This one is just titled "the islands" and encompasses Ko Jam, Ko Lanta, Ko Ngai, Satun and Ko Lipe. Text to follow.

The journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok took some 12 hours. The journey itself was straightforward enough and pretty bumpy for the 5 hours to the Thai border. The road really was little more than a series of potholes arranged in a straight line - it would have been smoother to have gone off road over the fields! The border crossing was smooth as anything and we glided through without having to bribe anyone, which is contrary to the usual stories we hear from near e...

Ko Phi Phi....I have never been anywhere quite so wonderfully, idylically, beautiful before.The Tsunami from two years ago has wrecked whole sections of this tiny island but this year is certainly the resurrection. Tourist touts on the mainland make a big deal of the fact that there is nowhere to stay in Ko Phi Phi because of the demand (but are happy to "make a few phone calls" to arrange something at an extortionate rate!) and all other businesses are...

So after all the excitement of Sukothai we headed back up north to Chang Mai so that we could go to the mediatation course we had booked ourselves onto - held over two days and one night at a temple nearish the city centre. Changers was packed to the rafters when we arrived - we hadn't clocked that in the north they celebrate the last day of Loi Krathon the day AFTER the full moon. We had a fab time meeting up with our Thai friends Top and Cheep Cheep and we...

Arrived Sukothai Friday 3rd November in the middle of the Loi Krathon festival. Although celebrated nationwide it originates from here and it is by far the biggest in terms of crowds and bustle and events connected to it. Sukothai consists of the old town which is a UNESCO world heritage site and the new town, 14kms away which is a 1960's concrete provincial town. It only takes 20 minutes or so by songthaow to shuttle between the two (although it only leave...