Off on the train from Bangkok to Chumphon, took about 8 hrs but wasnt too bad, good thai efficiency, stacks of food avaible every few minutes and overhead fans. It actually rained quite alot that day which was bizarre..
Four nights in Chumphon at the Paradorn Inn.......hmmm...not one of my better ideas. Hotel was fine but not much to do or see in Chumphon. Should really have just stayed for one night here. We spent a couple of days on the deserted Thung Wua Laem Beach which is about 12k from Chumphon. An amazing place which im sure in years to come will have major development. It was weird to be the only people on it.
Then accross to Koh Tao by boat. This was allegedly meant to take 1.5hrs by the Lomprayah speed boat but actually took 3 hrs....they seem to be selling this route as a catamaran but thats not really started yet, so its really the boat you get.....hmmmm....
After arriving in kohtao we arrived at our bungalows (koh tao cottage resort)on chalok baan koh bay which is 5 mins by car from the main pier at maehead.
This resort is really beautiful with stunning views of the sea.
This was the view from our balcony of our hut...

Its very underdeveloped and quiet. Its as near as you can get I think in thailand right now to secluded paradise.
Diving was excellant and kris did his advanced Padi course here, and had his first experience with sharks and his first night dive.
We spent a week chilling out here which was great. The roads on the island are horrific, we hired a moped one day but decide that wes enough as its so dangerous, most of the roads are dirt tracks/dry riverbeds. Every where you go you see people with horrific cuts and grazes from bike accidents....really didnt want that to happen to us, we had one brief wheely experince, with David ending up on his fanny and that was enough...it had to go !
We also took a boat over to NangYuan Island for snorkling ,which is really three small islands joined by white tidal sand bars, its really stunning. ..pics to follow soon...

Koh tao is incredibly laid back...in fact everone seems pretty comatose at times, it takes a while to find the low gear required for the islands....but you soon slow down.
After a week here we transferred by boat again over to koh samui. The boat journey was horrendous, it was so rough, this time we got the fast catamaran..... At times we though it would overturn!... We should have realised that it was going to be rough when they gave out sick bags shortly after boarding, and lets say they were used in abundance !.......
We arrived safely but very nauseated on samui for a few days in moonhut bungalowas on the quiet north coast at maenam. Really nice place and our bungalow is about 2 metres from the sea...its just as we imagined it to be.

We are glad we chose the north coast as we believe many resorts on the island are nw totally spoilt with mcdonalds, pizzahut, starbucks etc....thats not what you really come to tropical islands for....... well we dont..
Off to Malaysia tomorrow by ANOTHER boat and over night train to Penang....