Next stop Myanmar (Burma)

We've had a great stay in Koh Samui despite some initial teething problems! The first accommodation that we checked into, a place called Relax Resort, wasn't great . . . No lets be honest, it was dire! We only checked in there because we were really struggling to find somewhere that matched our budget. I mentioned in our last post that Koh Samui is much more of a package resort and so there's not a great deal of choice at the backpacker end of the market.

Our room was in a dingey single storey block on a driveway down to the beach. It was surrounded on all sides by larger buildings so that we were permanently in the shade. The permanent darkness meant that the room stunk of damp . . . am I selling this one to you yet? To make matters worse the dividing walls looked like they were made of rattan and had the soundproofing properties of wet string. As we found out much to our joy at three in the morning when our Cockney wide boy neighbours returned and serenaded us with a choice selection of hits from the early 80's. Including most of Squeeze's back catalogue, and what probably is the best song for a drunk to be singing at the top of his voice - Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights.

We've since moved to some much better accommodation, a place called the Green Guesthouse. Which is not only a third cheaper than our last hole but has solid walls, no damp and no Kate Bush at 3a.m. Perfect.

The beach at Chaweng is our main reason for being here. It's a lovely 6km long stretch of white sand dotted with hotels, bars and restaurants. It's a great place to hang out in the day and the sea is really calm here too thanks to a reef about 50 meters off shore.

We even saw the ideal way to keep your kids safe on the beach . . . tethered to the shore in a plastic bubble!

At night most of the bars and restaurants convert their sun loungers into makeshift dining tables and string up lights across the beach, giving the place quite a bohemian feel.

You can get just about anything from the hawkers on Chaweng beach; fruit, ice-cream, t-shirts, balloon lanterns, really dangerous fireworks, a real hawk and even a monkey (or two).

Later this evening (Tuesday 5th) we fly up to Bangkok, where we are staying overnight at an airport hotel before our early morning fight to Yangon (Rangoon) in Myanmar. We're really looking forwards to Myanmar because along with Laos it's the country that everyone who's been to says is really different and interesting to visit. We're not sure how easy it will be to update the blog though as we don't know what restrictions are placed on the Internet. E-mail access may also be a bit hit and miss.