Shell & Daniel

we finished up our last few days on phi phi, celebrated daniels 21st birthday - we went on a boat tour to Phi Phi Leh which was so nice. Unfortunately it had been raining in the morning and was still a little overcast when we got to Maya Bay but was still beautiful. Did some kayaking, snorkelling and had to swim to the shore and climb through a little cave to get to Maya Bay. we were practically the only people there which was a nice change from all the other marine parks we have been to that get swamped by japanese, life jacket wearing tourists. the boys played soccer on the beach and we watched the sun set from the boat....very nice.
We also hiked it up to the viewpoint on phi phi don and it has the most amazing view of the island, and the sunset from there was gorgeous too.
We stayed in phuket for 3nights, splurged on a nice hotel in Kata (loz the Kata Thani can u believe it!) and it was paradise! 5 pools, 5 restaurants, the resort runs the whole length of the beach and the beach actually had waves!!! there is a 1st time for everything!
we caught up with brent, (a friend shell met last time in thailand) and he took us out to the catamaran he has been captaining all season. this boat is amazing, its airconditioned, full kitchen the works, only $700,000 AUD!! so we had a beer out there and watched the sun set, lots of sun sets i know....
went out for dinner in Patong with brent and some other friends of his and had mexican and a stroll down 'Soi Kathoey' with all the lady boys flaunting themselves. some of them were just down right nasty and u could tell they were definately half man, half woman.
But u cant go to phuket with out a look.
we are now in Bangkok and have met up with daniels dad for a few days (he is returning from Israel) so it worked out well. Did lots of shopping and saw some movies, Shrek 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 3. Cinemas are very cheap here, $8 for a VIP seat and a blanket!!
Got our visas for china sorted and are off to Beijing tomorrow morning! so will keep u all posted on our adventures in China.

we are now on phi phi, caught the ferry over from Railay which was no probs (not like our usual experiences). we have been here 3nights already. There is alot of rebuilding going on still so alot of the beach front resorts still arent finished. we are staying in a cute little guest house about 100mt from the beach, the beach itself is not so nice, nothing like the postcards any way. the water is quite polluted from the boats and very warm. we been swimming in a pool overlooking the ocean which is much nicer and we have a nice view of the water aswell.
been doing lots of lazing around, played some pool at the local irish pub and daniel found 1000baht (about $40) which was pretty lucky.
going to do the usual sightseeing of phi phi leh while we are here and then off to phuket next for a few days.
sorry nothing exciting to tell, but there is lots of sunshine here which is great!

well as you can guess by the title, it hasnt stopped raining here on ko samui for the past week. yes thats right 7 days straight of rain and thunderstorms. we are getting cabin fever. on the first day of rain the morning was actually sunny so we rented a bike and visited the grandmother and grandfather rock formations. these rocks are on the edge of a beach and have an uncanny resemblance of male and female genitalia. hordes of thai toursits visit, laughing and pointing-very funny really. then the heavens opened up so we thought we better get back and it was an interesting ride as the road was slippery and daniel couldnt see as the rain was pelting in his eyes. thank god for 7-eleven, we hid in there till it was safe to go home. so we have left the spa resort place and all the starving people getting their colons cleansed are now staying at coral cove. this is such a nice beach and we are literally right on top of it, so we are eagerly awaiting a nice day when we can actually lay on the beach and get some sun, its been 4 nights here and still no sun.
apparently the rain has come from china, well we wish it would go back there!!
so no real news to speak of. we went into chaweng for dinner one night, its like a mini Patong. very seedy, daniel got to see the lady boy drag queens in all their glamour and i think it was all a bit much for him. he was not as impressed as i was - they were quite pretty!!
we were planning to go to the full moon party on kophagnan but couldnt find accomodation anywhere on that island, so thought it best to leave it than sleep on a beach and get robbed. over 10,000 people went (not surprising there was no rooms left) and i think it rained anyway!!
so thats all for now, the rain just stopped so we can make a run for our room!

well after a adventurous trip back from Koh Chang (got dropped off the bus in the middle of a 10lane highway crossing lanes of traffic) to the awaiting taxis who couldnt for the life of them work out how to take us to the hotel we wanted to go to. we had an early morning flight 6am and didnt want to be too far from the airport - so we just decided to go to the airport and change taxis and find someone who could write the address in Thai. finally found the place and settled in for the night. Up at 3am to get to the airport and luckily went to the right one, they have just opened a brand new airport theat is international and domestic and still use the old 2 airports just to confuse everyone. Ko Samui is not as hot as koh chang, still in the thirties but at least has a breeze so much more comfortable. We are staying in a health resort spa. its not very fancy but has lots of fasting programs and colonic irrigation - do it yourself in the bathroom kinda thing! very fancy but not for us!!
looks like lots of nice things to do here so will keep you posted and will try to attach a photo next time as these computers arent too bad. hope all is well at home xoxoxoo