Welcome to Thailand. Every day is a holiday. Or at least that's what it feels like to me anyway. Since arriving in this country I haven't felt like a backpacker, I have felt like a tourist.

After a short stopover in the southern town of Hat Yai I headed up to the coastal town of Krabi. At first glance the town doesn't seem to have much going for it. It has no beach and the main street is much like any other small, Asian town. It does however have a certain charm that grows on you. In fact I ended up staying in town for 7 days, and only reluctantly left.

My first day in Krabi was spent finding a better guest house than the one I had checked into the previous night. I eventually settled on a small place called K guest house. For the rest of the day, I had a wander around town, and had a look at the various activities and day trips that were on offer in the area. I did briefly think about taking a 5 day rock-climbing course. However, it was soon dismissed as too much of an extravagance. In the end I decided to spend a day canoeing around Hong Kong island. I would have to get up at 7am in the morning so this meant buying a new alarm clock. My last alarm clock had broken in southern Chile and I had not quite got around to buying a new one. Instead I had been relyng on others or simply catching a later bus, plane, etc out of town. As it was, after I set my alarm for 7am I managed to be wide awake at 6:50 waiting for it to go off.

The trip was very good. Early in the morning, as our boat glided across the calm waters, I got my first glance of the fantastic scenery that surrounds Krabi. Huge limestone cliffs that rise straight out of the water. That afternoon I was to learn that most of these cliffs contain cave systems or half hidden tidal lagoons.

The next day I took a ferry out to Phi Phi Don island. It was my intention to have a look around and decide if I wanted to stay there for a few days. Although the island itself is very beautiful, I decided that it was far too packed with tourists and backpackers. I took the afternoon ferry back to sleepy little Krabi. That night, like all my nights in Krabi, I had dinner down at the local food stalls by the river. The variety of food available was outstanding and I ended up eating a different dish each night. One of my favourites was a huge plate of fried mussels, accompanied by beansprouts and a dipping sauce. I did worry that I might be risking serious stomach upset by eating this dish, but like the fried oysters in Melaka, I was proved happily wrong. I did, however, come a cropper on the tom yam (or hot and spicy) seafood soup. All I can say is that the contents did look as if they came from the sea at some point. However, I think it was more likely that they were left on the beach when the tide went out, rather than actually caught. But in general my experiences with food in Asia have been good ones so far. The only thing I can't get the hang of is the breakfasts. Somehow I just need a western type of food in the morning. Noodle soup or green curry just doesn't do it for me at 9am, I'm afraid.

After that it was a day of relaxing, and getting some chores done. I managed to post some clothing home and put my laundry in to be cleaned. I also managed to write up my adventures in Malaysia. So that will give you some idea as to how far behind I tend to get with these travelogue things. That evening I decided to check out the local Irish bar. It has to have been the least "Irish" looking Irish bar I have ever been into. One of the walls was painted green, and there were some empty cans of Guinness stuck behind the bar. The landlady and staff were very friendly though. Actually, I ended up playing dominos with the staff for the first hour or so as there were no other customers in the place. It did liven up around 10pm. Nothing too exciting. No dancing on tables or falling down drains, but it was pleasant enough and I was soon chatting to a few people. I even arranged to meet a couple of Aussies and an English girl the next day.

Crawling out of bed at 8am I remembered that I had to eat breakfast and get down to the pier for 9am to hire a boat for the day. Luckily the Aussies and English girl were a little late so I made it down to the pier on time. We hired the first bloke that came up to us. He offered to take us around 4 islands and stuff for about 1500baht. Between 4 of us that was quite a good deal, so we took it. It was a very good day. I did some more snorkelling, relaxed on some beaches and explored some caves. By the end of the day I was quite exhausted. In the evening all four of us went out for dinner and then down the pub to celebrate the Aussie guy's upcoming 18th birthday. When I found this out I suddenly felt very old. It turned out that the two girls were both 18 as well. Oh well, after a couple of beers I forgot all about this and was introduced to "the bucket" - this is coke, red bull, and a huge measure of Thai wiskey served up, yep, in a bucket. I think I had a slight hangover the next day.

On the morning that I left Krabi the staff of the guesthouse couldn't quite believe it.

"Are you sure?" asked the owner, more than once. Once I had finally checked out and was waiting for my bus to Phuket, she ran over to me and said, "Jez, we have cleaned your room, you can have it back now if you want."

Phuket was quite a nice little town as well. I was staying the the old town, and not the busy tourist beach of Patong. I had intended to stay at Patong beach for a few days, but decided at the last minute to just use Phuket as a transit stop on the way up to Bangkok. I had a wander around the markets of Phuket and managed to buy a couple of second hand books. I also wandered up Phuket hill for a view of the island. It wasn't that spectacular, and I don't think I even bothered to take a picture. Soon it was time to get an overnight bus up to Bangkok.

Once in the city I headed straight for Khao San Road. It must have been busy season, because I had to wait six hours before I found a guesthouse room that I could stay in. In the end I managed to get a nice room in just about the best guesthouse in the area. Now all I had to do was wait for 4 days for Debs and her friend to turn up. I spent my time wisely. I got up, had some breakfast. Read for a bit. Had a wander round. Had some lunch. Read for a bit more. Had a beer. Went home, had a shower, went out for tea and a few more beers. For 4 days! It was bliss.

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