Come in island no.8, your time is up!

We had to take a very early pick-up from Khao Sok to get to the pier on time. It was quite dramatic as we watched the sunrise, the dawn of the next leg of our adventure. We stopped in Khao Lak for supplies and were pleasantly surprised by the post tsunami clear-up and the amount of new housing - the kind of housing that everyday folk live in, rather than the mansions we saw being built in parts of Sri Lanka. Although, Khao Lak is also trying to re-invent itself as only a mid and upper range resort we were told, as in Phi-Phi.

We made it to the pier with minutes to spare, and as we eyed the speedboat that was to carry us out to Similan, we realised that we were an add on party with a snorkelling day trip. We were all feeling tired and the prospect that we now had to sail from island to island while very large Russians bobbed about in the water like big beluga whales was not appealing. We would not be reaching our destination of Ko Similan (aka island number 8 - for some reason all the islands are numbered and everyone refers to them by their numbers rather than names) until around 3pm. Now Roisin and I are not the best sailors in the world, and as it turns out neither is Jason - our sea legs are very unstable and despite obediantly taking our anti-sickness pills, Roisin was vomiting violently within minutes. Poor thing felt dreadful - but the kindly Thais supplied her with cold flannels, smelling vapours (for nausea and vertigo - which are really effective), water to sip and more anti-sickness pills (which she promptly vomited up again). Jason and I had to use all of our concentration (and the smelling vapour) not to join in with the vomit-fest!

The islands were amazing - crystal clear aquamarine sea teeming with hundreds of varieties of fish. Huge boulders perch precariously on the cliffs and jungly forest drapes down towards the sea. When we finally reached our port, we were pleased to find ourselves with a large comfortable tent for four pitched on the beach. We were out in the sea faster than you could say 'nemo' and it was just spectacular - despite obvious tsunami damage, it's still beautiful. Jason taught us to dive down and relieve the pressure by squeezing our noses. I felt like the 'Man from Atlantis' as I glided through shoals of big-eyed jacks and fusilier fish. Just fabulous!

Obviously being a National Park, the food was pants and you eat to satisfy hunger and for no other reason. I think we may have all lost a few more pounds. Lee is so light now he's nearing the 10 stone marker. So it's a good job I've lost so much or he'd have been lighter than me, and we can't have that. Fortunately, being familiar with the prison-like food at Tarutao, we came prepared and with our trusty MSR Dragonfly stove, we had cups of tea and noodles aplenty.

We spent a glorious 4 days on Similan, taking boat trips out to the good snorkel sites and just scooting about around the impressive coral close to the shore. The children's snorkelling lessons certainly paid off and they swim with a new found confidence now.

On our return to the mainline, we hopped a snorkelling day trip boat where the occupants clearly felt they had first priority on the boat and left us flailing and falling with four children and our backpacks. Once again, it is farangs who let us down. I nearly dropped the gorgeous Elina as I struggled to land her and a bag on the back of the boat (while the farangs stuffed their faces with fruit and watched). Roisin stumbled into the water as a young woman pushed her way past, to ensure she got her share of fruit perhaps. I started to lose face as the Thais would say, and in my anger, I lurched with the bags to the hull, dropping down to clear the low doorway that leads to the front. Not dropping enough, I struck my head hard sending me flying backwards and desperately trying not to vomit from the pain, I tried to get up but found my legs wouldn't work. The concerned thai boat man helped me to the front and immediately gave me an ice pack, some smelling vapours (damn that stuff is good) and applied Tiger Balm to my swelling head and my acupressure pain points. I woke up the next day feeling like I'd had a small car crash and seem to have a bit of a whiplash type pain in my neck - but fortunately it gets better each day and I'm just glad I don't have to spend more than a few hours with the inconsiderate farangs aboard that boat - ha, they probabaly have to go home after a few weeks!

So we went to Phuket (yes I know, we were equally surprised to find ourselves there). Phuket town was rather nice and Patong beach was rather horrid, but as a stopover to pick up a bus to Satun, we couldn't complain. We stayed in cheap rooms in town and we headed to Patong to say bon voyage to our Swiss friends who were flying up to Bangkok. We hope to see them in Laos, where Moni and I have made plans involving bikes, red wine, brie and baguettes.

So now for some more aquamarine paradise at Tarutao National Marine Park and the idyllic Ko Lipe - we're racing to stay ahead of the monsoon just now, so we plan to fly from Hat Yai to Bangkok to kickstart the northern leg of of journey.