After parting ways with Sophie we met again a 24 hours later on the island of Koh Samui, the most southern of the three main islands of the eastern coast of southern Thailand. A very popular island because of its major airport, the beaches were a little crowded fill with door-to-door resorts. Because we arrived so late in the evening I prebooked us accommodation, though the website neglected to state that it was right next to the Muay Thai boxing arena. This martial art, not unlike kickboxing involves bare feet and fists and very painful knees to the ribs. Every night we were greeted by a Thai Tim Westwood who kept repeating every third word…’tonight, tonight, tonight, the greatest fight of the year, the year, the year!’ Well it can’t be THE greatest fight of the year every night! Every night there are around 8 fights starting with under 8’s then under 10’s. With crying children in the ring and screaming parents in their corners it is an event to be missed. Because of the lack of beaches and lack of sleep we moved on very quickly…
Koh Tao, well known for its amazing diving was our next destination. Here we met up with some friends we met in Vang Vieng, Laos and spent 5 days swimming, snorkelling and joining in with the night activities when all the divers returned from their trips.
We were booked for 5 nights on Koh 
Phanghan from the 22nd to 26th, although we were anticipating absolute chaos and mania we were presently surprises by the beautiful beaches. Every month around 5,000 people descend onto this island for the party which takes place when there is a full moon party. For the first time in 80 years actually lands o
n New Years Eve, so the party goers are expected to be around 50,000! They put on a fake full moon p
arty on Christmas day which we joined in, alot of fun where the bars are vying for your attention and Baht by putting on firework displays and fire shows. Christmas day unfortunately just felt like another day, although we were in paradise it would’ve been nice to fly home to see friends and family for the day. We cheered ourselves up by hiring a red Jeep (called Rudolf) and going to the only English pub on the island to have a great roast dinner (and a snakebite!) We both got to talk to our families on Skype around Christmas day which was really nice, although it did seem like there was more staring at us than talking!
Koh Tao, well known for its amazing diving was our next destination. Here we met up with some friends we met in Vang Vieng, Laos and spent 5 days swimming, snorkelling and joining in with the night activities when all the divers returned from their trips.
We were booked for 5 nights on Koh 
Phanghan from the 22nd to 26th, although we were anticipating absolute chaos and mania we were presently surprises by the beautiful beaches. Every month around 5,000 people descend onto this island for the party which takes place when there is a full moon party. For the first time in 80 years actually lands o
n New Years Eve, so the party goers are expected to be around 50,000! They put on a fake full moon p
arty on Christmas day which we joined in, alot of fun where the bars are vying for your attention and Baht by putting on firework displays and fire shows. Christmas day unfortunately just felt like another day, although we were in paradise it would’ve been nice to fly home to see friends and family for the day. We cheered ourselves up by hiring a red Jeep (called Rudolf) and going to the only English pub on the island to have a great roast dinner (and a snakebite!) We both got to talk to our families on Skype around Christmas day which was really nice, although it did seem like there was more staring at us than talking!On the 27th we made the 8 hour journey due south to Krabi in Southern Thailand, the next day we hopped onto a boat and went to Phi Phi island. Phi Phi is where Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘The 
Beach’ was set and every man and his dog capitalises on this. The beaches are white sand with magnificent limestone cliffs surrounding them. We took a day tour around 8 of the islands in a longtail boat with 10 other people. Once again we attract misfortune; whether our boat was overloaded, the captain lost control or something entirely different, we managed to crash into one of the cliff walls of an island and come aground on the coral underneath. After we were pushed off from the wall we discovered the engine had failed. Trying to stop numerous luxury speed boats, as was our preference to carry on the rest of the journey on them, none stopped and some even just waved back. Another long boat came to our rescue and when the battery was finally jump started off we went missing half the front end of the boat. When we made it to Maya beach, where ‘The Beach’ was actually filmed; ‘Leo actually stood here!’ [Sophie]. We were met by hundreds of other tourists and their boats. It was undisputedly beautiful though this was spoiled by everyone else being there.
Beach’ was set and every man and his dog capitalises on this. The beaches are white sand with magnificent limestone cliffs surrounding them. We took a day tour around 8 of the islands in a longtail boat with 10 other people. Once again we attract misfortune; whether our boat was overloaded, the captain lost control or something entirely different, we managed to crash into one of the cliff walls of an island and come aground on the coral underneath. After we were pushed off from the wall we discovered the engine had failed. Trying to stop numerous luxury speed boats, as was our preference to carry on the rest of the journey on them, none stopped and some even just waved back. Another long boat came to our rescue and when the battery was finally jump started off we went missing half the front end of the boat. When we made it to Maya beach, where ‘The Beach’ was actually filmed; ‘Leo actually stood here!’ [Sophie]. We were met by hundreds of other tourists and their boats. It was undisputedly beautiful though this was spoiled by everyone else being there. 
Our time on Phi Phi was humbled by 
its history and resilience. The island was hit by the Tsunami nearly exactly 5 years ago and was completely wiped out with masses of casualties not just Thais. Five years ago, hundreds of boats were out cruising the islands just as we were and thousands were sunbathing on the beach and this monstrous wave came and decimated it all. You can see by our pictures we took from a high viewpoint how low lying the town is so would have been completely covered in a matter of minuets with little warning. Now the town h
as been rebuilt with escape routes and a warning system. In Koh Lanta we met up with our good friend Sarah who we worked with at CNCF which was really nice. The plan was to ‘rave it up’ on New Years but unfortunately Sophie got really ill so it was a quiet evening in.
We flew to Kuala Lumpur early on the first so it was a good idea we had an early night, we’ve done a whistle stop tour of KL ready for an early morning flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka for a Acarnley reunion and some English goodies.
We flew to Kuala Lumpur early on the first so it was a good idea we had an early night, we’ve done a whistle stop tour of KL ready for an early morning flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka for a Acarnley reunion and some English goodies.
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