The story so far.......

Sorry for such a delay in getting something posted up here but internet and time has been the main constraints followed closely behind by my laziness! Anyway, everything is good here. We left Bangkok and went south about two weeks ago to an island called Koh Pha Ngan which off the east coast in the gulf of Thailand. Here we met up with some lads from college to bring our group up to a total of 9....(Dave, Chris Kitchin is here with us at the moment)....We had this beautiful hostel (or hotel even) with a pool, own beach and beautiful views of the sea. Koh Pha Ngan is a bit touristy but we decided to stay there for little over a week for the infamous full moon party and just to relax a bit. First few days mainly consisted of getting up around noon, lying by the pool or in a hammock for the afternoon, maybe going for a massage then off for dinner and out to beach parties for the night!! We did take a bit of a look around the island and even ventured a bit into the jungle a few of us on our own. It turned out to be a bit more of an adventure than a leisurely stroll!! We kinda 'wandered' off our track and was a little lost when the next thing Malcolm screamed (like a big girl!) that something moved in the grass ahead so he stood back for a secon and then moved forward again only to see a snake scurrying on ahead which later we found out was a very deadly snake! Next thing coconuts started falling from the trees missing one of the other guys by about an inch! Who'd have thought coconuts could have been so dangerous!!! Eventually we made it back safely with lizards, mosquitos and monkeys annoying us alll the way down! We also took a day trip to Ko Samui which is another island in that area. Nice island too but very touristy. We'd the full moon party last Saturday night and that was awesome. All night dancing and drinking on the beach. Everyone dressed up in psychodelic bodypaints and just general madness. I have loads of photos of all this but the internet cafe here wants to charge me to plug in my camera into the USB port and then charge me for every photo I upload.....so going to leave it for today. Monday we moved to another island called Koh Tao (Turtle island cos it's shaped like a turtle!)....all 9 of us. It's really nice here, quiet, beautiful beaches and famed for it's diving and snorkelling. So we started a diving course straight away and it's been long and busy days. Were out diving all morning and it was truely amazing all the coral and tropical fishes we seen. Tomorrow we go on a few more dives then have an exam and hopefully I will then be a certified diver so i can dive anywhere in the world (up to 20 metres). Hoping to leave here on Friday and go south to Malayasia where we might do an advanced diving course in the Parenthean Islands, check out some national parks and tea plantations (sure been Irish, have to see where our tea comes from!!) then on to Kuala Lumpur to see Petronas towers and then finally to Singapore for a few days. Hope to get some photos up soon. Take care,P