Sheila writes: We arrived in Krabi Town on Fridy after two consecutive night bus trips (a) from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and (b) from Bangkok to Surathani and then Krabi. (Both about 12 hour trips.......we got little sleep). Nasty bus conditions on the first leg (no Air con and sticky, cramped plastic seats) and rifled bags in the hold on the second leg. Best not to trust tourist coaches in Thailand..... Made an instant decision (on seeing Krabi Town which is ...

Clare writes: So, we're back in Bangkok for about 12 hours between buses.. remind us not to be taken in by the term 'VIP' any more! We'd expected to come from Chiang Mai in one of those swish coaches with cushions and videos etc etc but ended up on some kind of budget version - vinyl seats with no legroom, appalling toilet that didn't flush and was overflowing after the first few hours, too hot, colonies of ants and at least one cockroach! Not the happiest of 1...

Sheila writes: We've now been in Chiang Mai for six days and have come to love the city. It's easy to avoid busy touristy bits and good to immerse in crowds and fun when we want! The loved the Soi Duthep Temple - which is by far the most spectacular location and setting we've seen anywhere. It's about 1000ft up in the mountains north west of Chiang Mai, in the Soi Duthep/Pui National Park. The views out from the temple are fantastic. There are so many golde...

Clare writes: Bliss! Back in Thailand after a couple of weeks in the internet black holes of Cambodia and Laos so can finally update the blog - will try and do some backdated ones... but if not, here's a summary... We spent an enjoyable week in Siem Reap, base for the temples of Angkor Wat - don't know if our lengthy blog made it onto these pages before we lost connection but will cut and past them back in when we're back on our own machine. Then because it's a...

Clare writes: Here's the beauty of our location - we got out on the river straight away as the Phra Arthit pier is just a few feet from where we were having breakfast. The regular river boats zig zag up and down the Chao Pra river for a flat fare of 15baht (about 25p) so we went to the end of the line past the palaces and wats of old Bangkok. I hadn't remembered it really - just vague impressions of traffic so bad you couldn't cross the road, a smoggy air, p...