We caught the ferry from Georgetown on the island of Penang to Butterworth back on the mainland, if they sound English it's because Malaysia was a colony until 1950's. We got off the ferry and immediately beneath the ferry’s passenger departure terminal is a huge interstate bus depot - we were relieved because it was a beautiful day also very hot and our packs 20+kg each. A tout greeted us downstairs at the bus depot - it was his lucky day we had miss...

Our decision not to risk stopping in south Thailand with the current political situation meant a full day of travelling to get to Penang in north-west Malaysia. The first minibus picked us up from our guesthouse first thing in the morning, arrived in Hat Yai at about lunchtime and deposited its 8 passengers at various little travel shops around the busy little city for the onward journeys. From Hat Yai, it wasn’t too far to the Malaysian border, where...

From Ko Phi Phi it was another short ferry ride to Krabi on the mainland, a town we really loved! The ferry port has recently been relocated to outside town, so most tourists head directly for the beaches in nearby Ao Nang, without stopping at Krabi town at all. We figured we'd had enough of the beach for a little while and had heard that you get a much better deal with accommodation if you stay in town and do day trips. After checking out a few places, ...

We hadn't actually planned to go to the Phi Phi islands at all. Our flight from Siem Reap (with the surprise US$25 departure tax imposed by the private company to whom the government, in true Cambodian style, sold the airport!) landed in Phuket in south-west Thailand, an expensive, tourist island that we didn't want to stay on particularly. Walking out of the airport, we saw a desk that was selling ferry tickets to Ko Phi Phi, leaving in an hour. Why not? We ...

We set out the next morning back into Angkor and started enthusiastically. We saw the jungle temple and another believed to have been used as a hospital to pray for healing. The jungle Temple where parts of Tomb Raider were shot was really impressive - the jungle both destroying the temple and in some places supporting it. All the temples we saw were great but we were templed out by midday so we opted to go on a river boat tour down to the Tonle Sap after lunch....