Today was meant to be a day for us to relax and unwind. In the usual way of us we changed our minds last thing before we went to bed last night and decided that what we really needed now was a full blown day trip to 3 of the islands off the coast of Krabi. We went down to breakfast unspeakably early and had a pleasant chat with a couple who were doing the same trip as us only backwards and only taking 3 months to do it not 11. They were missing India out as they ...

Today we are on the move again, this time to Krabi. We pack up again and head of to the bus station. Instead of a taxi we ask we arrange a lift with a guy who was delivering stock to the hotel. His mode of transport was a motorbike and sidecar (sort of). The sidecar was a metal frame used to carry goods with a seat (flat piece of metal) on one side to sit on. This seemed to be the usual way to transport anything, and lots of these had been made into mobile stalls...

Today we decided to go to a less populated area for a beach that our lonely planet guide recommended. We packed a rucksack and jumped on the moped then headed for Kata. The bike ride was lovely, the weather was hot, about 35 degrees, and the cool breeze was just what we needed. We found the beach after only one wrong turn and although there were still quite a few people and sun beds there it was much more beautiful than Patong and much less crowded. We picked two...

When we got up this morning, or maybe afternoon, we remembered we had to walk to the bike. Taxis in Phuket are something else that is really pricey and we thought if we took it slowly we would be fine. We grabbed a bottle of water and a can of coke from the 7/11 and made our way along the beach front. Phuket certainly is touristy and there were people all over the place touting and touristing. It was a very long walk! We popped into various shops along the way to...

This morning I woke on the bus after not much sleep at about half past midnight and decided to demand Vincent sang happy birthday to me. He refused but did come up with a piece of chocolate Swiss roll as birthday cake so was forgiven, lots of people on the bus wished me happy birthday too so it was OK, although one lady said I looked good for 50...hmmph. When we got about 5 hours from Phuket the bus stopped and we were all told to get off for a break and take our...