I only spent half a day and a night in Krabi because I had to catch my flight to Kuala Lumpur the next morning. I didn't do anything in the town worth writing about, except get my last Thai massage for one and a half hours from this crazy old lady who made me strip nekkers and at one point put me in a sitting position where she grabbed my arms from the back and swung my body around, accidently exposing my boob and then cackling really loudly for a really long time when she realised. Mental.

The only thing I did that evening was I started chatting with the lady, Wanida, that ran the guesthouse I was staying in and we sat and talked for soo long and she went through all her new shopping purchases with me and I was oohing and aahing at all the cheap prices and materials etc. And then when I showed a bit more enthusiasm for this one dress she went 'please, I want you to have it because I like you, I think you are friendly and kind and a nice person, and you feel like a little sister to me! I hope you will wear it tomorrow to take your flight'... so literally she just gave me one of her new dresses because she liked me and thought I was nice! And we swapped contact details so that she could maybe come visit me in Kuala Lumpur.

I'd heard that Thailand's most beautiful beach wasn't actually on any of the islands but was actually a spot on the coast, Railay so that was my next destination. I said bye to Sam and Kelven and got a boat to the mainland. Railay isn't an island because its attached to the mainland, but it kind of juts out and has 3 different type of beaches and you can only reach it by longtail boat from the mainland so it feels like you've arrived at an island. Because the place has probably the best beach in the whole of thailand, the main part of it is steadily being built up and already has luxury hotels, where people go with families and suitcases. So I went to find the part of the 'island' where you have to climb over loads of rocks for ages to get to because no boats will take you there so I had to climb and wade in the water with my massive 60l backpack and in flimsy flipflops , but no jokes when I got there after all that intense trekking, it was like a little backpackers haven. It was all secluded and foresty on a beach surrounded by massive tall rock structures with loads of rock climbers dangling down from ropes halfway up them. All the accommodation was cheap but niice little bungalows, and I walked along the beach and at every bar/restaurant were signs for special pancakes, special shakes, bob marley pictures, and you could smell weed everywhere just on this little bit. It was insane. Imagine going to a luxury beach resort town and then finding a special section dedicated to backpackers and hippies that just sit and smoke weed all day by the beach... mental. And I was by myself so had the sickest time hanging out with the rock climbers all day. The 3 that I was with mostly were these 3 guys from san francisco who I called rambo, chuck norris and wild bill cus the name suited each one so much, and I would say the best night of my entire time here was just lying down at a bar with these guys one night, being joined by a whole bunch of different hippie-esque people that came and went, and just looking up at the sky tripping on mushroom shakes and special pancakes for 7 hours until sunrise, laughing and making jokes about people we'd met from quebec and texas... it was the most intensely surreal night ever.

During the days, when I wanted to take a longtail boat out to another beach, I'd have to sit with the longtail boat drivers and wait for more passengers to come before the boats would leave, so I made friends with them and they had this hideout called 'The Cave' where they all went to sleep and chill out and which they'd decked out with mattresses, TV, stereo, strings of cds, decorations, a wooden carving meant to be bob marley I think. So they invited me up, chopped up fresh marijuana on a chopping board and we smoked it through a big bong at like 11am before dropping me at Ao Pranang the famous beach, so I ended up spending my day on thailands most beautiful beach as high as the sky. I went with an english girl I'd met called Sophie but she didn't stay long because there was some lagoon she wanted to check out. I thought I was gonna be by myself but luckily I bumped into a guy called Shaun I'd met on Ko Tao who was also by himself. We hung out on the beach and then went to see the dick cave which for some reason had loads of discarded wooden penises of all sizes, which were meant to be some sort of religious offering from the fishermen. We had dinner and drinks on East Railay where some very pierced and tattooed thai guys came over and chatted with us and designed me a lotus flower tattoo. The next day I got high in the Cave again before the longtail boat drivers kindly dropped me off at the mainland to catch my boat to Krabi.

I left the girls to do their diving course on Ko Tao and went to Ko Phi Phi by myself. I had to take a 10 hour night boat from Ko Tao to Surat Thani then a 3 hour bus to Krabi and then another 4 hour boat to PP, the famous place where The Beach was filmed and also the place where the tsunami happened a few years ago. The night boat we took was just a cargo boat that had cleared a large space and placed about 100 tiiny dirrty mattresses [about half the size of a single bed] and thats where you had to stay for the whole trip. I met two nice english girls and two guys from manchester who I stayed with all night which made the sickly rocking of the boat that little bit more bearable and we swapped books in true traveller fashion and chatted until lights out when everyone had to try and get to sleep even though waves were crashing against the windows and water kept dripping on us and people were snoring loudly. It was a nightmare. And the mattress I was on had bedbugs.

I only planned on staying on PP for 2 days but ended up staying 4 nights because I met up with these 2 guys that I'd volunteered with in Rio, Sam and Kelven. That was fucking awesome and surreal seeing them again because we all bonded so much and became so tight when we were in Rio living together but then because we were from all over the world I genuinely thought I'd never see them again ever. So that was amazing that we managed to be in the same part of the world like 2/3 months after we'd all left Rio! And the guys were awesome as well, so so funny - when I went to find them at their resort at like 11am, they were still drunk from the night before, and they stayed drinking the rest of the day and the rest of the time on the island in fact! So every night I'd go out with them, and I saw my first ever Thai boxing match and also my first ever wet t-shirt contest.. and we'd meet cool travellers at the main bars and clubs but then after a bit I'd end up losing them because they'd get too drunk and wander off doing something stupid but hilarious like jumping in fire or whatever - and I ended up having the best time by myself, I met the coolest people and generally had the most incredible time, and realised that I actually prefer travelling by myself so much more because I meet more and better people and just felt so free to do and act exactly how I pleased.

'The Beach' is called Maya Bay and is a boat ride away from the main island of Ko Phi Phi and you can take tours there during the day or you can camp overnight on The actual Beach which is what the guys wanted to do but it was way expensive so I just did a snorkel tour on one of the days and everyone in my group was a bit older/ foreign/ a couple so I mainly hung out with this quiet Japanese photographer guy. We were taken to 'shark point' which is the best spot for snorkelling because the waters were so clear and sometimes you can see sharks, 'monkey island' which is exactly what the title suggests, then the 'viking caves' which is a beautiful clear green lagoon for swimming in, and then to get to Maya Bay you have to swim across to this rope ladder which is on a cliff face and there are waves that constantly crash into you and make you crash into sharp rocks. But once you climb up the rope, you walk through a little jungle path and come out onto The Beach which is literally stunning, genuinely the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The sand is so fine, it feels like flour and the water is a clear bright turqouise blue colour - its not that fun to swim in though because there are massive boulders in the water and the waves are really strong. Was so shit I couldn't get a picture of it though because of the swimming you had to do to get there.

I took a boat to Ko Tao with hundreds of people so couldn't find the boys anywhere but managed to find one of Ulrika's fortnum friends and also bumped into a girl who went to St Pauls on the boat [very small world]. It was such a horrible journey, the boat was so rocky and the sea was so choppy making me feel the most seasick I've ever felt like I could genuinely have vomited. So I walked through the boat falling on people as I went because the boat was rocking so much, ran up the stairs where some thai guy clocked what I was doing and ran behind me laughing and making retching noises after me so that when I reached top deck I had to reassure all the people lying down trying to calm their stomachs that I wasn't going to vom all over them.

Ko Tao is a tiny little island where the majority of people are there to do a diving course because the waters are amazingly turquoise and clear - even if you're just swimming in the sea in shallow water, you can still see so clearly all the rocks and little fishes beneath you. I found Blue Wind hostel which I really wanted to stay at because of the yoga I'd heard about and the fact that it was right on the beach and had a bakery attached. I didn't do a diving course but the girls did - I basically spent most my time on the beach reading during the day and also doing a lot of yoga at the guesthouse, learning from this crazy cool scottish guy who's verrry hands on and does a lot of walking around the room talking about core spiritual energy and inner balance of the soul and stroking peoples heads as he walks past. My first ever yoga lesson of my life was done in a room with no fans or music and I was sweating bucketloads cus it was just hot as hell. And some guys I met the night before were in one of my yoga classes because I'd told them about it and that was pretty funny watching them struggle through the twists and stretches. I also met up with the boys one day and we did a self-induced jungle trek to a more secluded beach which was awesome and then played mini-golf. Nights were spent with the girls after their diving, mainly at Lotus bar on a very windy beach getting drunk, dancing by the sea and having fire dancers spin fire over our heads.

To get to Ko Phangan, the (in)famous island that started the Full Moon parties every month drawing literally thousands of people to Hat Rin beach, I had to travel for about 18 hours by night bus to Surat Thani and wait in the bus office watching The Beach before taking a taxi and bus and boat to KPN chatting with a lovely corn-rowed Manc for most of the journey. As soon as I got to KPN I bumped into the boys who I hadn't seen for a week and then went to dump my stuff with the girls at the Hat Rin Beach Resort which was soo pretty and had a pool and we stayed in a little wooden bungalow. We took a taxi boat to Hat Yuan beach to spend the day and meet up with mine and Ulrika's friend from back home which was nice. Then that night, the night before the full moon, I caught my first glimpse of Hat Rin beach and it was unbelieveable, properly jaw-dropping, it was the best night and the most amount of fun I've had this whole trip. It was just loads of people on the beach partying, drinking thai buckets [literally lethal mixers in actual sandcastle buckets], chatting and chilling watching fire shows.

The next day was spent relaxing on the powder white sands of Hat Rin Nok, swimming in the sea [which is actually pretty disgusting cus its the same beach the parties are on and there are always tons of guys that piss in the sea during the night which you're then swimming in the next day. blergh. crystal clear waters though]. I also got a full body salt scrub at a spa to exfoliate my skin so I could properly work hardcore on my tan! Had dinner with the boys and some guys they'd met from Brighton before getting ready with the girls and getting pretty things painted on us in glow paint by thai artists and then headed to the FULL MOON PARTY! It literally had felt like the entire trip, the whole previous three months of travelling had been leading up to this one night, the night we all had to plan our individual travels around so we could make it. And it was so worth it.

The full moon party was indescribabley insane. It was the most surreal and awesome experience of the entire trip - imagine 10,000 travellers all on this small beach clubbing hardcore under the eery light of the full moon either drunk or shroomed off their faces. There was such a cool mix of hippies and Britpack-tour-louts, old and young, western and thai, such an inclusive atmosphere. It was genuinely one of the most incredible and intense nights of my life. We danced loads at different bars, watched incredible fire shows, I hung out with the boys, Ulrika's fortnum friends, bumped into some people I knew from back home, bumped into a girl me and the boys met in Cambodia, and stayed up til sunrise having the best intense chat for abt 2 hours with one of the guys from brighton about philosophy, psychology, general life, and when we moved onto relationships he said 'I bet I can guess what your boyfriend looks like just from speaking to you - he's quite a bit older than you, definitely quite tall and brunette, and not very muscly.... errrrrr guess again?

The day after consisted of minimal movement, reading by the pool, a falafel lunch with the boys, then dinner at a movie restaurant watching Superbad, and the night spent on the beach again but chilling out playing beach games like fire limbo, fire skipping rope, balloon games etc.

My last day with the girls was spent getting caught in torrential tropical rain whilst going to see the gigantic golden reclining buddha statue which is just really really big and impressive. The girls left for Ko Phangan but a large group of my family including MUMMY! all arrived in Bangkok the next day. It was a complete coincidence that we were in bangkok at the same time because she had no idea I was gonna be there then because I generally have no idea when i'm going to be anywhere.
So I stayed with them in their hotel and no jokes it is the fucking nicest hotel in the world.

Its called the Baiyoke Sky Hotel and is the tallest building in Thailand with a revolving roof tower where you can see the whole city lit up at night from, and has an area near the top for sky golf, and a roof top bar with live music, and gym, spa, pool, beauty salon (where my mum treated me to the most intense luxurious aromatherapy massage ever). And the room we stayed in was beyond nice, it was massive and felt like an apartment with amaaazing views.

It was so sick hanging out with the fam, and especially my mum after not having seen her for nearly 3 months. We walked around downtown Bangkok in the commercial district where the hotel and all the big expensive shopping malls are and it was so different from khao san where you can't even see any of Bangkok's skyscrapers from. There were 9 of us all together and we went round the Grand Palace, which was pretty impressive and lavish, with each building radiating gold and sparkly colours, covered in tiny intricate gems, so detailed but on such a grand scale.

Blergh! Bangkok is literally one of the most horrible places on the planet. As soon as we got there we wanted to leave and that was pretty much the exact same sentiment of all the other travellers we'd met so far. Basically, when most people start their travels around SE Asia, they'll start in Bangkok so it is THE prime place where people think they can completely mug you off because you're a backpacker fresher. So all prices are extortionately high (for Asia, but new travellers won't realise this because they don't know any better which means old travellers can't barter down prices because there will always be a gullible newbie that marketsellers can sell their product to instead). It is a city seething with sleaze, dirt, pollution and corruption where taxis cheat you for your money, and where ladyboys and young prostitutes roam around which is a novelty at first before the sad reality of their lives kicks in.

I took a 10hour night coach from Chiang Mai and arrived in Bangkok at 6am and found a place to stay on the Khao San Road [legendary fashionable backpackers road, wanted to see what it was like but would definitely recommend not staying on the road itself but just one near it]. I was greeted with people still up partying from the night before, and prostitutes [men, women, very young to very old] still working the area picking up drunkards and hobos, and the room I managed to get was just 4 walls a bed and a ceiling fan, scarily similar to the one Leo gets in The Beach [literally thought I was gonna be murdered in my sleep]. Met up with the girls the next day and tried wanderind and shopping on khao san but hated the conning taxi and tuktuk drivers and hiked up prices and the wanker britpacks-on-tour types - it genuinely felt like the most frustrating place on earth: you cant trust anyone, it feels like every store keeper, every foodmaker, every tuk tuk and taxi driver is trying to rip you off, and the whole place is so polluted and smelly and busy.

So we went away from the backpacker areas and to a weekend market called Chatuchak which is the biggest market I have ever been to (5000 stalls) and it was incredible! Really cool clothes/ handicrafts/ food, all a tenth of the price on khao san, and we spent the entire day there buying clothes and presents.

That night was the girls' only night in Bangkok so we decided to go to an infamous ping pong show instead of a thai boxing show and it was the shadiest thing EVER pulling up outside a dodgy grimy little club and being shoved into a small dark room full of mainly mixed western tourists and sleazy old men. It was a mix of fascinating.. traumatising.. intriguing.. funny..and grotesque - it was basically girls shooting or pulling various objects (ping pong balls, razor blades, really really really long string with bells and flowers attached, bananas etc) out of their lady parts and also doing other tricks like writing with a pen from below, smoking, drinking water through but then expelling pepsi from below.... it was FUCKING WEIRD. And inbetween acts, you'd get girls disinterestedly dancing naked, looking bored and unhappy and it was just grim. Some of the girls looked like they were having fun doing their tricks and entertaining people, and it was definitely fascinating how the hell they could do some of the stuff, but most of the girls just looked miserable and it left you feeling really bad you were there witnessing it. We headed back to the khao san road for drinks at a nice roof top bar but feeling quite freaked out.

Me and the girls were so excited about finally reaching Thailand, the one place we were told by everyone we'd met was like true paradise. We arrived in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand after a scenic but dull 2 day slowboat and it was so so amazing, there was just too much to do. The first day me and the boys did a thai cooking course, and no joke, I was incredible. I finished chopping and grounding my ingredients before everyone else and the teacher said that my curry paste was the best. I can now make THE BEST thai chicken coconut soup ever [if someone buys me the coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal, chicken, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, black chili paste, and coriander leaves..] It was such a cool course starting off at a local marketplace to learn about traditional Thai ingredients, then being driven to a farm and walking around their garden sniffing at loads of strange smelling leaves, and spending the whole day learning how to make red curry, chicken coconut milk soup, chicken and cashew nut stir fry, pad thai, and desert - best part: eating everything.

Then the next day I booked onto a jungle trek by myself because the girls had done one when we did our cooking course and the boys were feeling lazy and were leaving that night anyway, and that was INCREDIBLE! I was with such a funny french couple and then four scottish guys who our Thai guide kept calling "scottie rambows". The thing that made the day were all the Thai guides who'd put lizards on their legs and shout "Eh! Crocodile! Crocodile!" and who'd say things like "And for lunch, we let you try special delicacy: elephant eggs!" We rode on elephants [I got the pregnant, hormonal elephant and I also got the phwoarest guide riding with me who was from Burma and spent the whole time listening to his ipod and singing along in thai and shouting "Waterfall waterfall!" whenever the elephants weed], then we did a jungle trek to a waterfall and swam a bit [except I didn't actually swim because I got my exercise spots/heat rash after the trek and was too embarrassed to expose my rashy body to the world under a beautiful waterfall, much to the delight and constant piss-take of the "rambows"], then trekked back in the rain slipping and sliding on wet rocks with the guide holding my hand down the dangerous bits whilst asking if I had a boyfriend.. and then catching a massive toad and making it croak next to our ears unexpectedly and freaking us out, then we did white water rafting and then rode down the river in a bamboo raft - and the guide put me with the 4 "rambos" for the last bit so they could look after me but all they did was splash water at me and try and capsize our bamboo raft..

The final day I moved in with the girls at Julie's hostel which was such a travellery commune, low tables with cushions on straw mats layout, dark wood bedrooms with just mattresses on the floor etc. It was just me and the girls eating lots for the whole day, shopping in Chiang Mai market with amazing fabrics and three quarter length fishermans trousers and cool silver jewellery etc, and I got my very first Thai massage [one of many many to come] and it was half painful but half exactly what I needed from the trek, and again a lot of weird bending and sorting yourself out in positions to reach muscles you didn't even know you had or needed to be massaged.