After the busy Chiang Mai, it was time to take things a bit slower, so we headed further north. Mae Hong Son is in the northwest of Thailand on the border with Myanmar. It is close to national parks, "genuine" tribal villages and amazing scenery. There are t-shirts in Mae Hong Son that read "Mae Hong Son 1864 curves from Chiang Mai" This means there are 1864 bends on the road and we felt every one of them during the 6 hour minivan journey. The destination and the...

We flew into Bangkok from Penang; this time we weren't staying. We were taking a train to northern Thailand. The sleepers were all booked up and so a reclining seat in a fan carriage on the 22:50 train was all that was left. The train would get into Chiang Mai at 13:30 the next day. We still had 5 hours to kill before the train so we headed into the Bridge restaurant at the Amari hotel opposite the railway station and airport. We sat in the air con ordering a str...

The Andaman coast on the west side of southern Thailand is known for limestone karst islands, long, stretching, white-sand beaches and coral reefs. We spent almost a month here, staying at Ao Nang, Krabi on the mainland and on two islands Koh Lanta and the famous Phuket.Our first stop was Ao Nang, a mainland beach resort, which has apparently developed hugely over the last 10 years or so. It is fairly commercialised, but manages to retain a bit of charm. The beac...

#One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster# We arrived at Don Muang Airport, Bangkok which is the low cost carrier airport and decided to walk to our hotel Max One House, it didn't seem too far on the map. We asked a nearby hotel security guard for directions to the correct road and he pointed up and left - we later discovered it was down and right. After getting a bit lost we stopped a taxi and the 100 Baht (£2) fare was worth it. We went out for somethi...

Angthong national marine park is an archipelago of 42 islands. Only three of which are visitable by the tourist boats. On Monday we took a trip out there, we are in low season so there were only 2 boats with around 100 people - in high season there must be half a dozen boats or more. Breakfast onboard was orange jam sandwich, tea and a banana. First stop was Koh Wau Ta Lap with swimming and snorkling for those who wanted to enjoy the soft, white sand beach and a ...