Sun on my face, sea salt in my hair and sand in my pants

This is Thailand...well, this is the island of Kho Phangan in Thailand.

What we've been up to so far...

We flew from Hanoi to Phuket on the 19th, got conned by the airport guy (really, we were foolish enough to believe that he could find us a cheap and nice place to stay - it wasn't so bad, but the money we paid, I was looking for a little more luxury than cockroach spotting in the pool), had a really hot noodle soup (the lady let us try the first two soups but didn't bother with the third - said it would be too hot for us. Was a little disappointed...but only until my lips, and stomach were burning from the second stuff she let us try). We also had our first taste of the thai local beer - Chang (we still have to try Singha).

A very exciting second day in Thailand as we were picking up my lovely friend, Eleanor, from the airport for two weeks on the beaches ;o)

Her first day? Pretty much spent travelling - a bus ride from Phuket to Surat Thani and then the night boat to Kho Phangan. We've been on night boats before...a nice big ferry in the Philippines where we had our own little private bed, there was a restaurant, bar and even a live band. The night boat to Kho Phangan?? There were thin mattresses put side by side (a kind of rolling bed, I guess) where numbers didn't correspond too well with pillows and people were given the same number. It was hot, sweaty and you had to be careful who might roll into your bit of the bed...luckily it was either Carly or a nice swedish guy who'd been showing us his pics earlier. On arrival, we took a taxi to a beach recommended to us which ended up being full (and also, to our dismay, at 7am, you could still hear the beat - if you can call it that - of techno music and, on the beach, our eyes were greeted to a naked man walking into the sea - which wouldn't have been so bad but he wasn't exactly Brad Pitt. So we shared a taxi with a drunk german and then ended up getting another boat to another part of the island to Hadd Tien and a place called the Sanctuary.

But before we got there...the shit scariest boat ride ever!! Waves so big, our boat would go over them pointing to the sky so that was all you could see was sky and, on the way down, getting soaked and holding on for our lives wondering where the life jackets might be. I did want to take pictures but figured it wasn't such a good idea to let go of the bench I was holding tightly too. Seriously, it was a rough sea. Poor Eleanor, she hadn't slept for nearly 72 hrs and now this. Strangely though, I felt more excited than scared but I did keep a look out for the shoreline so I knew roughly how far I'd need to swim. It helped a lot to look at the boat driver (looking kinda like a thai Jimmy Hendrix but with straight long hair, holding on to a bar attached to the boat's motor instead of an electric guitar) who was always grinning...though not so good to look at him when he was busy answering his mobile! Anyway, we made it - unbelievable but we did.

Safe and sound at the Sanctuary, we've spent most of our time on the beach...Eleanor's busy playing catch up tan wise and Carly's busy getting herself cleansed...on a 3 and a half day detox and regular colonic irrigations. I have absolutely no intention of joining her. First time in Thailand and I'm here to enjoy the food - also, quite frankly, I just don't fancy sitting in a room with a tiny tube up my bum so that the coffee and apple vinegar can help bring all that nasty stuff out. I'll just eat some brown rice... but not too often - I'm on holiday, remember!

After the cold temperatures of Sapa and Hanoi, am loving being in the sunshine again ;o) And it really is the lovliest thing to have a friend from home here with us. Thanks Eleanor. Really, I can't tell you how much it means to have you here!!

It's also meant we've been brought up on all the important goings on back home...

Charles and Camilla's wedding (Queen not too happy), Zoe pregnant with Dirty Den's kid in Eastenders, David Blunkett's resignation, Tony Blair not so popular - so what's new? Sienna Miller and Jude Law getting married and, to mine and Carly's amazement, Brad and Jen splitting up!! And - snow in London! Have heard from Joyous' email and reading Pirate Posey's journal that there's been lots of snow in London. I'm not at all jealous even if I do love snow. That's why I've highlighted the sun in the title of this blog.

Build a snowman for me ;o)