Located a half an hour drive from the tourist hotspot of Krabi and just up the shoreline from Au Nang, the family run Pan Beach Resort was secluded, natural, and most importantly, reasonably priced. In essence, everything that Ko Phi-Phi was not. Entering the resort from the quiet, leafy approach road, the area is carpeted with a green, well kept lawn. Either side stand a row of spacious, tasteful wooden bungalows that subconsciously guide the eye down towards t...

Thanks largely, to the 1997 hit movie, The Beach, my vision of Ko Phi-Phi was one of a tropical paradise. Of un-touched golden sands, emerald waters and rolling hillside carpeted in dense vegetation. Scarcely populated and unspoilt by the world. One of natures remaining jewels. The reality of modern Phi-Phi was, disappointingly, somewhat different. Stepping from the ferry you will find yourself greeted by dozens of expensive hotel and guesthouse owners, all eag...

En route to Khao Sok we had the pleasure of being w****d around several tuk-tuk drivers who kindly delivered us, in turn, to their subsequent family restaurants in the hope that we may, eventually, succumb and part with some money in exchange for some overpriced and frankly, unappetizing grease filled refreshments that the local rat population had rejected the previous night. After an unwanted visit to three of said restaurants we found ourselves seated beside a...

Think of the island of Ko Phangan in the south eastern reaches of Thailand and you will no doubt conjure up images of young people, copious amounts of alcohol and wild beach front parties. That, however, does not tell the whole story of this small patch of earth set among emerald waters just off the coast. There is still hope for those of you longing for that little corner of paradise that wont break the bank and have you bringing your return flight to reality pr...

As our surprisingly comfortable night train made its way through the outskirts of early morning Bangkok (around three hours late after breaking down barely out of sight of Chiang Mai) it provided us with our first sight of the city. It was an eye opening one. What we saw as we looked through the scratched and somewhat grimy windows of the train can only be described as slums. Lining the side of the tracks on either side were crude huts made up of nothing more th...