Our final stop before flying back to England was Singapore. We arrived there rather cold after a seven hour train journey from Kuala Lumpur. We'd made the mistake of travelling first class which meant we had large seats and ample leg room, but we hadn't anticipated the freezing cold level of the air-con. I was wrapped up with a towel round my legs and Richard put his hat on to keep his head warm. We'd previously stayed overnight in Singapore before catching a...

Rather than fly back from Phuket to Singapore, we had decided to go by public transport - partly as a dress rehearsal for a future trip in the region taken entirely by that method. We therefore took an ordinary public bus from Phuket town to Hat Yai, close to the Malaysian border. The trip took about seven hours and was efficient but rather boring with nothing of great interest to look at on the way. Having got used to Bulgarian buses which stop frequently, we w...

Approaching the end of our epic trip we fancied checking out one of Thailand's islands and spending several days relaxing and soaking up the sun before we land in freezing cold England. We'd watched the movie The Beach some years back and the scenery was beautiful so we choose the area where it was filmed. We caught a boat from the port near Phuket town to Phi Phi. We passed Phi Phi Ley which is the uninhabited one of the two islands and the place actually used...

We flew from Sydney to Singapore, but only stayed there a single night before catching a cheap Tiger Airways flight up to Phuket in southern Thailand to visit our friends Ian and Katherine. Having become accustomed to blank-faced stares or outright hostility at customs and immigration around the world, we were amazed when the Thai official dealing with us not only smiled but cracked a couple of jokes. This attitude was one we found common to every Thai we met - ...

Our final days in Australia were spent in a luxurious penthouse apartment in an exclusive part of Sydney. Well, when I say "luxurious penthouse" I mean a top-floor room in a hostel; and by "exclusive" I mean Kings Cross, which can be regarded as exclusive only by backpackers, prostitutes and drug dealers. On the other hand, the room was huge, with a sofa for watching TV and a small separate kitchen. Best of all was the view, which took in the...