Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, two very popular and busy islands, even during the quiet season. Both full of retreat places, bungalows and resorts, something for everyone. We checked out Yoga Pyramid  which is for sale and connected with the Yoga-Retreat studio/ retreat venue, meeting like minded people who have made theses islands their home and built up business from scratch back in the early and mid 90's. We skipped the dark moon beach party and headed to the local reggae bar on the beach to meet more locals and hear great musicians while welcoming in the changing phase of the moon. Once again we were blessed with beautiful sunsets on the beach and candle lit dinners. Leaving the island life behind and catching numerous types of transportation before arriving in Phuket, feeling daze we manage a few hours of sleep before boarding our flight to Chiang Mai. Completing level 1 in Thai Yoga Massage at ITM was brilliant, the teachers, the venue and of course being in Chiang Mai is great! Along with the daily massage there is an array of Yoga classes and delicious juice bars to keep you hydrated and healthy. To celebrate our graduation i was asked to lead a Yoga Trance Dance session which was super spontaneous and so magical! Even though the speakers were quiet the energy from the 15-20 dancers was so high and energising, we danced for 2 hours, dancing for a peaceful Thailand, dancing and sweating our prayers for the planet. Jai! The last few days in this inspiring and humble city was spent watching the celebrations of Wesak begin, the monks preparing to celebrate Buddha's birthday with a mass pilgrimage to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. Kop Kun Ka Siam keep shining.

Leaving one beautiful place for the next is a blessing! After a few days in sticky Singapore we head north by train over land into Malaysia. Stopping where the tracks split we had one night in small town called Gemas before hopping on board the Jungle train which runs through the middle of Malaysia and along the east cost. This was a long and slow journey, the scenery changed as we rolled on through villages, cities and the forest. We saw monkeys, wild bores and big beautiful trees towering above us, we played cards with the local kids who joined us for an hour or 2 as they continued about their day, in total we were on the train for almost 11 hours before arriving just outside Kota Bharu. As much as i like trains and perfer them to flying it was nice to be standing on still ground! Kota Bharu is a city famous for their fruit markets and night markets, its the only place i have watch the movie "Be Cool" outside on 7 different tv screens while drinking fresh watermelon juice just before midnight. After 2 nights in this tasty city we head about 40minutes to the ferry  port to travel across to the Perhentian Islands. This place is pure paradise with clear aqua marine waters, no motor vehicals or bikes in sight or dogs. A divers delight, so many deserted beaches, soft fine white sand and candle lit dinners by the water at night.  Its nice to know places like this still exist undisturbed by the outside world. Apparently the locals have total say about the development of this place and they seem pretty keen on keeping it low key and slow. The sun rises at Long beach and sets at Coral Bay and inbetween the under water paradise awaits to be discovered! After 4 glorious days, we leave with sun kissed skin and head over land into Thailand landing in Koh Samui for more exquisite beauty.