Ajajaj...or Ouch as they say down under

Yes, well we have been a little umm, lazy with the whole blog thing lately, maybe it's cause of the stressful days on the beach, or the adventurous rides on our pink motorbike Mariam, or celebrating Christmas thai style (which of course included scuba diving).

OUr Xmas day was perfect (except for loved ones from everywhere missing). We started at 730, when we arrived at the dive shop, Palm Beach divers here on Long beach. After a lovely croissant and some nescafe' we boarded the speedboat that would take us to Koh Ha, approx 40 minutes from Lanta. We did two amazing dives, the first ones we did as dive buddies now that Lina is a certified Open Water diver.

We saw heaps of fish, lovely coral formations, a very poisonous banded sea snake, black and white, luckily he came in peace. We saw morays, one of which was so tiny, guess it was a tiny baby, we also saw trigger fish, lion fish and other interesting underwater creatures.
We enjoyed a lunch consisting of green curry and fresh fruit, before the second dive.

When we came back we decided it was time for a xmas beer and a hot tuna sandwich on the beach (this is when LIna suddenly pulled out the nice red santa hats, as pictured below almost like the ones dad always makes us wear at home..) We also thought we had to do the whole tropical paradise concept complete by having a Pina Colada before we went back to The Zoo (our bamboo hut on the beach that houses more than backpackers).
We tried to shape up and then went to Pearl Beach for the Xmas dinner, fashionably late by just one hour..
It was a good dinner, and there was some dancing round the palm xmas tree. We called our respective loved ones too, luckily Internet decided to join the xmas spirit...

After that we had a nice party on the beach, complete with pumping techno music and mosquitos on speed, so at 3am we decided it was time to head to bed, happy and just a little tipsy, as usual :)
Before we did though, we sent a blessing to everyone we like by sending off a small "balloon" thing from the beach, where we put nice messages and wishes. So if you suddenly win the lottery - you're welcome..!

Since then we have been sick but brave soldiers, yesteray we hired Mariam the pink scooter again and went to the other side of the island, learning that besides cochroaches, rats, termites and evil bulls outside bungalows, Thailand also offers venomous snakes with road rage.
We nearly squashed one on the road and for some reason it got up in attack position and almost got our feet. Kind of scary.

I (kat) have been feeling sick for 6 days now, with continuous stomach aches and fevers coming and going. Lina has been bragging about her (non-vaccinated) stomach of steel, but today whatever it is got to her too. And tomorrow morning we're off for a 24 hour trip to Bangkok, which is a bit worrying. Well, nothing a tough viking can't handle I reckon.

Tonight we tried to get to the restaurant which was a sight for sore eyes. Two miserable backpackers, completely out of it with fever and pains, but after a western meal and some pills we're feeling strong enough to walk the 400 metres back.

We'll post more pics soon!

Hope you all had a great xmas eve, as we did!