in another thai massage, I'm addicted, and afterall my body is my temple. I got the overnight train back to Bangkok, this was the air conditioned express train, I was freezing, I'm supposed to be slumming it for a year, air conditioning control should not be an issue. Don't worry Wendy, there was no train step sitting on this journey, it had automatic doors and I really didn't want to run the risk of getting wedged in those.

I arrived in Bangkok at 9am and found I had 11 hours spare on my hands. In the few days I'd been away, Bangkok had appeared to go mental, Friday nights must be a big thing out here. It was Saturday morning and everyone was still trollied, I really don't think there was any need, especially as some of us were trying to enjoy a staple breakfast of a coffee. I wouldn't have minded if they'd left me alone, but it seems that when you're on your own you attract alot of attention. I hope I'm not that annoying when I'm drunk - that really doesn't warrant any comments thank you.

I decided to head off to Dusit palace for the day, I once again embarked on the 5 mile walk. It made me laugh, I was just across the road from the palace and a tuk tuk driver asked me where I was going, I explained to the palace over the road. He continued to inform me that it was closed, I'm not pretending to know more than the locals, but the big 'open' sign next to the palace gates suggested otherwise. I told him I'm sure he was right but I'd just have a look anyway, and sure enough, my suspiscions confirmed, he was feeding me a load of old blarny. They have a scam where they tell you the tourist attractions are closed, and that they will take you somewhere else and bring you back later, they then take you to a range of jewellers and tailors, where they will get commission if you buy something. As if I could pull off an evening dress in this heat, I'd look extremely magic wearing something like that on the night bus. When I arrived I cautiously purchased my ticket, checking that it was open. After my experience at the Grand Palace I just wanted to make sure that it wasn't closed for cleaning or anything.
The palace was really amazing, and there was so much to see. We had a guide to take us round Vimanmek Mansion, this is the worlds largest teakwood mansion and it's beautiful. I love looking round places like this, it's still all laid out as the King still sometimes visits. I had to listen very carefully to the tour guide however, as although she spoke perfect english, combined with the thai twang it was quite incomprehendable. I also had a look round Throne Hall, there were many display cabinets full of jewels and just generally expensive things. There was an American girl infront of me in here, and whilst I hope that I am not devoid of all culture, I really didn't see the necessity in spending 5 minutes at each display, afterall I really did need to catch that bus at 8pm. I was unable to shimmy past her and was getting quite frustrated. She was intrigued by this one piece of jewellery and was asking her friend how it would be worn, she went to ask someone who worked there, my ideal opportunity to overtake. I did have to stifle a giggle as I walked past the object in question, I would have thought that the sign in bold print would have given a clue 'necklace', I'm just guessing but I reckon it was worn around the neck.

After a lovely day I began the walk back to where I was to catch the bus. Just as I was walking past some official looking building with guards outside my flipflop broke, much to their amusement. I really don't think they needed to laugh quite so much at me, surely this kind of thing happens all the time. In my haste to get as far away from anything beginning in 'M' and ending in 'T', with the letters 'ARKE' inbetween, I found myself miles away from one, so with my best woman on a mission look, I thrust a flipflop under each arm and walked back bare foot, praising the road sweepers for doing such a good job as I sustained no injuries. When I did finally find somewhere to buy some new ones, I felt sad putting them on and disposing of my lovely lemon diamante ones, evidently diamante is not the way forward for international explorers.

That evening I got the overnight bus to Chumphon. This was a very bumpy affair, I don't usually suffer from travel sickness but I must admit I was feeling quite queezy. I was quite lucky as I was at the front with no one sat next to me so I got to spread out a bit, it was still impossible to sleep. It was lucky no one was next to me, due to my overnight travels the previous night, my day sightseeing and this nights travelling, I had not had a shower in approx 36 hours, actually that's probably why I felt sick. We arrived at Chumphon at 4.30am and had to wait until 7am for the boat. I had been informed that it would be a speed boat, so I had my nicest bikini, headscarf and sunglasses at the ready to do my best bond girl impression, it's lucky I didn't get changed too prematurely as it was actually a big ferry, my smelly dress would suffice. They were handing out sickness tablets and bags before we left, and warned us it may be rough. Well, it wasn't rough, it was more like a ride at Alton Towers lasting 2.5 hours, (Stella, that really would have finished you off!), but, stomach still intact I arrived. I was here at paradise, I eagerly walked down the pier, looking for the man with my name to take me to my resort. As I was looking a big wave came over and drenched me, much to the amusement of the rather large group congregated at the bottom of the pier, what else could I do except drop my bags, and with grand hand gestures exclaim 'I have arrived', the laughter turned to applauding. I really don't know what it is about this country, but I really do appear to have turned into somewhat of a joke. I might just like to add at this point, thank you Jan for your great advice of getting a rucksack on wheels, I fear if I hadn't I would still be in a big heap at Bangkok airport at this stage.

I got settled into my basic, but nice bungalow and had a couple of hours spare before my diving course began at 1.30pm. I felt shattered so thought a quick power nap was in order, so I set my alarm and happily fell into the land of nod. I stupidly forgot that my alarm doesn't work on Sundays, by some fluke I awoke at 1.20pm, got over my initial panic and ran to the bar where we were due to meet bang on 1.30pm - phew!

I had secretly hoped that I would have some buff Australian instructor called Carl, who would have rippling muscles that I could just stare at all day. That was not meant to be, my instructor was a pint sized lady called Suki from Hong Kong, my disappointment didn't linger long as I soon realised she was really nice. There were two other people on this open water course, Mona who was Canadian, and Bryn from Manchester, luckily we all got along so it was going to be a good few days.

Suki began by explaining that if she smelt alcohol on us she would send us away, as it wouldn't be safe to dive. Ah, I felt myself in a moral dilema, but after thinking it through I decided I could sacrifice 3 nights of partying and be the model student, afterall, I'm only 2 weeks into my year long party so there's still time to make up for it. That afternoon was spent in the classroom going through the theory, and we got homework!

We met at 7am the following morning to do some practise in the pool, I was quite excited. We gathered all our gear, I could barely pick up the air tank, let alone swim with it on my back, and when she gave me a weight belt, I inwardly thought that she wasn't qualified to be teaching this.But, she proved me wrong, and the next thing I knew, I was in the pool with it all on my back, feeling quite comfortable. Our first excercise was to fill our masks with water and clear it whilst submerged. You are supposed to breath out through your nose, but I somehow managed to breath in and consequently had a massive coughing fit. I was only kneeling on the floor of the shallow end of the swimming pool, so figured I could just stand up with no danger of my lungs exploding and regain composure. Suki had other ideas, she pulled me back down still choking, this woman was taking me out in the sea the following day and she seemed intent on killing me, and I thought we had bonded. I decided there and then, I was not going to die kneeling down at the shallow end of a swimming pool, there was still so much I needed to do, top up my tan, try a bucket, go to the full moon party, see a fish! I concentrated and got my breathing under control, and the remaining excerices went well except the last one. We had to take our gear off underwater, I took my wrong arm out first and twisted the wrong way, resulting in my face being squashed against the side of the pool with a chord wrapped round my neck. Luckily, Suki had since decided she didn't want to kill me and unravelled me out of that predicament. All in all, I know it sounds disastrous, it really did go very well. That afternoon we all took our exams and passed - no more homework.

The following morning we once again met at 7am, I was very excited and admittedly a little nervous, we were going in the sea. We did 2 dives that morning, it was so amazing, so many different brightly coloured fish, and the beautiful coral, and we found Nemo!! At one point I was completely transfixed on this brightly coloured fish, I was just staring at it and swimming towards it like Homer Simpson with a can of beer. I was pulled out of my trance by Suki frantically banging on her airtank to get my attention. She was telling me to move away, and giving me the sign that it was a trigger fish, so thats what those fish look like that we've been told to avoid. It was so quiet, we were down for about 40 mins, each dive, but it felt more like 5 mins, it is a completely different world.

We had that afternoon off so I decided to go and do some sunbathing, although it's amazing how much of a tan I've got from just walking around. Before coming out here, my greatest fear was being lonely and the only company I'd have for 12 months would be stalking shop keepers. That really hasn't been the case, I've met so many people and that afternoon I actually creaved some me time. I found a semi deserted spot on the beach, lay down and was happy out with my Sophie Kinsella book. I was then joined by the most decrepid looking dog I've ever seen, it's bald patches really did look sore. I suffer from ezthma and really didn't want to discriminate on some flaky skin, but eew! It proceeded to lie down next to me, there was no contact, so I thought I can deal with this, so long as no one thinks we're together. It was just unfortunate about the wind direction that afternoon, it was blowing over the dog and onto me, needless to say it really wasn't a pleasant aroma. I packed up my belongings and decided it was beer -o- clock.

Another day, another 7am start and 2 more dives, once again practising excerices in the sea and swimming around watching marine life - perfect, and by the end of it I was qualified. Infact, I enjoyed it so much, I decided to extend my stay on Ko Tao and do the advanced course, not because I was particularly advanced, but just because I could. This course involved a small amount of theory and five dives, it was the night dive and the wreck dive that particularly appealed to me. Unfortunately however, the wreck had pretty much disintegrated so I was unable to do this one. There were once again 2 other people on ths course, Martin who was Italian, and Johnny who was English, a pilot no less, check me out in my new social circles. We did 2 dives on the first day, and the night dive in the evening, it was thoroughly enjoyable once I finally managed to turn my torch on and my eyes grew accustomed to the dark. We did 2 more dives the following morning, Martin didn't come out as he was having problems with his ears, and Johnny only did the first dive as his started playing up too, so the group dwindled down to just myself, this however meant that I got an extra long dive. I had to do some navigation excercises with the compass, swim through hoops and some bouyancy excercisesm then we swam around. I was fully qualified in both courses - Yay! I am definitely going to do some more diving in Austral;ia, I have been bitten by the bug.

That afternoon I got the ferry to Ko Pha-Ngan, the next island south. I had my reservations about coming here as a number of people had informed me that it is very commercialised and similar to Bangkok, you have to see for yourself though. I thought they must have been having me on, for once I arrived all that was missing was the tumbleweed blowing down the street, it was dead. I am staying at Phrueksa Beach resort, the bungalow is basic again, but there is a gorgeous pool overlooking the sea, with a beach just beyond it. This is the quiet area, the main bit (Hadrin) is 15 minute drive away, but only 100 baht in a taxi, so I feel I have the best of both worlds.

There are 3 other people I've been hanging around with here, Jo from Brighton, Eric from Sweden and Rick from Holland. Eric and Rick both hired scooters for the week, so one evening myself and Jo hopped on the back of them and we went off in search of some action, we were not disappointed. There were so many people on the beach, drinking and dancing and there were fire dancers. This was also to be my introduction to buckets. You literally get a bucket and they fill it with a spirit and mixer and you walk around with it, vodka was my tipple of choice that evening. After a couple we decided to leave the bikes there, get a taxi home, and Jo and I, confidence boosted by the alcohol agreed we'd hire scooters the next day and take the boys to pick up theirs. A good night was had by all. The following morning, all alcohol evaporated from our bodies, Jo and I were feeling a little apprehensive about this scooter business. I really don't know why, I can drive a car, tractor and a push bike (well I could 10 years ago and they say you never forget). We had a little practise run and established that so long as it was just a straight road with no bends we would be fine. The boys drove us there, there is no way I was ready to be taking passengers, and we would all drive back. We had a nice chilled out day on the beach before the journey home. Rick discovered he had a flat tyre, so they went off to get that fixed whilst myself and Jo got more gasoline. I had to laugh, so far we hadn't actually got any further than down the road and Jo had asked someone to get her bike out of the parking space and turn it on, she'd then had to stop so asked someone else to restart it, and now she couldn't get the cap off the tank so asked a passerby to remove it for her, then missed the hole pouring gasoline over the bike and was subsequently very nervous to restart it. We finally set off on the 15 minute drive, and an hour later we were home! It was another crying with laughter moment, there was Jo and I riding along at a snails pace (I hasten to add the road was extremely hilly and bendy), being overtaken by pedestrians and I think the boys were very embarrassed to be riding with us. We did it though and returned the bikes the next mornng with no damage to bikes or ourselves, but I can tick it off my to do list and put it under experiences never to be repeated.

That night we headed to the beach again (in a taxi), had a few drinks there before heading to a pool party. I really didn't think parties like that existed in real life, just on American movies. It was amazing and so much fun, the pool was just a mass of bodies and everyone dancing around it. They were playing this game where the girls sit on the mens shoulders and you have to push the other couples down. I was doing particularly well when I came across a very fiesty girl, she was giving proper right hooks, there was no need it was just a bit of fun. I took great pleasure in submerging her, then saw we were the last couple standing, we had won that round. Pool party can be ticked off the to do list, but that will go in the experiences to be repeated file.

I had a lazy day yesterday by the pool. I could over hear two couples talking and instantly recognised the norfolk twang, I couldn't resist asking and sure enough they were from Norwich - small world.

We went to the thai boxing last night, that was brilliant but they don't half hit each other hard, don't think that would be a career alternative for me, but nevertherless, had a really good evening and it was cool to experience it.

It's the full moon party tonight - to be updated!............

Once again lots of love to you all, and I hope everyone is well.