We didn't expect what we got when we arrived in Phuket! Queen Mary 2's clientelle are older, travelled and not really the party goer type and Patong Beach was no sleepy beach town! The ship was anchored just off Patong Beach and we had a tender service to take us to the beach front. Unfortunately the weather was poor, intermittent heavy showers but still 90 degrees and 90% humidity! Known as the Pearl of the Andaman Sea, Patong Beach is more like a pearl that ...

After a huge thunder and lightning storm throughout the night, Queen Mary 2 arrived at Thailand's capital, Bangkok, a bustling old city, still full of the charming and crazy habits of the past but with modern business and transportation dropped on top. We had been warned about how busy the city was but we were unprepared for our 3 hour coach journey through the traffic jams to reach our drop off point at the Asia Hotel, from where we could start to explore on o...