STORMY WEATHER A short bus ride from Phuket and we've found ourselves in Krabi. We've decided to stay in the town as the beach hotels are so expensive. We are staying in a nice hotel run by a very camp guy who is Thailand's answer to Margarita Pracatan. Slightly perturbing is a large switch in our room labelled with a big pink sticker saying KRABI. We dare not touch it for fear that it actually turns the power on and off for the whole of Krabi. The beaches alo...

BITTEN AND BURNT Another day and another bus. This time it was a night bus to Phuket. The buses in Thailand are great. They specailise in VIP buses. Some of them have bars, hostess trolley services and karaoke. We, however, struggled to get much sleep on our bus, despite the pillow and blanket they provided. Our insomnia was largely induced by the only other Westerner on the bus; some French muppet who delighted in talking on his mobile at all hours and talking ...

HOBBIT HOME-STAYAfter arriving in Hua Hin we struggled to find a place to stay. It is high season here in Thailand and rooms are both scarce and expensive. After asking around we finally ended up at a place tucked down one of the side streets. Rather than being a traditional guesthouse it was more of a home-stay. The couple who owned the house had converted every square inch of the place in to nine guest rooms. They had even added a conservatory to the front room...

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED Back on the road again. Our bus to Bangkok left a lot to be desired. Judging from thenumber of parts that were missing from it someone had already sold it for scrap before someone else, in their infinite wisdom, decided it had at least another couple of hundred miles left in it. Themarriage of mini-bus and road is not a happy one when the road in question is the type of terrain usually reserved for 4x4's and tanks. (Rumour has it that an...