It's a hard life traveling from Bangkok to Koh Lanta!

The bus station was a scary place and the only difficult phase of our journey so far as we didn't have a clue where our bus was and nobody spoke good english. After about half an hour of panic we were on our VIP bus for a 12 hr journey to Krabi.

It was better than we'd expected as each seat had loads of leg room and reclined into a bed! However, the sleep we'd hoped to get was spoilt by the tvs blasting out Thai tv and music all night and the air-con dripping onto my head! That took my sleepness nights tally to 3 so far! When we arrived in Krabi we had to arrange a mini bus trip which also involved 2 boat trips!

A total of 17 hrs travelling!! When we arrived in Lanta we were a little worried as the destruction from the tsunami was still evident. It was also raining quite heavily - however, in keeping with our luck so far, it wasn't raining on our side of the island! Our hotel surpassed our wildest dreams...it's called Lanta Palace and has beach bungalows which we stay in...surrounded by widlife (lizards, frogs, some snakes too apparently).....an amazing pool....a gym....the food is really cheap....but the best thing.....it's right on the beach! I'm not exaggerating - we step out of the pool onto the sand!

Lanta is the total opposite of Bangkok - exactly what we'd hoped for. The beach is really quiet, the sea is warm, the sky is bluer than anything I've ever seen. But the best bit is the sunset - you've never seen anything like it - the sun sets in about 5 minutes and is the most beautiful, amazing thing you could imagine.

Then at night you can see every star in the sky. It's like something out of a postcard or a movie. It's so good to be here after our dirty, hectic few days in Bangkok.

The weather here is hotter than I've ever experienced - but unlike Bangkok, we have blue skies so tanning is possible now. In 2 days we have all changed colour. We get soaked in sweat without even moving!! A problem we solve by going in our massive pool or the warm sea - it's a hard life!!