.With a feeling of great relief we landed back in the ' Land of Smiles' i.e. Thailand. Phuket to be exact. We had originally intended to spend our last two weeks exploring new places in Thailand but what with the threat of flights being cancelled due to Corona virus and my eye problem that was steadily getting worse, we made the decision to just return to Ko Lanta. Being a relatively small island is was slightly shielded from the rest of the world, and hopefully Corona. As each day had passed we were getting more and more news of it's spread and it seemed we had just got out of India in time. It was only 6.30 am when we landed and getting through passport control was particularly fast. Phuket is a major tourist place for ... read more

Time to move on from Agra and explore Rajasthan, known as the Golden Triangle. We boarded the train at 2.30 in the afternoon and just like before it left bang on time at 2.50pm. Could teach British Rail a thing or two! Out seat numbers were 34 and 35 so we thought they'd be together but the weren't. A group of Americans got on and their seats were all over the place but in the same area too as was another English couple's seats. Between us we rearranged things so we were sat with our respective partners. When the ticket man came along to check tickets he was totally confused and finally gave up and let us stay where we were sat. Each time we stopped at a station and more passengers got on we pretended ... read more

Travel in India, where do we start?! We'd heard of the numerous scams, people telling you " that train isn't running today " that hotel burnt down last week , I take you to mine " We heard them all. We had our train tickets booked and all the hotels too, we just needed to ' join' everything together when we were here. In Delhi a tuk tuk driver dropped us off at ' the government tourist office' . We hadn't asked him to he just did! It turned out to be an agent. A very persuasive one. He looked at our plans so far. He checked the train times were still on schedule and said it was good but he could help by providing a car and driver at each stop. He would collect us ... read more

Our time in Thailand is quickly coming to an end. We spent the last few days on Ko Lanta trying to cram everything in. We did a last long walk to Bamboo beach. Pia and Antti, our friends from Finland, came along too. It turned out to be a lovely, if not sweaty, day out and we were happy to have shared the experience with them. ( not the sweaty bit!!) After a long, much needed, siesta, we met up again that evening at Aleena mini mart for a beer and then went along to Irie Bar to see the live band there. Its the nearest thing to a night club here. Open air, lots of cushions on wooden platforms , a stage and a small dance floor. Lots of coloured lights and, of course, stars ... read more

After a few days of doing not a lot, besides people watching on the beach, snorkelling, watching sunsets and trying out different restaurants, we are truly chilled to the core. (But in a good way, not in the way you might be back home in Britain) So, it was time to go and do some exploring. We set off on a long walk to find some sandy bays and coves further afield. Setting off in the cool of the early morning was quite easy but as we returned in the late afternoon the sun was high in the sky and beat down relentlessly. Half way back we stopped off at Mad Bull bar, a place we'd discovered last time we were here that served ice cold beer and a huge plate of cheesy chips with crispy ... read more