Hello!

Well we are now in Thailand having crossed the border from Malaysia by boat which was a very interesting experience!

Our last days in Malaysia were spent in Georgetown, on the island of Penang, an old colonial district with some nice old buildings and temples, and amazing authentic indian food! After a few days here we got the ferry to Langkawi island. After the beautiful island of Pulau Tioman, this was a bit of a letdown. We knew it would be big and resorty and although very pretty, it didn't have any snorkelling oportunities and there were jellyfish in the sea. It did enable us to catch the ferry to Ko Lipe in Thailand though which meant we didn't have to go back to the mainland which was great.

On the morning we left Langkawi we were picked up and taken to the ferry - not the main ferry terminal that we were expecting but a random resort down the road that had a marina! I was a bit worried about how immigration was going to work, and our passports were taken away when we got there and we told we would get them back in Ko Lipe!! We had to get a long tail boat to the ferry, then another long tail from the ferry to Ko Lipe. Our luggage followed us on another long tail and one of the guys joked he wouldn't sell our passports! We were packed into this little boat and although it wasn't far to the shore, some people looked really worried as it kept tipping to either side! Once on the beach and reunited with our stuff, we had to wait for our passports to be stamped before they returned. It all worked out fine! The Thai's are so laid back and friendly and you just have to go with it.

Anway, Ko Lipe was gorgeous. It hasn't yet suffered in the same way as some of the Thai islands, and the locals are trying to keep it as it is, but there are signs of new developments going up around the island. There was a main street with food and shop stalls, and several different beaches to stay on. We headed over the other side to Sunrise beach and found a beautiful bamboo hut to stay in. The snorkelling was amazing! There was a reef just off the beach with fantastic corals and fish. The food was delicious! We have really been looking forward to eating authentic Thai and it has been so good. We spent four days on Ko Lipe and went on a snorkelling trip on one of them which took us to some beautiful coral reefs on the surrounding islands. You do see the odd jellyfish which at first gave me the jitters, but I can swim away from them very fast! We also met up with a couple we met in Malaysia and spent the evenings with them. Yesterday we dragged ourselves away although we could have easily spent the rest of out time there. We are now on Ko Lante but we don't like it so are catching a ferry this afternoon to Ko Phi Phi where the snorkelling should be very good again. This is also one of the islands that was badly affected by the tsunami so it will be interesting to see how it has recovered. If none of the islands we are planning on visiting in our last few weeks live up to Ko Lipe (and I don't think they will!) we may just find ourselves back there....