We left Koh Samui at the crack of dawn 2 days ago (wed).

Strangly, we were picked up by a policeman, who kindly took us to the pier free of charge, maybe he had had enough of taking drunken tourists home :-)

We took the 1hour30min car ferry journey across the sea to Donsak pier on the mainland, where we were picked up by a coach taken to Thong Sala (?) nearby.

From there, we managed to find a reasonably priced minibus journey to the border of Malaysia, ?Sangok Nok Loi?(wrong name!), This involved changing mini-bus in the middle, and took about 8-9 hours in total.

Once at the border, we walked through customs, and were in malaysia! Goodbye Thailand :-)

We found a jolly shop-keeper, who advised us that we should probably try to get to the ferry pier that night to buy tickets, and stay nearby for the boat in the morning.

So we found a taxi for the 2 hour journey to Kuala Besut, and bought our tickets on the slow boat for the next morning (0700). By this time it was 2300 and we had been travelling since 0500, so we needed somewhere to sleep.

Of the only two places open, we decided upon one that had 2 seperate rooms (we are still with the Freestons). This was the worst place I have stayed so far... But it was only for 1 night(less than 8 hours), and for 20 ringitt (6.1-6.6RM to 1GBP), about 3 quid, it would do, despite the horrible smell and lack of mosquito protection.

Unfortunately, when unloading the car, the cab of the taxi was not checked before it disappeared, and I have lost the trouser parts to my shorts! :-( they were VERY useful! Never mind, they may turn up again, but I doubt it!

We slept, then woke at the crack of dawn again, ready to board another boat, for another crossing to another paradise-like island.. it's a hard life eh :-) hehe

This time, we had chosed the slow boat, and got a fishing boat with seats on for our journey, not too bad, and it was only 1hr20mins before we arrived at the smaller of the 2 islands :-)

The island has 2 main beaches, and we decided to avoid the (small) crowds of Long Beach and head through jungle(! 10 mins on foot) to the smaller, Coral Beach, and eventually found a chalet to stay in.

The beach isn't great for swimming, but two minutes around the corner we found a small, empty beach, with clear water revealing an amazing coral reef! we swam for a few minutes before deciding to head back to rent snorkel equipment.

Snorkelling here compares only with that on Koh Tao, it is amazing, we only went a relatively short distance, but it was amazing :) I saw 4 types of fish I haven't seen before: Squid (fish?), Stonefish(or lion fish - the one with big spikes), Stingray! and 2 Baby sharks :-)!!!!

If I needed an excuse to buy an underwater camera (cheap disposable about 40 ringitt) then this was it! I fully intend to buy one at last, and will be taking it with me next time I go!

It seems we will be heading off on our own shortly, as James and Natasha are off to Petara Negara (spelt wrong) where they will enjoy Indiana Jones rope bridges and jungle treks. I couldn't quite persuade the ladyfink that spiders don't live in jungles (she's not that stupid) so we are off elsewhere in few days, probably Kuala Lumpar.

We only have about 9 days left, so we are going to try to fit something in between KL and Singapore.

Despite not actually visiting the jungle, our trip to KL will be on a train that goes through the jungle! Primary rain forest :)!!! Gonna see if I can see my long lost twin brother!!! makes monkey noise

For now though, Shortsky and I will be enjoying our time on this beautiful, white-sanded, palm-fringed island..... horrible :)

Tonight I plan to have a barbequed tuna steak whilst watching the sunset and drinking ice cold Tiger beer on the beach.

Pics to follow :)