Golden Mountain/Siam Square, Bangkok. 18-06-10.

After breakfast on the terrace, we ride the hostel tuk-tuk to the canal and a longtail trip into town.

We hop off at the Golden Mountain and have fun ringing the bells on the climb up. Once inside, the fortune sticks tell Dieny: it is a bad time to commit to a relationship and troubles lie ahead. Gunnar: All of his worries are behind him and his future is bright.

Off the the Palace. Or not. The price seems steep for what is on offer so we decide to pay exorbitant prices to watch Sex and the City 2 in a deluxe theatre instead. Standing for the national anthem and the accompanying reel ahead of the screening was the highlight, along with the blankets and fully reclining leather armchairs.

Re-Fill Now, Bangkok. 18-06-10.

We wake in our fresh white surroundings and open the blinds to a stunning view. Everything is good here, down to the scalp warming shampoo and below locker laundry port.

Re-Fill Now, Bangkok. 17-06-10.

After reading lots of great things about this clean, simple and economic resting place, we decide to make it our first stop before committing to the luxuries of Shanghai Mansion. We fall in love with Re-fill and decide to stay. We order some delicious drinks and wait for an equally delicious meal. To our tiny, tiny corner room and bed.

Khao Phanom Bencha National Park, Krabi. 17-06-10.

We woke to a terrible downpour and decided to abandon our plans for the day in favour of reading and..ehem, watching fashion tv in our bungalow. The skies cleared at 2pm so we took the opportunity for a jaunt to the post-office to send off the final thank-you’s we hadn’t managed to stamp and seal in time to add to the London batch. We hope they reach you few in the not too distant future. A decision is made for a quick trip to the Khao Phanom Bencha National Park. A hairy bike ride and much poor map-reading later and we have half an hour to run around the park before scooting back in time for our airport transfer.

Phi Phi Islands Tour, Krabi. 16-06-10.

Our transfer arrived at 8:30 on this clear and sunny morning. We were driven to the port where we boarded a speedboat, making a decision to sit at the bow for better views and some fresh air. Mistake. It was incredibly choppy and tired of being pummeled/tossed around, we sheepishly abandoned our seats three-quarters of the way into the trip.

We had the clearest conditions yet for snorkeling but our waterproof camera chose this moment to flood so we are lacking in documentation. We took some bread into the water, creating a feeding frenzy amongst the many Damselfish.

Next stop, Maya Beach. It was difficult to appreciate that untouched appeal through hoards of tourists and anchored tour boats. It was though beautiful and the only café is set back from the beach, preserving it’s undeveloped feel.

Phi Phi Don for lunch and a potter through the tourist shops before boarding the boat for Bamboo Island and beach snorkeling.

With the boat running on only one engine, we had a much more pleasant journey home at the bow.

Back at Ao Nang, we ate at a fair before cruising the shore for some souvineers.

Siam Cuisine, Krabi. 15-06-10.

Following a lazy morning, we booked in for a Diploma in Thai cooking at Thai Cuisine, Krabi with chef….

We each prepared six dishes:

1^st Course: Fried Rice/Fried Noodles and Seafood Soup/Coconut Chicken Soup

2^nd Course: Papaya Salad/Seafood Salad and Sticky Coconut Rice and Mango

3^rd Course: Green and Red Curry and Cashew Chicken/Garlic Chicken

In two hours!

The cooking day began with an introduction to the basic vegetables, roots and spices of Thai cooking. We then washed our hands, donned our aprons and got on with the first dish. Once our vegetables and spices were prepared, each meal took minutes at the wok.

After our first two delicious courses, we were too full to manage the third so we were sent home with a doggy bag.

In the evening, we drove along the Ao Nang shore road in search of a hairdresser. We found it in the shape of a salon run by ladyboys. Gunnar: questionable haircut. Dieny: the most incredible foot massage. The owner treated us to a cup of tea and some giggly chat before we left. Home and to the most delicious cold curry.

Here is a recipe from the day which we hope you will enjoy:

Tom Kaa Kai - Chicken in Coconut Milk Soup:

Ingredients:

200g Boneless chicken breast, sliced into 1inch lenths

2-3 Pices Galangal (Thai Ginger), thinly sliced

1 stalk Lemon grass, crushed, cut into 2 inch lengths

50g Straw Mushrooms or Oyster Mushrooms

3-4 pieces fresh or dried chilies, crushed

20g Large onion, cut into quarters

20g tomato, cut into quarters

5-6 Kaffir lime leaves, with spine torn out

1tbsp Chopped Corriander and Spring Onions

2tbsp Lemon juice

1tbsp Fish sauce

2tsp Sugar

1/2 cup Coconut Cream

1/2 cup soup stock (chicken)

Method:

1. Bring soup stock and coconut cream to the boil, add galangal and lemon grass for a minute.

2. Add straw mushroom, chillies and chicken. Simmer, uncovered, until chicken is cooked.

3. Add onion, tomato and season with fish sauce, sugar and lemon juice, cook for a minute. Taste for seasoning. Add kaffir lime leaves and stir. Turn Off the heat.

4. Top with chopped spring onion and coriander. Serve.

*We will try to meet requests for any of the above recipes.

Market, Ao Nang. 14.06.10.

A diverse roadside market near our resort offering fresh produce alongside clothing, electrical goods and freshly cooked food. We wandered round the market sampling little dishes as we passed before sitting on our scooter to enjoy our main meal. The biggest bargain so far was a fish curry steamed in banana leaf. 7Baht. Too full to finish, we took home our various leftovers and desert: a huge bag of ripe mangoes and lychee.

Four Islands Tour, Krabi. 14.06.10.

At 8:30 am we were collected by a pickup truck which took us to Ao Nang where we boarded a traditional longtail boat for a day tour of the nearby islands. We stopped briefly in Railay to collect some other passengers before moving on to Koh Tup, which at low tide connects via a sand spit to nearby Koh Kai (chicken island, so named because of a vaguely chicken shaped rock) and another small island between the two. We swam here for a while with shoals of young barracuda in the still, clear water. Afterwards we moved on to a snorkelling site on Chicken Island, where poor visibility, a steady current and many stinging jellyfish (a Thai tourist bore the brunt) made this a difficult swim. Despite this we did manage to see a range of sea life including beautiful butterfly fish. We moved on ahead of schedule to Koh Poda, a privately owned island where we had lunch on the beach before snorkelling for a long time in clear, sand-bottomed water with the barracuda and other fish. We completed the tour with a stop at the Phra Nang Cave, but as we had visited the previous day we walked to the secluded end of the beach where we relaxed in the sun before attempting to climb a short rope swing tied from an overhanging rock, with hilarious results - sadly the camera ran out of battery! We returned to Ao Nang and on board the pick-up, we spotted a night market which had been closed since we arrived but was now in full swing. We decided to return on our bike for supper.

Ao Nang/Phra Nang/Krabi. 13.06.10.

After proving virtually impossible to join a water taxi to nearby Railay, due to lack of fellow tourists, we decided to charter a longtail to be taken out to the otherwise inaccessible beach. A twenty minute journey around dramatic overhanging cliffs and we were dropped at Railay West. Famished, we stopped at the first restaurant we came across which turned out to be a five star resort with the most expensive and most disappointing food we've had so far. We walked across to Railay East, muddy sister to Railay West, to join the track leading to Ao Phra Nang and the Phra Nang (Princess) Cave where local fishermen leave offerings of carved wooden phalluses for The shipwrecked princess’ spirit in hope that she will fill their nets in return. The colours were incredible and the beach deserted save for a couple of vendors hoping to catch some passing trade. It was tempting to stay but we had to dash back to our boat.

Back on the scooter and off on a wild goose chase of a recommended beach before abandoning the search in favour of the night market on Krabi Pier. Papaya salad(Iona's delicious hot tip), duck soup, shrimp noodles, filled pancakes and crispy crepes later and we are stuffed.

Baan Suan Resort, Krabi. 12.06.10

Nestled in the semi-jungle, away from the tourist strip, the resort is quiet (we're the only guests) and surrounded by wildlife. In addition the owners have a pet monkey, rabbit, squirrel, cats, and birds including an amazing Lyre bird called Miss Sam who mimics all kinds of sounds from Motorbike brakes to thai or english phrases. It has a deep 'morning' and a higher pitched 'morning' depending on whether she's copying a man or woman. We also had a visit from a wild eagle and Gunnar, forgetting about their fierce reputation and offering himself as a climbing frame, was bitten by the squirrel.

Koh Tao-Krabi. 12.06.10.

An early start followed by a full day of travelling from Koh Tao to Krabi Provence. Three boat journeys over four hours followed by a three hour bus journey across the country through some spectacular landscapes to deliver us at Baan Suan resort, Krabi. We ventured into nearby Ao Nang, a neon tourist strip running the length of the beach to find some street food before retiring.

Chalok Baan Kao, Koh Tao. 11.06.10.

Our final day of diving started with another morning of theory followed by the written exam. After lunch we did our two concluding dives at twin rocks and three rocks, the first of which had extremely limited visibility and the second much clearer and brighter. Lots of interesting life on both dives though, including blue spotted stingrays, moray eels, titan triggerfish, barracuda, butterfly fish and pufferfish. We were accompanied by Alex, an English girl who recorded the dive for us. Other than Alex and the instructors (Nacho and Matthias) we were the only divers on the boat for the duration of the course and had most of the dive sites to ourselves. Afterwards we had a few beers to conclude the course and intended to join everyone for the opening match of the world cup but a heavy and sustained shower kept us undercover at the resort.