From Bangkok (again!!) we headed back to Koh Phangan on the sleeper train. The main aim of our return was to sort out a set for Will at the fullmoon party! Unfortunately this didn't work so well, we met the guy who seemed really nice, and then never sorted anything and didn't get in touch again!! Still... apart from the place being so packed and not getting much sleep for a few nights because of some drunken Aussies (who we later became friends and got drunk with!!) We spent a few days exploring parts of the island we hadn't seen before on motorbikes- and discovered the ridiculously awful roads on the other side of the island- very scary- Will had to come back at some points to drive my bike! We really enjoyed the full moon party, staying up to the sunrise was beautiful- the after party was slightly less exciting!!

After the party, we decided that a few days recuperating on a quieter beach was definately needed and headed to Haad Yao on the west of the island. Here we found a yummy Japanese curry, and fish bbqs (yes Will did eat the fish- and really enjoyed it!!) We met Elliot (a friend of Eriks- thanks Erik!!) and went diving for a day at Sail Rock between Koh Phangan and Koh Tao- we'd both never seen so many fish with a skool of about 10000 Bigeye Trevally swimming just above us. Will even made a fish friend- who swam underneath his tummy for a while! The snorkelling around this part of the island was really good as well, although we did spend one day being stung by small sea creatures- not the one!!

From here, we carried on to Koh Tao- this is a smaller island to the north of Phangan known (and slightly overrun!) by diving. We didn't dive here- having just been and following Elliot's advice that actually the diving was better in Phi Phi. We did some snorkelling in beautiful crystal clear water. We hadn't really expected that much from the island, but found it beautiful and surprisingly unexpensive. We even enjoyed a couple of games of mini-golf- weren't very good and Will always won!! We left early from Koh Tao as we heard a storm was coming- booking the night boat to head south. When we got to the boat though we found it was overbooked, and we had no beds- instead we were offered to sleep on the floor in a tiny space with about 20 other people- or we could sleep on the deck outside in the rain!! We decided to get our money back, stay another night, and get the day boat!!

We did this via high speed cataraman- which Will had really wanted to try- although it wasn't actually much different to any of the ferries- except a bit posher!! We headed to Krabi- staying by the beach one night, and heading to Railey beach the next. We'd been told how stunning this was supposed to be- and unfortunately were a bit dissapointed, the beach was packed- with people and longtail boats, making the water a bit dirty, the rooms were horrible and expensive and to top it off...when we sat down on the beach it starting to rain!!! The scenery, however was stunning- huge cliff and rock formations surrounding the bay.

We headed to Koh Phi Phi in the morning and it's beautiful- although we've heard that it was much more beautiful before the tsunami with loads of trees, and less building work. I've been very impressed with the saftey set up here- there's designated routes set up in case of another tsunami to get people to the high land, and there's an apparently very loud siren that gives you half an hour warning to run... quite scary but at least everyone is more prepared now.

By the end of the first day we had signed up to do the Advanced Open Water diving course- having realised a few days earlier that we're spending money way to fast, we decided to apply for working holiday visas in Australia, and are leaving early from Asia- unfortunately we now won't be going to Indonesia, but there's alway the next trip!!! This means we can do more of the exciting things we couldn't afford before!!

Our advanced course was amazing- we joined up with John and Charl- who had just finished their Open Water and Cole our instructor was great fun! We did 5 dives, each a different speciality: deep, navigation, wreck, photo/fish id and enriched air dive. The wreck was amazing- a car ferry sunk in 1997- rumoured to be an insurance job (as no one was onboard!) there were so many fish...and even some toilets! Through the course we got to swim with turtles, leopard sharks and sea snakes, and took loads of pictures- a few of which turned out ok!! (When I hadn't got too close and scared the fish away leaving a photo of empty coral!)

Today.. we're chilling!! and sorting out our plans. We head to Malaysia tomorrow. Unfortunately our Oz visas have been a bit more complicated than we thought.. because of our travels we have to get chest xrays before they'll issue work visas so we head to Penang in Malaysia to get these sorted then can hopefully confirm our flight dates! Lots of internet things to do!!! Love to all xx