Thailand!

Happy Easter! Being in a non-Christian country, to be honest I hardly noticed it, but have had a few deliveries of creme eggs which has put me in the mood!

I just had a two week Easter holiday and spent it in Thailand. I flew to Bangkok, where I met Owen, an old uni housemate. We spent a couple of days there staying on the famous Koh San Road, and we visited a market, saw a big buddha and, most excitingly, went to watch Muay Thai Boxing. We had ringside seats and saw eight fights back-to-back, including one knock-out. It is kind of a mixture between kick boxing and conventional Western-style boxing, pretty aggressive!

We then took a long bus down to Koh Tao, which is absolutely beautiful. The smallest of the three islands (including the better-known Koh Phangan and Koh Samui), it is famous for diving, although we sadly didn't manage to fit any in. We hired mopeds to explore the island - unfortunately we got rather lost, went off-road and had a crash or two that resulted in quite considerable payment for damages! Otherwise we were chilling by the sea/pool, eating copious amounts of delicious Thai food, drinking smoothies, playing pool, and enjoying the general laid back feel of the place.

We then ferried to Koh Phangan in time to coincide with one of the renowned Full Moon parties. We met up with Ben, another old housemate. The party was fairly epic - a packed beach partying all night and into the morning! We also went to an excellent pool party the night before, to celebrate Ben getting a job offer. The days were spent recovering, hydrating and generally chilling. There were some tropical storms while we were there resulting in blackouts across the island - we managed to find a restaurant lit by candlelight and cooking by gas so we managed to eat out during a blackout!

Our final destination was Koh Samui, the largest and most touristy of the three, and to be honest we were less impressed after the paradise of the other two. The beaches are still beautiful, but full of sun loungers and old Western tourists, whereas the other two islands are almost exclusively young backpacker crowds. Still, we played some mini golf, shopped, swam, played beach frisbee and still had a great time. Owen and Ben left on consecutive nights, so, with two days remaining, I decided to head back to Koh Tao, where I had an incredibly lazy 48 hours, before the epic bus back to Bangkok to fly home.

Overall thoughts on Thailand (islands) - AMAZING food, absolutely beautiful beaches, fairly touristy but not really in a bad way, mostly fab weather, friendly people, loads to do (much of which I didn't get round to so....maybe back in future!).

Back in Beijing now for a new term. Bizarrely we work two weeks than have another five day holiday, so currently considering mini-breaks around China. Then it's hardcore work as students are preparing for exams.....rather them than me!

Now I have to start planning my Summer holiday!