May 2007

Last night we caught the overnight ferry from Railay.
Railay was a pretty cool place, although the weather was pretty crap as storms seemd to be lingering over Thailand for a couple of days. We did get some breaks in the cloud and the sun did shine which made it a really beautiful place. The surrounding area is predominantly limestone cliffs which have (the vast majority anyway) been bolted up to cater for the hoards of people who come here to try climbing. Anyway, we managed to find a pretty nice little bungalow right at the top of a cliff, although in the end we decided only to stay for 2 nights as we both really wanted 3 weeks on the beach to end our trip with.
This meant we had to get the ferry at 11pm from surat thani on the east coast to Koh Tao Island. It's lovely here and there is a fab beach with white sand and really clear turquoise water. The boat trip was pretty auful (Rich didn't mind it though as he drank 8 beers and fell asleep). The sleeping arrangments were pretty dire!... in fact, they were slave ship like. It was literally about 100 single matresses laid out in the hull of the ship. The journey took from 11pm till 6.30am this morning so we are pretty tired as you can imagine!

Hope all is well

Love Sho and Rich

Dad: Is Gran out of hospital... send my love
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Rosa (fellow Dobber): Thank god you are not hurt after the car accident. I'd have cried till I died if anything ever happened to you. Can't waiot to see you XXXXX. Come and stay at our house.

Mum: Hope you had Fab hol!

Love from us!
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Hi people

Shonah here! How is everyone?. We leave Ko Phi Phi tomorrow to go to a place called Railay north of here and on the main land. It's a coatal town and is meant to have lovely beaches. It's raining today...CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!! Last night we got the boat over to the main town on the island to get some food. AJust after we had finished eating, these huge black clouds came across which looked really really black and evil!... and they were. Unfortunatly for us, no boat men would take us back to our beach because of the storm so we had to walk... for 45 mins and in a torrential storm, through a jungle and with only Rich's mobile as a light!

All is well anyway

Love 2 all

Shonah

Since the lat entry we've moved from Koh Lanta to Phi Phi. This was largely because Koh Lanta was absoloutely dead, which was nice in a lot of ways, but limited us to eating in the same restaurant ever5y night. Anyway, Phi Phi is the sterotypical , jaw droppingly beautiful tropical island. The sand is pristinely white and the sea an incredible turquoise.
There are no roads on the island so pollution and traffic noise is not a problem. We had to get to our beach via a long tail boat which gives the place quite a remote feel.
We're currently staying in a bamboo hut right on the beach which is more than adequate for our needs.
Since we arrived we've spent all day just lounging on the beach planning our next move, although never actually deciding on anything - it's really difficult to make any decisions to leave when you're in the perfect setting!!
The islands of Phi Phi were devestated by the Tsunami in 2004 and it's still really evident how scary and completely destructive it must have been. There are trees everywhere with masses of ribbons tied around them which serve as a memorial to the 8000 people that lost their lives. There is also still lots of rubble and derelict buildings around which also lends the place quite an eerie feeling. Shonah says it reminds her of Pompei.
We are considering (no set plans yet) moving in a few days to a beach called Railay near Krabi which is a bitr of a climbers retreat apparently? We'll see anyway!

Hope all is well!

Rich and Sho
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Not sure what we had detailed in the lasty entry? Anyway, we've now left Krabi and got a couple of ferries to the Island of Koh Lanta in the Andaman Sea. It's all very nice, except it seems to be the end of the season , meaning everything is realy quiet and pretty dead. Stil, our hotel is serving beer stil and they have fires on the beach at night which makes for a really good atmosphere. We al ended up swimming last night at gone 1 am, after what some might deem to be a "skin full". Excelent night anyway!
Tomorrow I think we're going to move on to Ko Phi Phi, which by all accounts is a bit busier and a whole lot prettier. (although it been busier might not be such a good thing?!) Plus, I can do my diving course here more easily if theres more people about. I'm desperate to get it done and then hopefully we'l both be able to spend the remaining weeks exploring the world of our sub-marine counterparts. I can't wait and I reckon Sho is too, although at present she seems too laid back to get worked up about much!! Haha. I think we're definitely getting back in to "Goa mentality", where we dont wear watches, and eat and drink and sleep as and when we want to! It's such a good way of life.

mike J - Good to see you've joined our little group of followers! Hope the newbies at work aint too spastic like. I'm sure you can give em a boot up the arse if needs be? Ask Jez if he wants any fags for us will ya? If so il get em on way back!

Mum and Dad - Glad to hear you're both ok. Il try and get to a phone before wednesday but they seem to be pretty few and far between on this island. Maybe Phi Phi will have some more.

Nan - hope you're enjoying your company! I would have liked to have seen them both - maybe next time hey?! Hope max is loking after you!

Jim - Yeah jacket is pretty smart - similar to my North Face one, but a heavier material. Should do the job anyway. My job still aright for when I get back to newcastle?? You found out what you're doing at Birdseye yet?

Love to All,
Rich