Finally another entry!

We were on Koh Lanta last time i wrote. We stayed there for 4 days and spent our time driving around and finding virtually deserted beaches to stop at. On one of the days we drove to the very bottom of the island, which is a national park. The main road runs down the west coast of the island and although there were a few holes here and there the road was otherwise fine. However, towards the bottom of the island the road literally stops in a straight line and the road turns to sand, mud and dust, varying from flat and smooth to very steep and full of very big and very deep holes! So having only ridden a scooter for little over a week we found ourselves off-roading! It was both scary and exciting, particularly when the back wheel slipped as we were trying to power the bike uphill and swerving to avoid a pickup truck and nearly fell off! After about 15 minutes of driving on this kind of road, as abruptly as the road ended it began again! The road just hasn't met in the middle yet! We paid way too much to enter the national park, walked along the average beach, began walking up through the jungle, nearly melted and left the national park after about 30 minutes.

We left Koh Lanta by boat and arrived at Ao Nang on the mainland. Ao Nang is basically a small entirely tourist-oriented town on a beach filled with relatively tacky shops and mediocre restaurants. When we were in Krabi we drove to my parents hotel, up the coast from Ao Nang, which in turn is north of Krabi, and arranged for flowers to be in the room when they arrived. On the evening of the second day in Ao Nang my parents were arriving so we drove to their hotel to meet them. Their hotel was in a very secluded part of Khlong Muang and was absolutely lovely. The next day we found a hotel close by them so that we wouldn't have to drive to Ao Nang every day and moved our stuff. Incidentally, i am sick of packing! I had asked my parents to bring my iPod speaker, which they decided not to take on as hand lugguage so i am lucky it still works! It's amazing how much nicer a room seems when you have your own music. They also brought me a portable DVD played that my brother had bought me and some DVDs that he had copied! Me and David had already talked about getting one so this was an absolutely brilliant present! I don't know what we would have done without it because we have already watched new Heroes and Desperate Housewives and the first 3 seasons of the American Office. It's great to have something to watch other than BBC World News. So now i have even more stuff to carry but it's worth it. I am very envious of David's backpack on wheels!

My parents visit was 9 days of the most amazing fun! On the evening of the first night we ate at their hotel, which was wonderful and became the first of many meals there. We spent the first couple of days with them showing them around (they hired a car), and swimming in the pool. On the third day we took a private speedboat trip from the beach at their hotel out to Phi Phi island. On the way to the Phi Phi we stopped off-shore from a small island, put down the anchor and dived into the clear water and spent 40 minutes snorkelling over an incredible reef. We clambered back onto the boat and sped off the another island where we looked into a cave where they harvest the nests of sea swifts, which are made into birds nest soup. It's an incredibly lucrative business! Phi Phi consists of 2 islands, the first being a bigger inhabited island and the second a smaller uninhabited island where The Beach was filmed. As some of you know, i love the beach and couldn't wait to see the actual beach! We sped towards an opening in the cliffs, began to slow down, rounded a corner and came into a big lagoon, which was mostly surrounded by cliffs, with THE BEACH at the far end of it. It didn't look exactly like it did in the film but it was easily recognisable as the same beach, except for a sand-dune which they had removed for the filming and somehow since put back! That and the dozens of boats and scores of people! It was still amazingly beautiful. After this we stopped on the beach of the bigger island and ate our picnic that the hotel had prepared for us, along with two bottles of wine. It was an very decadent and extravagent day and we all had the best time!

The next day we took a longtail boat (the traditional wooden boat found all over Thailand) to explore the Hong Islands, seen scattered across the sea from my parents hotel. The Hong Islands are a series of tiny, uninhabited islands covered with lush green trees and plants, with occasional gorgeous beaches. We hired kayaks from one island and paddled around it. At one point i could see a narrow passage through the rocks that provided a shortcut and decided to go for it. My parents (in their own kayak) and David (sharing mine) decided it wasn't a good idea but i thought it would be fun. We slowly paddled to the entrance of the tunnel and had to lay our oars down on the boat because the tunnel was too narrow to paddle. We layed flat on the kayak because the ceiling was so low and pulled ourselves through until we reached the other side. It was very fun! We paddled further round the island and through a narrow passage that led to a magnificent shallow lagoon, where we explored the mangroves and i jumped off the back of the kayak. It was another perfect day.

The next day my parents went on an elephant trek and since me and David had already done this, we decided to have a thai massage instead. Did i mention the elephant ride before? I'm not sure that i did. Well, we climbed across from a high platform onto a padded seat on the back of the elephant. In order to do this you had to step on its neck, which i felt bad about, so i gingerly slid across onto instead. We were very high up and once the elephant set off we realised that it wasn't going to be a relaxing ride; we found ourselves bumping back and forth as the elephant plodded along and it took some time for me to get into the rhythm. Whilst me and David we sat on a seat on the back, complete with seatbelt, the driver (i don't know what else to call him!) was straddling the elephants neck and steering it parlty with his feet which were on the elephants ears! It looked like a very precarious position but after ten minutes on the back i decided that it would probably be a lot more comfortable!

I'm going to have to stop there because David's bored and has left, i'm hungry and there's one almightly water fight outside which i have to go and join.

I'll try and pick this up soon, though we're moving into Laos soon (hopefully) and i don't know how reliable the internet will be!

xx