This was it! We were finally leaving Bangkok; and the airport. Since we had been in SE Asia we had managed to go through, or come to, this airport SEVEN times. Bye-bye Bangkok. Hello(gulp) a whole new Indian world!

South of Bangkok is a resort town called Hua Hin, like Plett in South Africa or similar to Lyme Regis. Here was a place that was once a small fishing village with long white sandy beaches stretching off in each direction. In the early 20th century, the reigning monarch decided that here was a very nice little place to have his holiday palace. And since then, it has grown in size to what it is now. The old town on the waterfront is cosy and in amongst the shops an...

Bangkok, and Thailand, is famous for many things; Bangkok features in lyrics from the musical Chess; it has been the gateway to SE Asia for travellers for years and it has a bit of a reputation…… ….for easy sex (how many old Western men did we see hanging around young Thai women?! Being a sex worker, and getting as much as you can from the farang for the family back home, is seen as a perfectly normal career path to follow); ….as an enormously corrupt p...

We could only get to, and from, Koh Samui via this little town. Our flight time back to Bangkok was early and so a night in Surat Thani was necessary. Did you not know where Surat Thani is in Thailand? Neither did we. It took a little bit of research to get ourselves organized for this leg of the trip. What makes this place very memorable was that, not only did the hotel have the biggest pool we had seen in SE Asia (you could literally hold the Olympics here), ...

"You could quite easily imagine Max in a uniform scaring people witless with that voice and physique. His eyes could probably freeze you to death!" After hearing our guide brief us as the fishing type boat made its way out of the harbour towards the Angthong National Park and our day's sea kayaking, you knew not to mess with Max. He seemed like a really nice guy and easy to talk to. Any questions were fielded effortlessly and insightfully. But you also...