Well I am now back in sunny Bangkok. I decided against travelling south on my own as the Foreign Office does not recommend travel to Southern Thailand and parts of Malaysia and Indonesia at present. Instead, I'm travelling with Maria and Alan to Cambodia and Vietnam, before flying solo back to Singapore for a few days and then on to Perth at the beginning of November. After a ferry trip and two bus rides, we took the overnight train from Surat Thani to Ban...

Hello from the monsoon season - it has barely stopped raining since we arrived, hence the goggles! We were picked up from our hotel at 0830 in a minibus, which then collected 4 other people. Alan was sat at the back with a girl called Angela from Australia and I was sat just in front of them, making it very difficult not to eavesdrop! Her opening line was that she had come to Thailand for cosmetic surgery and had been in hospital for the past week - a stra...

From our hotels on Phuket, we took a boat trip to Ko Phi Phi (pronounced pee pee; ko means island), which took about 2 and a half hours and was very pretty. Ko Phi Phi is part of a national marine park, which comprises numerous satellite islands, the most famous of which is uninhabited and called Ko Phi Phi Leh. This island is famous for being the location for the movie The Beach, starring Leonardo Di Caprio. Before filming took place the production crew had t...

My sincere apologies for taking so long to send the next installment, but I have been having a bit of trouble with computers! The remainder of the time spent here was pretty much spent relaxing on the beach and by the pool - oh and eating and drinking! Nothing new there then. Alan hired a moped one afternoon and when he returned to the hotel asked if I fancied riding pillion as he didn't have to return it until later that day. I decided to be brave an...

Two days ago we all moved en masse from Nai Yang beach to a little headland which splits kata and Karon Beaches. Maria, Alan and I managed to find a very swanky hotel as pictured on the postcard. We have a room with a bouble and single bed, air conditioning, TV, mini bar, tea and coffee facilities, a hair dryer, balcony overlooking the pool, spa and breakfast is included. Oh, I forgot, we also get 8 nights for the price of 5 and all for the bargain price of 50...