Day 8

Today we decided to relax. That's what the beach is about, right? Bangkok is one of the busiest cities we've ever seen. Everything is moving at a hundred miles an hour, so the contrast is huge. We'd done a little exploring yesterday so figured we'd go a bit further and see some more of the Sairee Beach strip.

TripAdvisor has been our friend so far this week, providing some excellent recommendations of hotels, sights and restaurants. We found a little cafe that came highly recommended for breakfast called Zest Cafe and as we have no breakfast included at this hotel - what better way to start the exploration than walk to the other end of the strip for a full English? I had my first real sausage (other than the ladyboys) in over a week and it was glorious! Josephine went for a lighter spinach omelette.

After breakfast we walked the length of the beach, and up to the pier we arrived on yesterday. Stopping for a late afternoon snack of a Nutella and fresh coconut pancake that was delightful, and only cost the equivalent of 70p. I paid close to a fiver at the Christmas markets less than two weeks ago for a lesser pancake.

On the way home we stopped off got a Thai massage. It's 300 baht for an hour, or 200 for half an hour. We thought we'd ease ourselves in with half an hour, and the minute it was over we regretted our choice. They bent us and rubbed us in ways we've never felt before! At £6 an hour, we'll definitely be making a habit of them. Afterwards they brought us a little cup of lemon and ginger tea. Not the happy ending I had in mind, but nice nonetheless.

Big game tonight. United versus Liverpool and although it was an early afternoon kick off at home, with the time difference it was 8.30pm here. Plenty of time for some pre drinks. A few online searches for 'best sports bar Koh Tao' and the like lead us to choppers bar. They should rename it whoppers bar. The bar tender was really rude and ignorant. I mistakenly walked off without my change, and rather than let me know, he just held on to it. When I went back and asked him for it he actually looked a bit disappointed. I think he was American, which was a bit shocking really - I had expected the locals to be keen on ripping off the 'farangs'.

Needless to say we moved on, found a more relaxed bar and sat watching a fire show on the beach before the match. A 3-0 win for united and countless £1 beers made us both very merry indeed, and we briefly met a couple of Swedish dive pros (Caesar & Felix) before leaving for a burger on the way home. An excellent end to a very relaxing day. Tomorrow we're gonna rent a moped...