With only a week left of Thailand it’s crazy how fast this month has gone! Last night Julie and I travelled from the East to the West side of the Island, getting a night ferry from Koh Tao to Surat Thani (we were so sad to leave), a bus from Surat Thani to Krabi and then another ferry from Krabi to Koh Phi Phi. The night ferry was actually very cool with wooden bunks and a no shoe rule so it was clean and comfy – I even heard someone say “this is nicer than our hostel!” Even though the sleep wasn’t too good, on a rocking boat sitting in a sea storm, it was a cool experience.
On our second ferry we bumped into Normie! A friend from our junior school who we’d planned to meet on the pier as we thought we were on different ferries. It’s so nice to see a friendly face and she’s been to Koh Phi Phi before so had booked us into a cool, very clean aircon hotel/hostel and even requested the room with the view that will overlook the fire dancers as we’re getting ready to go out tonight! It’s also great to be on such a relaxing island by day and crazy island by night with someone who knows the ropes.
I’ll keep you updated with my thoughts on Koh Phi Phi after tonight but for now… So far so good!!

This morning once we’d packed, got breakfast and had a stretch seeing as we were both so stiff from the Muay Thai boxing, we headed into town to rent a quad bike.

When we’d learnt how to drive it, reverse it and park it, we headed off to find Mango Bay, a beautiful beach and Bay at the top of the island. After about half an hour driving on dirt tracks and bumpy roads we got to a sign for the Mango Bay viewpoint, and here we took a left turn, parked the quad bike and climbed up the rocks to see the magnificent view. Beneath the mango trees and Forrest you could see the small beach, some scuba boats and beneath all that… The ocean.

We got back on our quad bike and drove to the beach after this, thinking we knew the way we didn’t bother to look at the map and ended up at a completely different beach (after driving down so,me very steep rocky paths) without an actual beach and nothing around apart from a small broken down restaurant. As I’d been driving for quite some time and there was a flat rock perfect for sitting on, Juliet and I had our lunch stop here or packed sandwiches we’d bought that morning. Then we switched places and I became designated map reader while Julie drove… And we ended up and Mango Bay, FINALLY! Mango Bay is only accessible by foot so after parking our quad bike and walking down about a hundred steps we realised that we were at a quay about a five minute swim from the beach, but not actually on the beach.. (Why does this always happen to us!!) when we’d finally decided there was no way to the beach except via the water, we hailed a ‘water taxi’ a long boat with the words TAXI printed on it and sailed to the beach.
AT LAST we’re where we want to be and we can now relax a little before heading back later tonight and getting on the night ferry (not before we have a last meal of sushi though!)

The afternoon actually went swiftly down hill from there as Juliet started to feel very I’ll and so we went inside to the restaurant with aircon, but there was no aircon. Then it started to pour with rain and we had to get a taxi boat over to the other section of the bay where the quad bike was, but there was no taxi boat! So we started to rock climb then saw a boat pull in so ran to get it and after walking up about a million steps we got to the quad bike. I tried to drive back as fast as a could for Julie’s sake but slow enough that it wasn’t too rocky on the dirt track and that it was safe! We’re finally back at the hotel and after a dramatic adventurous day, someone moved our backpacks out of the rain so atleast they’re dry and we’re both fine!

When you come out of a gym looking like you’ve had a bucket of water chucked over your head there’s got to be a good reason… Mine and Juliet’s was a Muay Thai Boxing class. A lady Juliet knows from Spain does a lot of Muay Thai boxing and introduced us to her friends who are professionals and we went to their gym to join their morning training session! It was literally the biggest workout I’ve ever done, with kicking and punching and kneeing and elbowing aaaand with Thai men with pads screaming “hup” “hup” “hup” which we translated as ‘again’ ‘again’ ‘again’. It was never ending, even on our breaks we were actually just kicking punchbags instead of the men. And even though we were drenched in sweat, looking like drowned pigs, it was such a great morning and I’ve never said that about 8am exercise before! We even talked about taking up Muay Thai when we are back in England (this was discussed over a well deserved massive English breakfast, not sure whether the dream of becoming Muay Thai boxers will be short lived…) either way, it was a great morning’s work out and a once in a life time experience being trained by professionals and watching them train! It also left us truly exhausted for an afternoon of lying in the sun followed by some shopping and a savoury pancake.

P.S HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMYKINS I LOVE YOU LOTS AND LOTS ❤️☺️

This morning we woke up VERY early (5.30am) in order to get all our stuff together, have breakfast and be on the long boat out to our diving boat at 6.30am! It seemed to be quite a chilly and overcast morning but soon the sun rose, the clouds disappeared and we saw how clear the sea was!
Stats:
Dive 3
Destination: Chumphon Pinnacle
Time: 08.17
Depth: 18m
Bottom time: 33mins
Temperature: 27degrees
Suit: 3mm short
Weight: 5×0.8kg
Notes:
Today was our day to be filmed and although this wasn’t the dive to muck about as it is the best dive spot in the whole if Koh Tao, we did do a James Bond entrance into the sea, holding onto our receiver and mask and the front flipping into the water. We saw a school of Chevron barracuda, a school of smooth tailed trevally, a giant grouper (it was so so big I thought it was a rock at first!), lots of pink anemone and rainbow runners!
The sea here was amazing, so clear and bright blue and although we couldn’t see the bottom it was incredible to be in such a vast space and even watching the bubbles in the deep blue was magical.

Back on the boat we sunbathed for a bit, changed tank, all got filmed jumping off the top, third level of the boat into the water and then set up again for dive two of the day!

Dive 4
Stats:
Time: 10.20
Destination: White Rock
Depth: 14m
Temperature: 28degrees
Bottom time: 32mins
Surface interval: 1h29
Suit: 3mm short
Weight: 5×0.8kg
Notes: As this was the dive that we were being filmed on, we all made special effort to wave every time we saw the camera and look as professional as we could! We finalised the last few drills: mask removal and replacement, hovering, alternative air source accent and we even took off our fins and had a running race along the bottom of the ocean! We saw a blue spotted ribbon tail ray, a great barracuda, sergeant major fish and lots of blue spotted trout.

After getting back on the boat, we filmed the last scene of our movie and then the opening scene once we were back on the beach! This afternoon we spent the day sunbathing at a cool beach club and had the most delicious sushi dinner before heading back to Big Blue to watch our film and cried ourselves laughing as it was so hilarious!

Cheers to a incredible few days,
If you go diving in Thailand always go
To Big Blue, Koh Tao. It was a truly great experience, made even better and exciting by Chloe who always kept us feeling safe! Just wish I could do my advanced course now…

Today was our first day proper scuba diving… In the ocean! This morning we woke up early (after a lovely nights sleep in our own room) and met our instructor for some last minute revision before our exam. Needing 80% to pass meant there was little room for mistakes but thanks to thorough revision with Chloe the instructor, Juliet and I passed top!
The whole group passing meant this afternoon we could head out for our first two dives. Obviously lunch was necessary first (diving is so strenuous) and so Julie and I found a little English cafe called “through the looking glass” which we were so happy about! After eating quiche and Cornish pasty’s, we felt very British again and headed out on our boat to sea.

Once we got off our long boat and into the diving boat we kitted up, completed our buddy check and took a big step into the ocean! On our first dive it took us a long time for our ears to adjust and equalise with the pressure of going down but once we were sorted, we started diving! Unfortunately (thanks mummy and daddy) I am extremely buoyant, apparently with very light bones and chloe’s not seen many people like me. This means that I am always positively buoyant and float up to the surface, quite good for staying alive,’however when diving I actually want to be able to stay underwater and so it’s necessary for me to wear 6 or 7 big weights on my weight belt, compared to the average 3! These are the stats for our first dive…
Destination: Laem Tian Bay
Buddy: Juliet
Start time: 14.10
Waves: average
Temp under water: 29degrees
Depth: 12m
Bottom time: 34mins
Wetsuit: 3mm short
Weights: 7×0.8kg
Notes: on this dive we saw a huuuuge fish swim and gobble up a smaller one then swim away with it’s tail hanging out it’s mouth. We saw a school of Weibel’s butterflies fish, blue ringed angel fish, neon fish, loads of parrot fish and an orange spined unicorn fish which is very very rare!

After a biscuit, water and fresh fruit on the boat (enough time for the nitrogen to leave our blood) we had arrived at our next destination and completed our second dive! This time equalising was a lot easier and so our descent was more professional and quick!
Stats…
Destination: Mao Bay
Buddy: Juliet
Start time: 16.07
Waves: Calm
Temp under water: 28degrees
Depth: 12m
Bottom time: 42mins
Wetsuit: 3mm short
Weights: 5×0.8kg
Notes: As this dive was longer and in a better destination it gave us time and space to practise drills while resting on our knees at the bottom of the ocean. We completely the regulator recovery, partial flooded mask clear, full flooded mask clear, oral inflation fin pivot, and hovering. We saw a school of yellow tail barracuda (a Thai delicacy), angel fish and again lots of parrot fish. We also saw a titon triggerfish, a huge aggressive creature so we didn’t go to close and swiftly swam away. And we saw lots of Christmas tree worms that live in the coral and open and close – and when they’re open they look like Christmas trees!!

After getting back to shore and logging our two dives of the day, we had a very needed (as usual we’re starving) BBQ on the beach.
Cheers to another great day on Koh Tao!

This morning after probably one of the worry sleeps of my life (a very big thanks to the Japanese guy who thinks it’s okay to hang wet clothes around his bed making the whole dorm damp, even wet, creating the grosses conditions to sleep) Juliet and I woke up very stressed. However all was quickly made better by the beautiful view we woke up to!

After switching rooms to our own private one (still free with the scuba course… Result!) and eating a big breakfast, we headed off down the beach to start our scuba diving course! The morning started out with a video session, learning about the dangers of the ocean and the safety precautions and then we met our instructors and split into our small groups of 6 to do some more scuba academics with her. Our instructor is a really cool French lady who moved to Koh Tao ten years ago to be a scuba diving instructor, and hasn’t left since! She absolutely loves the ocean and the island and made us so excited about it simply in our discussion session by sharing her excitement with us!

After a couple of hours lunch break, we headed back to our instructor and to the pool to start our afternoon pool session! We learnt all about the scuba equipment and how to assemble, take it apart and reassemble it. Once we were in the pool we spent about three hours doing different drills and learning about buoyancy and basically getting used to all the equipment. The drills included clearing water from goggles, taking off and putting back on the bc jacket, inflating and deflating the jacket, ascending and descending and what to do if you run out of air (this is why we have a buddy so we can use their air!). It was such a great afternoon and even though we came our looking like prunes and exhausted, we are very excited for tomorrow’s dive in the sea!

This evening we had a very much deserve Italian which was so lovely and then after picking up my newly de-shampooed laundry, we sat by the beach and watched the fire dancers with some drinks and a few friends from Coral Bungalows.
What a fab day!

Over the last week, every night the moon has become rounder and rounder and on the night of the 15th it was time for the Full Moon Party!
After dinner we all went to change into our full moon neon clothes and headed to one of the rooms in order to get painted up! I immediately became the designated artist, and ending up painting everyone’s faces, backs, legs, arms, literally any bare skin, in fluorescent swirls and flowers. After about two hours we were all painted up, with the addition of neon flowers in our hair, and we were ready to go! The party started off in the Coral Bungalows, with even more paint and lots of drinks. It was our friends birthday so all of us girls got the dj to stop playing his music, stood on the table and sung Happy Birthday to him, and everyone in Coral Bungalows joined in!
At midnight there were supposed to be taxis waiting to take us but they were no where to be seen! Soon enough though we found a taxi slash open boot truck to take us and about 15 of us piled in. Soon we were stuck behind the crowds of people walking to the full moon beach and so we jumped out and joined the walking parade. There are different entrances into the party, some of which you have to pay but you also receive a Full Moon Party wristband, as we all decided that for 100baht (£1.75) we would love a wristband and so we paid for our entrance.
On arriving onto the party beach it was nothing like I expected, I imagined a party and nothing to the scale of what was I front of me. This was a whole stretch of beach covered by thousands and thousands of people, bars, stages, stalls and huge speakers playing all different types of music. Within a 200m stretch you could walk for the house music section of the beach, crazy dancing in the sand to the drum and base section, jumping on top of a stage and dancing there! There were tables on stilts in the water, a water slide down from a rooftop bar, a giant skipping rope on fire and even a gated section in the middle for napping! Everything you can imagine and more.
We started out as a group of 8 girls and within about ten minutes we were down to 6, but us 6 managed to stay together the whole night which I thought was a great achievement! It’s easily done if you’re like us and did everything together: if someone wants to move along the beach, we all go, if someone wants to buy a drink, we all go, even if someone need to pee, we all go!
The night was filled with dancing, drinking, eating, more dancing and chatting to the most random of people about their travelling experiences and adventures. It was also boiling hot so it didn’t matter when the tide came in a bit and our shoes got wet (I had converse on) because within 5 minutes they’re dry again! It was a great night and it was easy to spot our group (newly named the a team) because of the glowing flowers and swirls all over us!
The night ended in perfectly for us travellers, as while we were busy dancing on a stage, the sun rolled up from the horizon and lit up the sea in a beautiful orange colour. Soon what had been a party beach, covered in neon lights, became a beautiful beach lit up by the rising sun.

There’s a bizarre atmosphere around Coral Bungalows, as no one quite knows what to do before the big Full Moon Party tonight!
One things for sure, everyone here right now can be split into two obvious sections: 1) those who went out last night and 2) those who didn’t.

1) those who didn’t were either like us, and had a quiet and earlyish night in order to be able enjoy tonight to the maximum. These people are spending today, after having had a nice long sleep, sunbathing as much as possible in order to have the best tan underneath the full moon neon clothing. There’s also the other people in this category who fall under the status ‘paranoid’, (I was close to ending up like this and got a swift talking to from Juliet). They can be found in the shade, not eating and not drinking anything, just incase they happen to get ill or even (this is 100% true) incase the sun makes them sleepy and it ruins their party tonight.

Then group 2) The people who did go out. On the most part they’re by the pool eating a full English breakfast and trying to nurse their hang over as quickly as possible for tonight. Or they’re still drinking, why stop right? Or I guess there might be some still in bed, who knows, I can’t see them.

Whether you’re group 1 or group 2, every single person here is in Koh Phangan for exactly the same reason: The Full Moon Party. And every single person here is counting the minutes until it is time to cover our bodies in neon paint, get a bucket and head to the party beach!

After a chilled morning by the pool, 7 of us headed to the Total Wipeout zone of Thialand! For anyone who hasn’t seen the tv program Total
Wipeout, first of all you need to watch it, you’re seriously missing out! But it’s basically a big assault course in the water with obstacles, things you have to climb and different sections you have to conquer.
Ours wasn’t quite as hard or technical as the one from the tv program but it had the key sections and it was a lot of fun!

You start off by swinging into the water off the top section of the building on a rope swing! Then you swim to the first obstacle which is the doughnuts, round blow up balls which you have to run across! Next is the monkey bars (very slippery) and then the giant rolling a pins which you have to run across but if you don’t stand exactly in the middle they spin! Next is the giant ice burg which you have to climb up and slide down and then finally it’s the… BIG RED BALLS! Three giant balls which you have to bounce across and only 40 people ever have actually made it to the other side.
After you’ve completely the course there’s also a ‘blob’ to go on. This is a giant inflatable blob and while someone lies on one end, people jump of a ledge onto the other end which launches the person 6 or 7 metres into the air, landing (normally a belly flop) into the water.
It was a fun but exhausting afternoon!

We arrived home to a beautiful sunset and then after dinner we headed into town to buy our Full Moon Party outfits!

Later we all went to a Muay Thai Boxing match! It was quite intense with a lot of shouting from the audience, even the first match of little kids was tense!
The start of the matches were my favourite as the competitors complete a sort of ritual to the ring out of respect. They go round a pray in each corner and then perform the prayer dance of agility to the gods… And then the match begins. It’s quite a brutal sport, with the aim of the game being to knock your opponent out so badly that they can’t get up! You also score points for punching or kicking different parts of the body.. Safe to say it was scary to watch but a good experience.
We’re going to see a ladies competition in Koh Tao so hopefully we’ll be Muay Thai experts by then!

The problem with being in a country where everything is cheap is that there’s a risk of not being careful when spending money. So the exchange rate is about 53baht to the pound and right now we’re eating lunch for about 80baht, a beer is 50, water is 10 and taxis are 100-150. That gives you an idea of the prices and so we’re staying in hotels and hostels for at most £10 a night. It means that when things cost a bit more and the baht goes into the thousands we panic and immediately think we’re spending loads, when actually never more than £15. It also means that you tend to buy things, because they’re cheap, not because we need them and so the little things all add up.
Like the super organised travellers we are, we’re keeping tabs on our money spendage, as we know that come Australia, prices will change rapidly! But when silk shorts are 100baht, a pad Thai is 40 and alcohol buckets are 200, it’s hard to say no.

Tip to other travellers:
Book packages of lots of things together in advance from tourist offices. In Bangkok we booked all of our transport to Chiangmai, a hotel in Chaingmai, the jungle trek, trains down to the islands and our ferry, all at once and it only cost a little more that £100!
Also keep track of everything you spend, we’ve both got a money log in our journals, as it means you can then work out how much you’re going to need for a day or week, and you can also see a clear image of what you’ve spent.

Off now to Koh Phangan’s total wipeout course in the sea…
Happy spending!