Contrary to popular belief, I am alive and well. Ok, I know my blogging rate has slowed somewhat but once every three months isn't too bad. It's a hectic life I lead out here, you know.

So what's been going on then? If I tried to write about everything I think I'd drive myself crazy so I'll try and give a brief rundown.

Malapascua didn't work out at all. Emma and I both had instinctive reservations about going back and in hind sight we should have listened to these. We knew it would be different going back to work properly but it was more than that. The atmosphere in the diveshop was pretty highly charged and it was very hard to feel relaxed there. With a whole world out there we decided we didn't need to stay in a place where we didn't feel comfortable, job or no job, so we left after 5 weeks. Not before, however, Carol, Emma's mum, came out to visit...and learn to dive! Having never met her before, the thought of teaching her to dive was a little nervewracking but I shouldn't have worried at all. She was brilliant (in the water and out of it) and it was an excellent way for us to get to know each other. Poor Carol though, did have to spend a large part of her holiday listening to us moaning and trying to decide what to do, leave or stay. She was a superb sounding board though, and her advice very much appreciated.

With Carol's visit, plus a visit from Simon who we worked with on Trawangan, we managed to retain our sanity and not punch anyone, and finally left towards the end of Feb. It felt sad to leave a place we both had loved so much, knowing we probably would never go back, but neither of us regret it for a moment.

We stayed in the Philippines for another week, in Boracay which is the tourist mecca of the country. Vaguely thinking about finding work there, we actually ended up having a lovely relaxed week before taking the plunge and heading for Thailand.

Thailand was always a bit of a last resort. After the last time we went there, in December to visit Emma's brother, we were a little reluctant to go back. Indonesia and the Philippines are so different to the 'backpacker' world of Thailand but our priorities had changed. We now needed to find some work and Thailand is where more people get certified than any where else in South East Asia so that's where we went. And as it turned out, a very good decision it was too.....