After New Year's in Patong and time spent having our chart plotter repaired, we decided to head out of the heavily populated area of Phuket and head to an island where we could swim.

First stop was Ko (island) Racha. This island has a beautiful beach but too many tourist boats bringing in hundreds of people everyday. We stayed about 5 days and then headed to Ko Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee). This is another very touristy and busy island and we maybe wouldn't have gone, if our friends on s/v Camelot hadn't been there. The kids really wanted to see their friends Julia and Oscar again so we went and spent some great days with them.

From there, we sailed, well motor-sailed, to Ko Dam Khwan. Now this was a beautiful place. Picture two islands about half a mile apart with two smaller island between and a long sandbar connecting one of the large islands to one of the smaller ones. When the tide was low, the sandbar was walk-able and at high tide, it disappeared. Unfortunately, many boats with tourists arrived during low tide but at least the rest of the time things were quiet.

These islands are tall and very dramatic looking with rock cliffs reaching out of the ocean. We found a little cove in one and spent some time building sand castles. Only a few tourist boats came there!

Our intention was to get to the mainland for a few days and do some land travel. We found a place to leave Gromit and took a bus to a city called Nakhon Si Thammarat, on the east coast of Thailand. While there, Michael came a with a plan to take an overnight train to Bangkok, just for a few days, to see the city and then back to Gromit.

So, we've been in Bangkok now for 'a few days' and thought we'd take advantage of the fact that we are so close to Cambodia. Visas are in the process and in a day or two, we'll take a 10 hour bus tip to Angkor Wat, the worlds largest Hindu temple complex and the largest religious monument in the world.

Highlights so far have been the breathtaking temples and delicious food at the food stalls that can be found everywhere!