We took seats in the downstairs cabin of the ferry before it set off from Koh Phi Phi. We sat back in the air conditioned comfort of our seats and, thanks to our early start, it wasn't long before we dropped off to sleep. A couple of hours later we pulled in to a pier crowded with similar ferries on Phuket, where we tied up to another boat. Everyone filed off and then we found the chap who would take us in his minibus for the next leg of the journey, to Phuk...

The fast ferry took us down the coast a bit from Ao Nang, and we moored offshore from the stunning cliffs behind Ton Sai and Railay beach where we'd been the day before. We got to see the stunning rock formations in all their glory in the morning sun, as some longtail-loads of people were transferred onto our ferry. Once we were loaded, the ferry pulled off and sailed through the islands towards Phi Phi. We spent the journey in the air conditioned upper cabi...

Luckily our fears with regard to the safety of the speedboat from Koh Lipe were ill-founded and we soon set off on a calm cruise into the Andaman sea. It was quite nice being out the front of the boat, where we had the cool breeze in our hair and a great view of the ocean and islands around us. We scudded across the waves for around an hour, most of which I spent snoozing leaning on my arm. When I woke up, we were pulling into a calm inlet on a very lush isl...

We boarded the fast ferry at Kuah pier and took a seat in the spacious cabin inside. Since there were only about 10 people on the ferry we had plenty of space to stretch out and the hour long journey to Koh Lipe passed in unremarkable air conditioned comfort. When we felt the boat slow down, we peered out the salt-encrusted portholes and caught a glimpse of crystal clear turquoise water in a pretty, curved bay of white sand lined with the huts and bungalows ...

On our last morning in Chiang Mai we got up and packed, then had our breakfast whilst waiting for our pickup for our journey to Luang Prabang. A minibus arrived shortly, and we said our goodbyes to the staff and the dog at Green Tulip before hopping on board. We stopped at a few other guesthouses to pick people up, before leaving Chiang Mai. We got talking to a Scottish girl and an English girl, Patsy, on the bus as we headed north, through the countryside o...