I know we haven't updated this for a while but this is for a really good reason. Where we've been they don't have computers. It has been a very bad last couple of days...just to let you know neither of us is dead, or in any kind of trouble although on the former it was a close run thing, well kind of, hey you decide...

Sunday (wrote Mr. Kipling) was diving day - a trip to two of the best dive sites in the world - Hin Muang and Hin Daeng. We set off at 6.30 as planned and had a fairly basic but tasty breakfast consisting of, amongst other things, a rather grey looking egg. 'It'll be alright, it's hard-boiled'...famous last words? The sites themselves took four excrutiating hours to get to but were well worth the effort. Amazing untouched coral and shoals of fish the likes of which we had never seen before; jacks, trevallies, triggerfish, clownfish to name a few. The first site (Muang) is basically slap bang in the Gulf of Thailand and is completely submerged. There are drop-offs and vertical walls on each side that go down to 50-70m so you had to be careful that you kept at the right depth - didn't want decompression sickness and all that. Although the currents were really strong we managed to circumnavigate the rock and were follwed by the first friendly triggerfish I have ever seen - at one point I nearly swam into it, and rather than attack like usual it just swam past!!

During lunch the divers on another dive boat starting flipping out, some jumping overboard with snorkel and mask from the top deck - the cause of the consternation was what we'd all come to see - 5m Manta Rays. Although we didn't see one at lunchtime (too interested in the Thai green curry I'm afraid - too slow to get a look-in) we were hopeful we would get to on our dive. Hin Daeng is only about 30m from Muang and has a a pinnacle that is slightly above water and is a little more sheltered thus making it less 'curranty'. We entered the water into more and more fish, similar kinds to before. Again we were followed by the more inquisitive ones. No sign of the Mantas though. Ho Hum I thought - we never get to see the bloody big ones. And then it happened. A huge Manta swam from behind us, went over our heads and swam past. It was at least 4, if not 5m wide and it blocked the light out as it passed. It was a truely awsome and humbling sight and one we will never forget. On returning to the boat some 40 minutes later it appears of the 40 or so divers only 8 of us saw the Manta, so for once we were lucky. We then sat down and perused the pictures we had taken - the only one we managed to get of the Manta is slightly obscured by Jen's air bubbles, fancy breathing underwater eh?? It was then the first tragedy occured. My Osmond (house,I was in at school not 'Donny' or 'Family') rugby top, the one I've had since I was 13 was not clipped to the railings of the boat - someone unknown had hung it up, and as my Mum and Jen will tell you it wouldn't have been hung up by me, hell no it would have been safely crumpled on the deck - and it now resides somewhere in 70m in the Gulf of Thailand. I hope the Moray Eels and triggerfish are making a nice home out of it. Now this rugby top is something of a legend, I've even had a couple of emails from Uni friends who've said 'I can't believe you've still got that bloody top'. Well I haven't any more. GUTTED! My brother is, however, going to try to buy me another one when he visits Ely this week - it won't be the same though as they changed the style a few years back and the white collar is now blue, what a nightmare!! To top it all off my left ear went all dicky again and I started coughing up yellowish (well straw coloured) blood. Whilst not as bad as in Koh Tao it still hurt and I couldn't hear out of it at all.

I bet you're thinking, 'what's he moaning about - that's not a lot to go wrong - it's only a shirt', or - 'hey you've got two ears you know' etc etc...oh you just wait - it's just about to get interesting...

I awoke at 3.30 (am) - our ferry was at 8, so no need to be up so early. The reason for the premature alarm calls was, to put it bluntly, my bowels. They were just about to explode. Two minutes later they duly did, with the force akin to a B-52 over Bagdhad (SORRY...way too much information...). This continued for the next 4 hours. It was clear by this time there was no way we'd be travelling today. More worryingly I was now running something of a temperature and with all the fluid loss was badly dehydrated. We decided to get to a doctor's - the nearest one being only 10 minutes away (by motorbike - that was not a fun ride). To be honest I was not and am still notconvinced that chap we saw was a doctor, the thermometer he used showed 37.5 degrees, no problems I hear you cry, true, except it showed 37.5 before, dureing, and after I stuck it in my armpit, and also after we submerged it in a cup of boiling water. He would not accept it was broken though. Eventually we were referred to the Island's hospital where we were whisked (this time by pick-up truck) almost immediately. By this time I was more than a little delerious, the water I has tried to drink was going straight hrough me as were the rehydration salts. In the hospital they gave Jen the twelth degree about where we'd bee, what symptons I'd had etc...(we had mentioned we'd been in China 10 days ago to the health centre bloke when he asked) and we were immediately quarantined. They thought I had SARS. This is no word of a lie. Everyone donned masks, protective clothing, gloves, hair nets and they effectively shut down the part of the hospital we were in. The next 2 hours are a bit of a blur, among other things, I told Jen I wanted to se my brother and I was off to meet up with my Dad. I also thought we were on an aeroplane. My temperature was now at about 39 degrees C (102 + F for those of you still working in old money). This was further exacerbated by the fact they didn't have air-conditioning and we were entering the hottest part of the day - 40 degrees outside. After Jen had told them of all our movements (literally everything, down to guesthouses stayed in, room number et al) from the last 4 weeks the decision was made to transfer us to quarantine at Krabi (the province capital) Hospital where we would have our own room and would be more comfortable. They also had the capability to do a chest X-ray, which I was told I needed. All worrying stuff. Their evidence, they believed, pointed to SARS; been in China within 14 days, high fever, acute diarrhea, strugling to catch a full breath (trust me so would you in 40 degree heat). On the positive side I didn't have a cough or sore throat, and hell, here I am writing this two days later...;) At around 1pm our 'ambulance' arrived. Think pick-up truck with stretcher in the back and you're closer. The doctor (who was amazing - I do remember this fact) was clearly not impressed and ordered them send another one, which arrived about half an hour later. It was a little, although not alot, better. At least this one had somewhere for Jen to sit and a drip stand. What was to follow was truely horrific, an 80km ride mostly on dust tracks done in under an hour and a half. This included two ferry rides too. We believe he was travelling at an average of around 60-70 mph. When he did stop (for the ferries) he got out and had great pleasure in telling everyone that would listen about the two 'farang' SARS victims in his ambulance. Everyone he did so started covering their faces and moving away from the trucks. (At last we'd found away to keep the Thais from selling stuff to you...)

By the time we reached Krabi hospital I was so weak I couldn't stand-up and was slipping in and out of consciousness (well sleep really I guess but consciousness sounds more dramatic). I also felt as if my internals organs had become detached due to the bumping up and down - fortunately I was wrong about this. The stool tests were showing the presence of bacteria, but they still went ahead with the x-ray. This came back negative for pneumonia (thank God), as we expected. However we were still quarantined and it took another full day for my fever to drop. We spent Monday and Tuesday night in Hospital (Jen slept on the sofabed - the room was better than some hotels we'd stayed in - air-con, TV (with sport channels), Western not squat toilet) and finally were allowed to leave today. The diagnosis - acute food poisoning, possibly salmonella, possibly from chicken or eggs. Hmmmmmm... We rang the dive company and they said no-one else had been ill so unless they were better liars than George Galloway (not hard to be fair) we are at a loss as to where I got it from. I guess it could have come from the sea as I did swallow quite a bit of sea water at some point. Either way, things are nearly back to normal now and we've finally arrived on Phi Phi.

A couple of things came to our mind about the whole thing really, namely:
How efficient and professional the Thai healthcare professionals are in the main, although their 'tools' to do the job are nowhere near as sophisticated as elsewhere in the world.
How seriously they are taking the threat of SARS.
How much of a nutter the ambulance driver was. It would have been far less of a surprise if we'd died in an RTA on the way to the hospital than of SARS/food poisoning etc...now wouldn't that have been a perfectly ironic way to go!!??

We have finally met up with Helen and Rich (3 days late). They are off on a yacht for a week tomorrow so we've had a spot of lunch and no doubt we'll go out tonight (Jen and Helen are currently sunning themselves on the beach). Their trip sounds tremendous and we are more than a bit envious - seems we might have missed the boat on that one - ha ha. We may meet up with them in Malaysia but will almost certainly do so in Aus/New Zealand and South America - their website is here for those who haven't seen it. You can't look at Rich's diary without a login - let us know if you want one - I'm sure we can email you ours!!! (It's so they don't get listed on Google etc...) We have gone for relative luxury although it's within budget (bonus!!) and we're right on the beach. We're staying at the PP Princess which was recommended to us by another couple we met (Hi Derm and Teri) in Krabi. No idea how long we're going to stay here. We're half thinking of doing a similar trip to H & R (basicaly yachting/fishing/snorkelling around the smaller Thai islands until you hit Malaysia) but we're conscious we need to be back in BKK by the 3rd May and we haven't booked any planes, trains or automobiles yet. Phi Phi looks great so we'll almost certainly be here 2 or 3 days. We might then head to Phuket before grabbing a cheap (20 quid!!) flight to Penang. We are keen to dive again and as my ear seems to have pretty much righted itself this is a distinct possibility.

We have had shedloads (over 30) emails in the last 3 days and we haven't been able to reply to any - SORRY! We will hopefully do so this weekend if (and when) we hit Phuket. The connection here is so slow it takes about 3 minutes to load each page.

Just a note to my Mum - I am OK Mum don't worry about it - I haven't got SARS - I am OK - just to reasure you!!