When we last left you we wondered in what state we would arrive at Krabi and with what possessions. It is with pleasure we can announce we arrived in tact at Surat Thani (yes we had to detour here, it turns out everyone boards the same bus to here then distributes to their onward place!) all our possessions were fine and all present, no evidence of tampering and we were even slightly rested, not well, but rested. We were asked where our destination was beyond Krabi as this is merely the jumping off point for surrounding islands and beach resorts, and houses a port and a dusty town. Upon replying Koh Phi Phi we were advised to buy the transfer as they would drop us out of town, yes of course how convenient, and arrange a ... read more

We had hoped we would feel a sense of familiarity returning to a place we only left a few days ago, however, as we were using a different bus company it took us to a different bus stop, north of the city as opposed to south west where we were left to the tuk tuk cartel last time. The usual bombardment awaited us and having made friends with a German couple we decided to check out a few hostels together, with a hoped bargaining power of 4 people over 2. The couple were at the end of a one year journey that started in Canada moving to central and south America, round to New Zealand but missed out Australia in favour of two months in South East Asia due to cost. This is something that is ... read more

Our coach collected us soon after 8am and it wasn't too shabby for the cheapest we could find! Again no backpackers in sight but we had reclining leather seats with a foot rest and free water, home for the next six hours on our journey to Cambodia. We stopped a few times on the way out of the city to collect more passengers and eventually set into a roll about 10.30am the time at which we were told by the ever mis-trusted LP guide we would arrive at the border! We saw huge numbers of rice paddies and the city turned into acres of countryside but blurred with the rain that started to hammer our home! When we did arrive at the border we were instructed to hand over our passport and $25 to the coach ... read more

Our latest blog comes to you while lying on a sleeper bus our first real backpacker mode of transport! Wow what an...not sure how to describe this one... We are squeezed in on bottom and top bunks in leather reclining seats with a seatbelt and foot holder developed for the size of a child. God help anyone larger than us! We are being transported to Saigon on an 11 hour overnight journey for $11 each and we don't need a hostel some might say bargain, we think the honking and bumpy road might have us question our sanity! It reminds Lauren of the Harry Potter knight bus all sleeping in rows, the bus fitting in spaces it doesn't seem possible and surrounded by strange folk! There are no other apparent westerners on here and we wonder ... read more

We finally reached the capital at 8pm about 3 hours later than we anticipated. In our haste of feeling hard done by in the last place and Lauren's lack of sleep we decided to book, while we had the breakfast the day before, a hotel. Lauren's sister wondered what was special about this- the reply was note the missing "s" in that word! It would mean we were tight on budget at $30 a night but we needed it. As we were dropped off at another out of town bus station and forced to take the 40,000 kip tuk tuk($4), we thought there was a conspiracy somewhere. The lonely planet guide at this point was about to be tortured and burned for the incorrect information it was providing us! Lauren was fuming thinking we could walk ... read more