So here it is, my blog of my second visit to Thailand on this trip of a lifetime and i am so excited to be able to share this part of my journey with you all as it includes my big brother Kieran who came out to see me :) yay!!

Our journey from Cambodia back into Bangkok was one of those typical asia journeys, where they tell you it takes 12 hrs when in reality it takes about 22, just love those journeys, grrr! And then we had a very similar journey from Bangkok to Phuket - but we made it there in one piece! Kieran flew into Phuket, i'm not going to lie when i saw him walking through the airport i did cry, especally when he walked into another hall, i was very confused, turns out his luggage was in a different place - phewww!! anyway - we spent a short time in Phuket, on Patong beach. We stayed only a short time as Phuket is a dive people, yup thats right, i would not recommend it to anyone. If you want a nice holiday and are going to spend the money flying all the way to Thailand, go to the small islands and stay there, explore and chill out! :)

We got a short boat ride over to Phi Phi Island where we found a BUNGAROW (i say bungarow as Thai's confuse the pronounciation of l's and r's) right on the beach. Our view at breakfast was insane, i never tired of it. Pure beauty. Clear turqoise water and white sandy beach, long tail boats surronding the bay and beautiful mountains around us. We chilled out on Phi Phi for a little over a wk, we all fell in love with it. We did a day trip on a long tail boat around Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Lei islands....we went to a little island 'Monkey Island' which was covered in cheeky little monkies - stealing water, bags and whatever else they could find from the tourists, mum - just like in Gibralter! The tour also took us to Maya Bay - which for those of you dont know, is where they filmed the film 'The Beach' starring the beautiful Leonardo DiCaprio ;) It was easily recognised by me and Kate, Kieran and Korin (a swedish girl we no from OZ that was travelling with us) didn't find it as amazing as us. We got photos in the corn fields, ran down the slant on the beach that they all run down - if you've not seen the film then its highly likely you'll have no idea what on earth i'm going on about ha, sorry!

Phi Phi island is covered in gorgeous little boutique stores, it was torture, but i really enjoyed looking at everything, Kieran bought himself some funny t-shirts (mum, let me no what you make of his 100% to work one haha). The highlight of Phi Phi bar it's sheer beauty was St Patricks Day. I realised that it was the first time Kieran and I had celebrated this infamous day with us both being able to drink - shameful i know! So we got our drinking hats on, got us some bright green t-shirts and green body paint and trotted off the tiny Irish pub in the middle of the islands which has literally painted the streets green with fabric and balloons, was amazing! :) Everyone got really into it, as they do all over the world. I've now celebrated Paddys day in England, Argentina and Thailand and what is funny, is everyone and i mean EVERYONE from all over the world celebrates this day, Irish or not, truly amazing! :)

The next stop after Phi Phi was Koh Samui - yes thats right, i got Kieran on the travellers road of moving around instead of staying put - he loved it!! wooop! It was in Koh Samui that Kiean got his luxury of the holiday as we checked into an incredible hotel called Tango Inn, it had a pool, made us breakfast in the morning, the room had air con and a TV, and the bar/ restaurant was right on the beach. Kieran - thanks so much for treating to me this, was amazing, i spent so much time in that pool, what a treat it was for me :) Koh Samui itself it much like Phuket in my opinion - a dive! sorry to anyone thats been there and liked it,but it's sooo touristy, its not Thailand. The one thing i really did enjoy (bar the amazing hotel of course) was the finding of an ozzi bar called Bondi - i had to eat and drink there to remind me of good times in oz hehe!! We watched Ozzi soccer which of course Kieran being such a sport addict enjoyed - the final between Melbourne and Sydney, come on Sydney woop woop! :)

We only stayed in Koh Samui for 3 nights before getting a boat over to Koh Tao. I went there on my first visit to Koh Tao and fell in love with us so i really wanted to take Kieran back there. We stayed in another BUNGAROW along the beach, and chilled out on the beach during the day, watched sunset over the sea everynight with a couple of cocktails and beers - every sunset had a feel of magic to it to me, nothing like sitting back with people you love watching the sky light up with different colours and enjoying cocktails in happy hour - the best hour ha!! :) We did a daytrip over to Nagnyuan Island which was only 10 mins from out beach - and this island at low tide turns into 3 seperate islands. The water is so unbelievably clear, never in my life have i ever seen anything like it. Just standing on the pier we could see the bottom of the ocean, so many different coloured fishes and living coral, it was breathtaking. We all climbed to this viewpoint where you could see a view of the whole island (beautiful) and walked all the way around the island before going 'snorkelling' without snorkels ha! A stupid little fish bit me, i really hurt you know ouchhhi!!

Koh Tao is one of those places that you fall in love with and would go back time and time again. Although it's only a small island there is so much to do - and there is so much i still need to see there, so i'm sure it wont be my last trip there yet hehe! I hope Kieran enjoyed it as much as me.

Our last stop on this family adventure was Bangkok - which over time i have grown to appreciate. It's been a bit different on this visit however, due to the protests causing a lot of disruption to the roads, but its all very peaceful - we walked right through the middle of the protest on more than one occasion and they were dancing around - others were sleeping. They have liteally set up camp until they feel there is going to be decent discussions with the government regarding free elections. I'm not going to go into it as i really dont understand it, so if anyone wants to no, ask Kieran, the political sibling of mine ha!

When in Bangkok we met up with a good family friend and friend of ours James Wells - for everyone reading from Singular Challenge (if any lol) - you've gone world wide. 13 years after meeting, who's of thunk that your kids would be having a drink watching spurs in the middle of Bangkok - crazy!

Saying bye to Kieran was so sad - i thoroughly enjoyed having him on this part of my adventures, as I'm sitting writing this, it still feels wierd that your not here Kieran :(

Kieran - thank you for coming out to see me and for everything you did for me, but i would mostly like to thank you for coming into my world of travelling with open eyes and an amazing sense of adventure. You were up for everything and anything and were always happy - it was truly amazing bring in your company, and getting to spent quality time with you - thank you for travelling all that way! Your welcome back on this adventure anytime you want - as is everyone else!

So now, i'm off to Chang Mai in the north of Thailand today - then up into Laos, Vietnam and back into Cambodia - all very exciting. I am tres excited about elephant trekking!!! :)

Chag Sameach to all you Jews, hope you have a happy passover, Happy Easter to everyone else - enjoy the chocolate eggs. Dad - thanks for the chocolate eggs :)

Lots of love to everyone, miss you all

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