Alex Garland in the "the Beach" described the Khao San Road in Bangkok as where East meets West serving as a "decompression centre" for western travellers visiting Bangkok on their way out to "real" South-East Asia. You can certainly get all your western comforts in Bangkok and some more salacious "comforts" that would be more difficult come by at home, but for me it was a bit of a culture shock. The humid heat was overwhelming and the crowds and the smell of f...

Chiang Mai is Thailand's second city so a bit like their Manchester I suppose. It has incredible food and shopping. I spend most of my time reading, eating and enjoying the great chilled-out nightlife. After a week of doing mostly nothing. We head east to Chiang Rai. CR is a small town with a great night market and I had the most delicious fish dish of my life in their night markets - chilli, lime and garlic - incredible!!! Whilst in CR I decided to d...

Kanchanaburi is a very chilled out pretty little town about two hours west of Bangkok. It is infamous for the "Bridge over the River Kwai" and a ride over it and a visit to the wartime museum is a must. The graves of the young American and European men who lost their lives building the bridge as Japanese prisoners of war is harrowing. The food is incredible, the people very friendly and the guesthouses cheap and immaculate. Whilst here, Clare and I also went ...

I have my two month Laos visa back and I am in Chiang Rai and I am supposed to take a bus to the border town, Chiang Kong and take a boat down the great Mekong river to Luang Prabang in Laos. However, I have a month left on my Thai visa and the Islands call.. I fly down on a cheap Asian budget flight to Bangkok and then on to Phukhet. Phukhet is Thailand's Benidorm and I only spent a night there before getting on a boat to Koh Lanta via Koh Phi Phi. Koh ...