I'm lovin it!!! Hi everyone, sorry for the delay in getting in touch, the days have been flying past, and have been pretty packed for the last week...it's been great though!!!

I was sad to leave the wildlife center on sunday, it had been such a great experience, and I made some good friends too. It was such a relaxed atmosphere there, and the volunteers were all so friendly, it was like a little family....and yes being the oldest, I guess I was mum!!!! But it was time to move on, so I had to say goodbye to all the animals and volunteers and the peacefulness of the lake and forest setting at the center and make my way to the bright lights of Bangkok!

There are eight girls on my Thaintro tour, and we all get on really well and have a good laugh, so it's just like a holiday with a group of girlfriends...really cool. Bangkok is an excellent city...it was the one place on my trip which I wasn't particularly looking forward to because I didn't think I would like it, but I had a great time there. The shopping is fantastic...It is such good fun bartering with the Thai's on the street market, and everything is cheap as chips...I've picked up some really good bargains, Silk dresses for 3.50 and tops for less than 2 pounds!!! I've started buying souveniers too, so I think I need to send a parcel back to the UK already!!! The temples are stunning, and the Grand Palace is absolutely beautiful, everywhere you turn there is another temple or statue covered in gold leaf or bright coloured mosaic that twinkle in the sunlight (and moon light)...can't describe it really, it's just amazing.

The night life in bangkok is great as well...the Thai Buckets are going down well...we've found that the Vodka, Sprite and Red Bull mix(stronger than the Red Bull in the UK) keeps you dancing through till the morning!!! I would recommend to everyone to visit Bangkok...and definitely visit the Grand Palace.

After Bangkok we made our way south on the overnight train, which was like something out of an old movie, really old fashioned carriages with seats that converted to bunk beds, and people hanging out of the door ways smoking!!! It was a good experience though, it's quite stange, the guards came round at about 9.30pm to make the beds up, but we bribed the guard (ladyboy!) with rum and coke to let us stay up drinking and playing cards most of the night!

I am on Koh Phangnan at the moment, and it is brilliant. The beaches are idyllic...soft white sand and turquoise sea...and the rest of the island is quite lush with forests and pine trees...bliss. We are staying in beach bungalows at a small resort, right on the beach...it is a beautiful setting. We went on a boat trip round the island today to a couple more secluded beaches, and visited a waterfall. We are going on another boat trip to some small islands tomorrow which should be good. I have to stay out of the sun though, cos it really hot and I have already managed to burn my legs badly (silly cow!!).

We missed the full moon party by one day, but there seems to be a beach party going on every night here...it is such good fun, there are bars and stall selling thai buckets all the way along the main beach, and it's a really friendly atmosphere, everyone just gets along and chats and dances together. A couple of the bar men at one of the beach bars are fire dancers, and because we were dancing next to their bar they kept dancing with us and buying us more buckets, which was cool! There is also a massive skipping rope which they set light to and challange people to skip, getting faster and faster till the flames go out..after seeing loads of pi**ed people getting burnt I decided not to give it go though!!!

Our tour finishes on Saturday night, but most of us are staying on at the beach bungalows Sunday night. Then three of us and the Michael the Tour guide are travelling back up to bangkok on Monday, and we are staying there until Friday (more shopping!!!) I then plan to go up to Chiang Mai with Jenny, and we should be able to go to Laos and Cambodia together as well, but we need to check dates tomorrow.

I am off to the beach bars for a drink now...so I'll be in touch again soo.

Take care everyone...don't work too hard!!! Ha ha!!! xxxx