Laura's Travel Journal Welcome to my Blog! If you would like to know what i've been up to just click on My Trip Journals on the right hand side. Enjoy x

I have just read all my comments from everyone. It's so nice to hear from you all! Slightly scary at the amount of people who are actually reading -I feel under pressure to get all my spellings right! But nice that people are taking an interest and haven't forgotton about me when Im so far away. The rest of last week was spent relaxing on Phi Phi. We had good weather for the majority of the week so spent hours on the beach reading and people watching - The amount of men who still wear speedos and extremely tight swimming trunks is very concerning, especially when old and fat. Not good and enough to put you off your ice lolly! We tried a new restaurant every night - there were plenty to choose from and I had my first taste of pasta in 6 weeks. So boring when you're at home put extremely good when you've been eating rice and noodles for 6 weeks. On Saturday - my Birthday - we went for a stroll around the little market stalls that lined the seafront and then went and got a spot on the beach to charge our batteries for a night out. Lauren treated me to dinner at a really nice seafood restaurant, where we had mussels in chilli and basil -10 out of 10! We then went to a few bars in the town and went to watch some fire dancing on the beach. I managed to pull the "it's my birthday" trick out the bag and got a few freebies! We left Phi Phi on Monday - a week after we arrived. It was strange to be on the move again. We had a long day of travelling. A boat to Krabi (on the mainland), a minibus to Surrat Thani and then another bus to Koh Phangan. Our original reason for heading to Koh Pangan was to got to the Half Moon Party - a big party in the jungle which Koh Phangan is famous for - which we thought was going to be on the Tuesday. However, when we arrived at the port on Koh Phangan, the signs dissapointed us. The party had been moved to the 30th, the day we had booked to leave the island. We stayed in the North West, an area which is quiet and much less commercial than the south of the island. We had a nice little bungalow (which turned out to be extremely hot) 2 minutes walk from a Postcard beach. White sand, clear blue water, palm trees, the lot. It was here we spent our two days on Koh Phangan doing what we do best - relaxing. There wasn't really anything else to do in the area, so we made the most of our last beach days. We had an early start on Thursday (5:30am!)as we had to get a taxi to the port, a boat to Surrat Thanni and then a bus to the airport, where we caught a plane back to Bangkok. Lauren didn't really get to see Bangkok when she arrived a couple of weeks ago so we decided to spend our last couple of days here so she could do some souvenir shopping. Yesterday we went to a shopping mall in Bangkok which was the most bizzare place ever. Absolutely huge - 7 floors, everyone looking pretty much the same. There were big food halls selling wierd and strange smelling Thai food and western and indian and muslim(?!)foods and bakerys. Pizza Hut, KFC, Dairy Queen, Dunkin' Doughnuts next to noodle restaurants and hot pot buffets and whole roasted ducks (beaks and all) hanging from hooks of stalls. We spent a couple of hours walking round in a daze before trying to get a taxi back. We jumped in and when we said Koh San Road please the taxi driver told us it wasn't possible because of the traffic so dropped us at the public boat port (like a bus but on water). It was actually quite pleasant going up the river instead of sitting in a taxi in the Bangkok traffic. Lauren is leaving today. I want to keep her here but she has a job and a family and a boyfriend (who would murder me if i kidnapped her) so i'm going to have to let her go. It's made it slightly easier that i've got something to go to. I meet my group that Im doing my Cambodia and Vietnam trip with this eveing in a hotel in Bangkok. We travel to Cambodia tomorrow. I'm excited to see new countries and meet new people and feel more relaxed that I have my accommodation and travel sorted for the next 18days. I'm not sure how much time i'm going to get to go on the internet, so communication may be infrequent. I will update you all as soon as possible though! Lots of love x x x x