Hello for the last time from Thailand. I am currently on the well known resort island of Phuket, but have spent next to no time here in the last 2 full days as I've been busy exploring some of the other beautiful islands in the surrounding Andaman Sea. I arrived here on Saturday evening after a gruelling 12 hour bus journey from Bangkok. I was very relieved to have picked up my Indian Visa the day before as I was fearful a delay might prevent my brief sightseeing...

Well I'm back in Bangkok once again following a nice, if at times infuriating 2 days in nearby Kanchanaburi. It was definitely a welcome respite from the noise, pollution, hassle and traffic of the capital, but there were a few pitfalls along the way which highlighted to me some of the issues of lone travel in Asia. I caught a taxi to the government bus station on Tuesday morning to catch the public bus 2 hours west to Kanchanaburi. Bangkok's transport system isn...

And so from Chiangkong on the Laos/Thailand border we set off on the final journey of our 40 day Intrepid tour - a 6 hour private bus trip west to Thailand's second largest city, Chiang Mai. On route we made a couple of interesting stops to break up the journey, the first of which was at the stunning temple of Wat Rong Khun in Chiang Rai province. Known as the white temple, it is one of the most modern Buddhist temples in Thailand having being built just under te...

Hello once again from Bangkok. I'm a bit behind on my blogs having not updated in the last 6 days and I have a lot of catching up to do! The last time I updated was way back in Luang Prabang, Laos, which seems like it was more than a week ago. Bangkok certainly is a world away from tranquil Laos. On the morning of our departure from Luang Prabang we were all up before 6am in order to head down to the main road and give alms to the monks. Buddhist monks rely sole...

Luang Prabang is an absolute gem of a town. Protected by UNESCO world heritage listing, the tourist boom here has been managed very well and there's no sign of the sordid development that I saw in Vang Vieng. Instead the hotels and other buildings have been integrated very well into the existing architecture, leaving a town that is both beautiful and peaceful. We arrived here 2 days ago after a 7 hour bus journey across some stunning mountains. We passed through ...