Two hundred kilometres away lies Chiang Rai, We arrived at noon after an uneventful journey which gave us ample time to tour the local area. Yet another history lesson, Chiang Rai was founded by King Mengrai in 1262 and became the capital of the Mengrai dynasty. Subsequently, Chiang Rai was conquered by Burma and remained under Burmese rule for several hundred years. Eventually, Chiang Rai was returned to Thailand again in 1933. We went for a leisurely walk aro...

We endured yet another tortuous journey to Chiang Mai, a 2 hour boat journey to Chumphon, 7 hour bus journey to Bangkok, a crazy pink taxi ride through Bangkok and then finally a 10 hour bus journey to Chiang Mai, the capital of North Thailand. The journey marked our 5 month anniversary of travelling. (We ask ourselves every time we have a long journey, why do we put ourselves through this torture......to see the world I guess!) Chiang Mai is a city of temples, ...

From Ko Pha-ngan we headed to Ko Tao, otherwise known as Turtle Island. Ko Tao was named by its first settlers for both the island's turtle-like geographic shape and for its role as a breeding ground for both Hawksbill turtles and Green turtles. Another interesting fact about Ko Tao is that the island has more coconuts per square kilometer than anywhere else on earth. (Not a useful fact but it may come up in a quiz??) We headed to Ko Tao, with one aim only, to f...

The island of Ko Pha-ngan....what more can we say... Sun, sea and sand. Ko Pha-ngan is famous for its full moon parties, but fret not Dad we missed it. Its strange how the full moon party started as a simple farewell party in 1997 and now its well known on the party circuit for its wild raves. We had a tortous 22 and a half hours journey by bus and boat from Kuala Lumpur, Helen slept most of the way. On arrival at Ko Pha-ngan at 9.30pm it was pitch black and Nic...

We visited Ko Lanta with two aims - 1) to scuba dive at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang and 2) to walk some dogs at the Ko Lanta animal shelter. We had booked our hostel through Agoda only to be told on arrival there were no rooms left, but we were put up in a different place free of charge (thankfully it was clean). The evening was spent shopping around for a diving package to cover Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. Eventually, we settled for Go Dive Lanta due to their reasonab...