Hello everyone, we have just return to Hong Kong for a night before continuing on our original route to China!!! The slight detour took us to the wonderful land of Thailand, a place Rys knows pretty well by now but for Annie is was just another of the many adventures!!! If we are totally honest we were looking for sun, and some great but cheap nights out!! Seriously needing some sun baking time as most of you have been enjoying more tanning time than us and well thats just not right!!! We flew in to Bangkok a mere two and half hour flight, jumped in a taxi ( never been in a car that drove soo fast hitting 140km,, ahhhhh, what a start!!) to head straight to backpacker central, the famous, Khao San Road. Rys found the same place she stayed in 5 years ago now, but it was perfect a great bar, reading beds not to mention great food!! The only problem was it was sooo central unless we went to bed after 2am, it felt and sounded like you were actually in a club. Leaving our back packs we wandered along the main street, our eyes darting from one stall to the other!! The place is full of energy. With stalls and tailors, the hairbraiders, the lady boys, the prostitutes and a mixture of travellers, holiday makers, locals and beggars. Stopping for a local beer there was no need to speak, watching the world go by was more than enough!! What next??? yes you got it, a 2 hour thai massage, followed by an hour facial and another beer on the way home!! Now this is the life, it is easy to see how peple get lost here!!! We decided against the Patpong experience and spent the rest of the evening sat at a VW camper van that had been transformed in to a mobile bar, sipping cocktails from mini buckets on deck chairs listening to peoples stories, of the land we were about to explore!! After 3 days we managed to drag ourselves away to head down to Ko Samet, a small island off the coast, after a 5 hour mini bus ride, an hour boat trip and a final 20 minute stint on the back of a truck we arrived!! Not Thailands best kept secret and you could tell the effect tourism had had on the island but nothing could ruin the white sandy beach and the gorgeous beach front huts!! A place we could call home for 5days (However we only had 1 full day of sunshine). The nightlife was as crazy or as quiet as you wanted, some nights spent watching people twirl flames, and dancing till early hours of the morning on the beach and others watching films, hiding from the rain, reading books and messing about with the hotel staff!! We were actually really lucky as they kind of took us under their wing after a crazy Thai guy in the room next to us became, well there is no nice way to put it, a bit of a stalker!! Parents don't worry, he was just a little to eager to talk to us, evry now and again popping up out of no where!! Its actually a typical Thailand encounter, even though it is general safe you can tell many people loose their way, and being a third world country still, this reality is difficult to ignore!! On the whole we had an absolutely amzing time, we ate soo much sea food, and managed to mix the culture of the grand palace with relaxing on the beaches!!! It was this week of chilling to realised that we still wanted the adventure that China. So we booked the tickets back to Hong Kong to fly on to Shanghai to meet Spence (Rys' brother) !!! And the adventure continues........ Love and miss you all, can't believe we are not even half way through!!! Love Annie and Rys xx Patty - hope you are getting excited....... To parents - we love you lots Netball girls - whos up for a tour to Thailand!!! Friends - we miss you and hope you are having an amazing summers!!