My first proper beach hut in Ko Lanta

As per the plan, I took off on my own to Ko Lanta by ferry on Wednesday afternoon after waiting to get the laundry back. I was picked up from O Tooles in a minivan and the journey took about 4 hours so I arrived not long before sunset with no place to stay - IMPORTANT LESSON NO 1 - if you are going to arrive late make sure you know where you are going lest you have to sleep on the beach (as quite a few people are having to do in Phi Phi these days). I headed for The Sanctuary (much recommended) but alas they had no room so, on the advice of a German girl called Judith, off I struck accross the beach and over the rocks to the next beach until I found a place. I had broken a flip flop and it was more expensive than I hoped so I was missing home a bit that first night - having aircon in the room did help though. The following morning, I woke up in a very different mood and I could see what all the fuss was about. I will post some photos when I get a chance but the connection here is a bit slow and frankly I have better things to be doing than sitting in the internet cafe - hehehehehehe. I came back to The Sanctuary and I guess my enthusiasm to stay there melted them and they found me a room and guess who my next door neighbours are...Judith and her mate Nina. They are from Bavaria so we have spent many hours now discussing how Bavaria compares with Ireland and of course how fab the Germans were at hosting the World Cup which I attended way back when... I met another couple of English girls who have been to India with an Intrepid tour and they loved it so I might look into that although it is a bit over the budget. I wrote lots of post cards yesterday to mark my first night in a proper hut as I was a little concerned that I would be eaten. It was the best sleep I have had for ages and I tucked the mozi net in with maximum appreciation - now I feel I am doing the travelling thing. The next step is to make moves towards Railay beach further into Krabi district where I will be meeting Monty for his last week of freedom before he gets back to his studies in Delhi in December.