Hey there people,

I hope all is well with you guys?!

As you may have noticed I've been very slack on the group email front. Well, not really lazy, just haven't been up to much apart from relaxing and enjoying being over here in the warm weather. I can't quite believe that I've been over here for over 3 months now.

I seem to be spending most of my time getting into shape, tinkering with my website, and cooking up some lovely Thai food. As ever i think coming home at the end of next month will seem a bit weird. Although at least Summer will be here!!

I took a break from my relaxing to head down south and meet up with Messy Dave. As most of you probably know he was over here with his bloke, Aaron. Me and Fon met them on Ko Lanta, which was a really nice Island with lots of nice beaches.

The last leg of our journey to ko Lanta was by ferry, and as we neared the island we passed another ferry which was on fire. And not just a few licks of flame, but the whole thing was totally ablaze. It was pretty surreal. Apparently no one was injured, but saying that, we didn't see any survivors in the water either!!

While here we did lots of activities. Fon had never been kayaking or snorkeling before so it was cool to see her give them a go, and actually enjoy them too.

We also went diving with Dave and Aaron, which was really nice as, except for when i first learnt to dive a few years ago, I've always done it with people i had only just met. Aaron is well into his diving and had done it loads, which helps because he was good at spotting different fish and stuff. I'm a bit lazing in that regard. I'd probably swim right past an octopus thinking it was a rock if someone didn't point it out to me!!

On our first dive my air ran out much more quickly than everyone else's and as i surfaced i checked my gauge and it was on zero, so that was a bit of a close shave!! If it did run out i could have just used my "buddy's" air, but even so I'm sure no one likes the idea of running out of Oxygen when they are 20 -30 meters below the ocean.

It turned out i had a leaky tank, so to speak, and once they replaced it the second dive was fine. Although the dive company also gave me a wet suit which was size medium, even though i asked for an extra large one. Trying to squeeze into this baby with my day-old English sunburn was not a pleasant experience. Yes that's right, been in Thailand off and on for nearly two years and i still get sun burnt the first time there's a bit of sun!! Typical.

So after a week with Dave and Aaron, it was time to say goodbye and head down into Malaysia for a few days to renew my Visa. Thankfully our return flight from Kuala Lumpur to Chiang Mai had none of the excitement of Dave's journey!!

Now I'm back into relax mode. Although that got a bit shaken up yesterday, as there was some big muther of an earthquake. That was a bit strange. Never experienced one of them before. One minute i 'm siting in my chair watching TV and the next the whole room starts shaking. It was strange because my mind told me, "don't worry just step outside and it'll be fine". But as you step onto the "solid" ground, obviously that's all shaking too. Very weird!! Still, only had 2 or 3 tremors and that was that. Apparently the center of the earth quake was only about 50 miles from here, if that.

So on that shakey note I'll let you guys go. Let me know what you've all been up to and i shall be seeing you all pretty soon