It was a flying visit to Patong, Phuket's busiest district. I was only here for just over half a day with having to catch a flight to Bali at 6.45am in the morning. The transition from Koh Phi Phi to my hostel in Patong Beach via the ferry and taxi was surprisingly painless. I jumped on the ferry at Tonsai Pier this morning still reeling from the news of my sister giving birth to twins, and the hour and a half journey over to Phuket was pleasant. I transferred ...

The minibus was due to pick me at 7.20am to take me to the pier so I could catch the 8.30am ferry over to Koh Phi Phi. Of course the minibus was late.. no surprise there after all the transport issues I've had in Thailand, but it was very late and I feared it may not come at all. It eventually arrived at 7.45am and didn't seem in any sort of rush still having to pick up more passengers. I wasn't sure how far away the pier was but I thought it couldn't be that f...

My journey from Koh Samui to Phuket was a total contrast to the previous journey I had to endure. The relaxed regulations at the Koh Samui airport meant I could rock up at pretty much anytime before take-off at 11am. I arrived an hour early just to be on the safe side. The Koh Samui airport is open-aired and probably the nicest I've been to. It's pretty small with being on an island but is very luxurious. No expense has been spared on the facilities.. they we...

I woke up at 5am and checked out the guest house shortly after.. well I tried to anyway. It was still dark and there was no-one around so I placed my key on the reception desk and left without paying a bean.. oh well, I had good intentions but what could I have done? I had a plane to catch ;) I flagged down a tuk-tuk, agreed a price with the driver and he motored towards the Chiang Mai airport. My flight was fine and I managed to sleep the whole way. I arrived a...

Organised chaos is how I'd describe Thai transport services.. my word they know how to make things difficult! I arrived at the Hua Lampong Train Station in Bangkok an hour or so before my bus was due to depart for Chiang Mai so I could grab myself a bite to eat and get settled. As I found out from my previous two days in Bangkok, there's no such thing as feeling settled or comfortable. The train station was an absolute mess.. hardly any space to move around in ...