Firstly, thanks to everyone who made it to the welcome home shindig, you made it a fab night and I appreciate you making the effort to travel to the disaster that is Andover!

Secondly, thanks to everyone who made our trip lots of fun, it was great meeting all of you. Amy and Dan- thanks for the lady boy night, was a heck of an experience! Charlotta-you were every bit of Swedish that Ant needed! Lilly and Matt- hope you managed to escape the Cambodian freak show living at the winter hostel. Laura and James- hope you saw the whale shark, thank you for helping me to be less of a pansy! Matt and Zac- don’t give up the day job! Padang and Boon- you have the coolest bar ever, thank you for looking after us. To the rest of you- hope you enjoy the rest of your trips, let us know how you get on.

Thirdly, I forgot to mention that we drank snakes blood, was a weird one, and I’m not too sure it was that good for us, but one to tick off I guess!

Hi all!

Haven’t been up to too much, just relaxing whilst the Thais soak everyone who isn’t already dripping to celebrate their New Year. Was pretty funny for the first few days, but thousands of kids tearing round you with water pistol backpacks that look like they belong in Ghostbusters is getting a bit tedious now! My book has turned into a wavy mess of soaked pages! There’s really no way of escaping it though! They even build barricades on the roads so you are forced to slow right down in your car allowing them to empty a full tank of water over you! Great!

New years night was pretty funny though. We went to one of the famous full moon parities on the beach, and because it was the new year, it was the biggest one Koh Lanta’s seen apparently. It was a pretty messy night, but was so funny watching all the burnt English pill poppers raving on their own! What an embarrassment for our country! We ended up getting totally soaked, as predicted, but was a heck of an experience.

The weather’s been pretty weird, so I’m really tempted to move on again. We’ve been pretty lucky as it hasn’t actually rained on us, but there’s been some amazing thunder and lightning; the whole sky lights up and reflects in the sea. Awesome to watch.

Might be going sea fishing tomorrow as its something ants been wanting to do, and its about time I took the back seat on the money spending!

Mummio- thanks for your text, made me really happy!

Yo yo big bro!- kick boxing sounds cool, I’d still 'ave ya though!

Yo yo lil bro!- I believe you! Maybe we'll be able to take you out sea fishing too next month!

Daddio- glad the Wales sentence is almost up! Will be good if you can work closer again.

Sarah- no worries, hope the gigs good, pop in if you can!

Lizzy- yay! Cant wait to get home now! Should be a good one!

Gamma- I’m still alive, impressed?! Hope you still have a job for me!

Everyone else- hope you're all ok, miss you heaps!

Lots and lots of love, lani and ant xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sadly had to leave Koh Tao as thunderstorms were predicted. Had enough time there between diving to be able to appreciate how beautiful the island was though, just like a postcard!

We have been staying on Koh phi phi island and have been to Maya bay - the place where they filmed 'The Beach'. It is just like in the film; almost completely enclosed by huge limestone cliffs and the sand is so white and clean. Nobody is allowed to build anything on the island so it is totally perfect.

Some bits aren’t so pretty though, the effects of the tsunami are devastatingly clear. Buildings still ripped to pieces and groups of washed away palm trees line the beach. Pretty sad to see it, and there are lots of memorials around.

We’ve been really lucky with accommodation here, got a real bargain! Has a really long private beach with really clear, emerald water, full of really colourful fish and corals. Also, there are only a couple of couples there, so we have it to ourselves. Really don’t want to move on, but as lovely as the isolation is, it is a little bit too quiet, especially at night.

Apart from one night with the weirdest mix of people! Two Thai lady boys, one hammered mother with three grown children (one of which was a long haired rob francis - testbourners only! sorry!) a barbershop trio and some laid back Thais just wanting to have a quiet gallon of rum. So funny. Will try to put a recording of 'Rob Francis' beatboxing to the barbershop trio’s sandman. Probably had to be there though!

We are going to move on soon to Koh Lanta for the Thai New Year. Supposed to be pretty crazy, they celebrate for the whole week with water! Soaking everyone everywhere you go!

Thank you all for the messages and emails, missing you all heaps!

Lots and lots of love, lani and ants xxx

Hello again! We have discovered paradise! We drove 4 hours through the mountains to a tiny village called Pai, and I love it! Its so chilled and sleepy! Too many annoying hippy types who insist on walking everywhere barefoot, but I could easily adapt to their hammocks, herbal teas, and general laziness!

We are staying in an adorable little wooden bungalow, with its own veranda. A little tiny stream trickles by the foot of our steps and we have nothing in front of us except the beautiful, lush mountains. And it’s so quiet! You can hear every bug and the wind blowing through our grass roof! not quite the case at night though - the bugs, geckos and frogs compete to keep us awake, and the locals all bring out their guitars to sing (badly translated) English classics, and when you finally drift off the monks crack out there deafening chanting at 5 am! Scared the heck out of me the first morning!

We’ve been out on a hefalump again - silly I know! But we enjoyed it so much and this time was so much better! He was so friendly, kept hugging us with his trunk and we both rode bareback this time which was much more exciting! Plus it was just ant, me and the hefalump, and the guide obviously, but no other tourists in sight. The scenery was far more beautiful and natural, and best of all - we stopped to play in a river! And we really did play! The elephant kept emptying his trunk on us giving us a snotty shower! Then we'd climb up on him, he'd stick his head under water, then swing us about to try to throw us off! Which he did, lots! It was so much fun; he was just so cute and playful! We then trekked up to find some hot springs, but as they were 80.C we didn’t manage to enjoy them too much! The river and hammocks at the bottom were nice though.

We tried to do a Thai cooking course yesterday, but we can’t have been very good! We had to both give up at half time as we had finally had a dose of Bangkok belly! Spent the rest of the day tethered to our bathroom unfortunately! Learnt to make some yummy curries though, and can cook half a stir fry!

Today we have treated ourselves to our first Thai massage, can’t believe we've waited so long! A quid for so much pleasure! We’ve spent the rest of the day just monging out in a local movie house, waiting for our bellies to pass! The movie houses are great though; the locals fill their front rooms with cushions and a TV, then you can just crash and watch films whilst they bring you 'movie snacks' and coke. Today we've watched lord of the rings; snatch and we're going back for a dose of ray. Sad really, never thought I’d be watching films whilst on holiday!

Going to an open mic night later to see what songs the locals can destroy!

Mum - happy mother's day for Sunday, wont get to write again before then! Got the month right!

Dad - thanks for the message, you should defo come out next year, I’ll be tagging along too me thinks!

Thanks for all the emails guys, strange how as soon as you're out of the country one little email can mean so much!

Lots of love, lani and ant xxx

Hiya! Both doing really good now, all jet lag has finally passed and we are both just relaxing heaps, done some cool stuff in between though!

Have been on an elephant trek, ant lead the heffalump by sitting on its head, poor thing! And I felt like a Thai princess up on my bumpy throne on its back! He wasn’t the easiest thing to control though, kinda chose its own route through the trees! and we don’t feel like such piggies now after watching it demolish a ridiculous amount of bananas and anything else lying in his path! Shame every time we treated him to a banana he had to throw his trunk around and cover us in snot, nice! So cute though and lots of fun!

Ant also sailed me down a pretty river on a bamboo raft, rowing gondola style; as you can probably tell, I’ve been making sure ant remembers he's the worker! It was really peaceful, lovely sound of the water splish splashing around my toes and the sparkly sun peeping through the trees, until we came to the rapidy bit where we bounced through loadsa rocks, got stuck, then got bombarded by local kids playing in the river! They all just jumped on the raft, trying to tip me off, was fun splashing about with them afterwards though, they’re all so cheeky!

Have visited some hill tribe villages, they don’t even speak Thai though, so conversation was interesting. Really friendly people, the swarms of chickens running around our ankles were a bit scary - bird flu anyone?!

Had a splash about in a waterfall, was so beautiful, breathtaking, literally, it was so cold! But lovely after the long hot walk up to it.  Some crazy locals were jumping off the top, but we weren’t really sure where to aim for so gave that one a miss!

Seen some Thai boxing, its brutal! They use any body part they want and can hit what they want, blood and sweat was flying everywhere. The worst thing was, some of the fighters were as young as 14, would flick me into hospital though! Was really exciting and the locals were going mad!

Have also been on a river cruise on a long boat past all the rich houses, then the poor houses, finishing at a farm where loads of different fruit, vegetables and herbs were grown. It was so quiet there, we felt rude speaking, was really nice.

Have spent lots more of ant’s money at the night bizarre, bought so much! Makes a good night out though. don’t worry mum and dad, I have your birthday pressies already!

Went to the most popular temple in Chang Mai, shame you have to climb a stupid amount of steps to get to it! Was really sparkly and gold, and watching some local kids learn how to worship Buddha was really sweet, starting to really respect the Thais passion for religion.

Also went to the zoo - weird I know! But I found out that they have giant pandas, and having never seen one, and I wasn’t really sure if I’d get the chance again, I thought we should stop by. They were so adorable! Don’t think they beat llamas on my list, but pretty close! They were just so lazy, and didn’t stop eating! And they were the most chilled animal I’ve ever seen!

Also had a party with some pretty freaky lady boys we met! Such a laugh, but so wrong! They’re the nicest people I’ve met though and so funny! I think ant is a bit disturbed by the whole experience!

After the party last night we've just been maxing and relaxing all day by the pool, well, I was by the pool; ant didn’t stir until 2.30, unbelievable! Over did the sunbathing though, will I ever learn?!

This afternoon we went to speak to some monks to learn about Buddhism. Was really cool, our monk was called Souk, and he was so honest and genuine, and really didn’t seem offended by the bluntness of my questions! His English was amazing. We really wanted to stay in the temple to learn how to meditate and understand more, but unfortunately the course was fully booked.

Packing tonight as we are off again tomorrow. Managed to pick the only computer here that can’t upload photos, so I’ll have to leave you in suspense until next time! Sorry!

Thank you for the messages mum and tommio! Nice to hear you're ok too.

Can you make sure gran and granma know what we've been up to, dunno if gran mastered this in the end!

Will update as soon as possible so that my next entry doesn’t drag as much!

Love you all heaps, lani and ants xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hey all, we are feeling a bit smug after doing the real travelling bit and actually travelling, and its all gone amazingly well! Both train journeys have been great, the first was exciting as it was the lowest class we could’ve possibly travelled but still the locals were amazing, giving up there seats and helping us as we obviously looked completely clueless! Again with the food though, does it ever stop?! People had even set up stalls on the train, mad! The second one was pure luxury, we took a night train to save on accommodation and it was the best nights sleep I’ve had yet! The stations are a bit mad too, whole families set up camp with a picnic to last a month and wait for hours, they clearly don’t have a clue when the trains are due either!

As for the first stop, the monkey town, I have to admit, ant was right! It was so crazy, monkeys were literally everywhere, I never expected to see so many or for them to be so 'in charge' of the town! They were hilarious to watch, although we missed out on the rumoured poop throwing! Ant did get chased by one particularly cheeky chappy, pretty funny to watch, ant’s such a girl!  Got some good pictures that really show just how many there were but cant work out how to put them on yet - oops!

The town itself was lovely, we didn’t see any other travellers which was cool, felt like we'd discovered it! And nobody spoke any English which was interesting. There were a lot of beautiful ruins, which made a nice change to the more modern temples, although most of them were covered in monkeys so it was kinda hard to appreciate the ruins and keep an eye out!

We are now in Chang Mai though, which is the opposite, backpacks everywhere you look, makes things easy though. We are in a lovely hostel with a pool too, yay! So guess what I’ve been doing all afternoon?! Unfortunately we have to climb 6 flights of stairs, but the hostels dead cheap again so it’s worth it.

Rach and dad - thanks for your comments, good to know someone’s reading this rubbish!

Thanks for the emails too peeps, sorry I won’t really get a chance to reply to them.

Small note mainly for my amusement when I get home - a rather tipsy ant spins full charge into an unsuspecting Thai girl on a flight of stairs whilst screaming ‘peeeyowwwnnn!’ by accident; funniest thing I’ve ever seen! Probably had to be there though!

Hope you are all well, love you lots, lani loo xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi guys, we are both well, although we are having a few food problems, i.e. we can’t stop eating it! Everywhere we go there's just a cart with something yummy on it - except for the scorpions, worms and locusts! We’ve been to our first temple, very gold, very sparkly, very smelly coz of all the incense and a bit scary coz of all the chanting monks. Becomes relaxing eventually!

Haven’t really done much as we are struggling to get used to the heat and ant's suffering from 'jet lag' - yeah right, lazy git!

Have been to a couple of beautiful parks, lots of palm trees, Thai wooden hut thingys, and most importantly sunshine! The peaceful stories told by old men with tingy tangy music are kinda lost though under the noise of the crazy Thais doing crazy aerobics to crazy techno music! Quite funny to watch though! There’s also lots of 'I’m a traveller, I must do silly tricks with sticks, skittles, juggling balls and anything else lying around' types, who although I hate to admit it, are pretty impressive! there are also lots of amazing break dancers, skateboarders and bendy people doing yoga, so lots to keep you entertained on your snooze in the park!

Experienced a public long tail boat (like a bus but more water), the sky train (but not a homer in sight), and a couple of tuk tuks. Ah yes, tuk tuk drivers, they really think they are in some huge smoggy Grand Prix! They actually race each other! I’m amazed we haven’t rolled, or hit some old person pushing melons and pineapples!

Have also made a big dent in Ant’s wallet in Siam shopping centre and eaten way too much ice cream. No change there then!

Anyway, hope you are all ok. We are off to a town that has been over ruled by wild monkeys tomorrow. Unfortunately it’s a cheap place to stop on the way to Chang Mai, so I can’t ignore Ant’s pleas! Love you lots and miss you heaps, lots of love, lani and ant xxx

We made it! And it’s so exciting! Had the best flight over ever, they treated us like royalty, although stopping in Abu Dhabi was a bit weird, looked like something out of Star Wars! Couldn’t believe how hot it was when we arrived, even at 6.30 in the morning, mad! The skyscrapers seem to go on forever, although you can’t see the horizon because it’s so smoggy, and there are templey thingys everywhere. The tuk tuks are pretty crazy, will risk travelling in one tomorrow. We had an amazing dinner of noodles and spring rolls from a man with a cart, cooked with all the different spices and noodles that you choose, was beautiful! Will stay here for a couple of days, then we're gonna start heading up north, will update again when I can, hope you're all ok, love you lots xxx

Tommio - woo woo too! Thanks for your message, miss you heaps already!