After deciding that risking our lives travelling in the dodgy border region between Malaysia and Thailand wasn’t such a good idea, we flew from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket. Here we started our Thailand adventures! 
Phuket wasn’t the best looking of places, being basically full of tourists, touts and bad smells, so we jumped on a bus and headed for the little town of Phang-Nga, about two hours away. We were happy to find that things cost a LOT less than Australia, with the bus trip setting us back about 90p each! Phang-Nga was a great place with lots of locals and good food spots – probably what Phuket was like before the foreigners landed. We stayed in a brilliant little place called the Phang-Nga Inn, which was wood panelled throughout and had a really friendly owner. The next day we embarked on our two day trip to the Ao Phang Nga National Park. We got shuttled in a rickety, smoke billowing tuk tuk down to the harbour and got on board a long tailed boat. We then motored (very loudly) out into the park on the river systems. We chugged for an hour or two through gorgeous mangrove swamps with huge, tree covered limestone cliffs towering above us. We also went through some caves 
with huge limestone stalagtites dangling precariously just above us – all pretty amazing stuff! Soon we emerged out from the rivers and into the Andaman Sea, where we headed on the deep 
blue waters past loads of limestone islands, some big some tiny, and onwards to an isolated little beach for lunch. There we swam in the warm water (30 degrees!) and relaxed, feeling a million miles from everywhere. In the afternoon we headed for the famous James Bond Island, a limestone pinnacle which was made famous in the film ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’. It was pretty cool, even if the nearby beach was covered with tourist tack shops!
The later afternoon saw us head for our overnight stop, an amazing little stilted village called Ko Panyi, which was built onto one of the small islands in the middle of the sea. We fell in love with the place instantly. It was a maze of little streets and shops, with lots of kids running round, old women selling food, boys playing street soccer and dogs lazing everywhere! We enjoyed getting lost a few times as we wandered around. The sunset was absolutely amazing; we watched the distant crags of the islands light up and listened to the village Mosque 
p
rayer call echoing around the streets. Our room was basic, to say the least (just two mattresses and a fan, and we could see the sea below through the floor slats), but we enjoyed it nonetheless and the food that night was just awesome – spicy fish, curry and fruit. The next morning we got up to watch the sun rise, also a special experience with all the fishermen preparing for a days work, before breakfasting and getting shuttled back to the harbour by long tailed boat – what a great start to our time in Thailand!
We took a bus from Phang-Nga to Krabi and a taxi, then long tailed boat from there to Railay. The little resort town was perched on an isolated mainland peninsular and had huge cliffs and stunning beaches all around – a haven for Thai rockclimbing. We managed to get a good deal on a fantastic resort called Diamond Private Resort, with a great hilltop little villa and swimming pool below – we felt like proper little 
flashpackers! We took a walk and explored the peninsular, finding a fantastic beach complete with caves and rock pinnacles. On the way back we managed to find a hidden stairway of steep and slippery rocks complete with frayed ropes. We climbed up, then descended down into a gorge which seemed like a lost world - huge trees, grey vines and mist curling through the braches. Gaz descended some pretty hairy rock walls by sliding down some ropes, emerging out into a deserted basin with a deep lagoon, rocky walls and the sky hundreds of feet above. Very cool! We walked back via the fantastic hilltop Rock Restaurant (great super-spicy Tom Yum soup) and the even better Stone Bar, complete with coloured lights in the trees, wooden platforms with cushions and a great DJ sat in a bamboo hut, all set under a huge cliff face. Great cocktails too – it couldn’t have been better!
The next day we took a day trip out to some of the surrounding beach islands. Our planned speedboat broke down (suspicious…) so we ended up on the slower long tailed boat that was packed with 20 other tourists squeezed in together, but it turned out great anyway. We saw four islands, including Chicken Island (with a crazy rock formation that looked just like a rooster) and Monkey Island. We swam off the white sand beaches (Rach going nuts for the little baby Nemo we saw in an anemone) and also dived 
off the bow of the boat to snorkel around with the hundreds of fish in the clear waters and get away from the tourists. It was a perfect day and really warm – we felt like real castaways! On our return we headed to one of the many massage shops in Railay. Rach had an oil massage and Gaz opted for the traditional Thai massage. Cue an hour of twisting, stretching, bending and kneading for both of us, even through Rach’s was supposed to be a ‘relaxing’ massage! We both felt as though we’d been through the mill at the end, but we agreed it was an invigorating experience! That night we got caught in the mother of all storms, with lightning flashing around the cliffs. We got soaked on the walk home, but being out at night in such insane rain was pretty exhilarating! The next day we left Railay for the famous Thai islands…
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