So as you can see we bit the bullet & hired a scooter to explore the
island yesterday & today.

It was great! Obviously Ben did all the driving as Jen has tried
before & failed miserably. Don’t worry Mums, he was very sensible & we
had a great couple of days driving around pretty much the whole island.

Ben liked it so much he’s thinking of ‘doing a Richard’ & buying a
scooter to go to & from work at home, only to find the weather is not
as good as on holiday! Maybe not then!

Think we’re going to stay put until next Monday when we go to Koh
Lipe. Couple of days (well 5) relaxing on the beach till then xx

Just thought I’d post a photo of one of the numerous tsunami warning
signs. The evacuation routes are everywhere and very occassionally
there are signs of the 2004 wave still about, such as a stretch of
beach with no trees. Pretty amazing how much us rebuilt now though.

This piccy is of the sky last night which was the most dramatic &
interesting we’ve seen. We sat on a white sand beach, on deck chairs, with
a beer, watching fork lightning over the islands in the distance
and …(just to make C&A feel really jealous)… listening to
Tinariwen!!

City game was a bit of a downer after that.

Plus, excellent news, Jen found some shorts that fit & suit! Yes I
know you told me to take some from home Mum, but I didn’t. Dad would
be proud of them too…in the same vein as his shirts but fuscia!

We had a really easy ferry ride over to Koh Lanta yesterday and got a
hut at Hans Bungalows that is a few seconds from a very nice beach in
the north-west of the island.

Tomorrow we wil explore the island a little more before deciding how
long we will stay here. The atmosphere is nicer than the mainland
with less arsey tourists (Swedish rather than German!) but there is
still a surprising lack of fellow backpackers.

Weather is quite strange (as you may notice from the piccy) – it is
really hot & humid with sun most of the time but occassionally big
black clouds come over for a little shower. Wierd! There is no hot
water in our hut here so it’s quite nice to have a warmer shower 😉