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From now on Matt doesn’t know where we’re going or staying. It’s kind of a birthday pressie for him. No stress of having to worry about route or accommodation. So I’ve booked the next few days already. Our first train experience in Thailand from Bangkok to Ayutthaya was pleasant. Although not sleeper trains it reminded us of India with the shutters and open windows and people walking by with baskets of sandwiches, drinks and dried fish. This is a common sight in Thailand. Dried fish are sold on streetstalls and in markets and have a strange petshop aroma. We’ve yet to try one. ...

Got a taxi to the Siam Square area of Bangkok to go shopping! The place was filled with giant malls, street sellers and small narrow back alleys filled with cute little clothes shops. A shopper’s heaven. I could have spent a fortune. Spent an extremely long time in MBK mall. The food mall was enormous. You buy coupons from the cashier and then go to one of the 40 food places to get your food. Each place doing a different dish. ...

Our overnight VIP bus from Krabi to Bangkok had 3 seats per row with lots of room, blankets, free coffee & bun, water and free dinner. Not that we realised all of this until we got on the bus. We’d stuffed ourselves beforehand so a stop with free buffet was a surprise. Another surprise came at 3am when the onboard hostess tapped me on the head twice to wake me and give me a refreshing towel. Followed by coffee. Bit of a shock to the system. ...

Beach time is over. Back to the proper mainland and the rest of Thailand. Our last bit of Railay sightseeing was the Diamond Cave. We’d walked past it every time we’d been anywhere away from Railay Cabana. On the way to the cave Matt informed me what had been in his towel…a scorpion. Which had crawled on him. Only when he’d knocked it onto the ground had he seen what it was. Yep glad I didn’t ask before we’d checked out. ...

Just about recovered from New Year shenanigans now and we ventured to the 4th and final beach in the Railay area. It is reachable by longtail from West beach, by walking from West beach (we believe) or by walking from Railay East. The pathway from East is right outside Railay Cabana so it was an easy choice to make. Not so easy walk though although it was lovely to walk through the jungle and see more amazing butterflies, we saw the “Tsunami village” where there were a few shells of buildings. We couldn’t quite believe the wave had reached so far inland. The toughest part was a steep climb upwards as the beach is the other side of the rocks behind our bamboo hut. It was so steep there were climbing ropes tied along it to help keep your balance. I ended up on my ass typically on the way down the other side. ...

Stayed in bed almost all day and lived on pringles, oreos and coke. Now we know why drinking is bad.

Bungalows next door are booked up so we’ve resigned ourselves to staying at Railay Cabana for 2 more nights. I am now prepared for cockroaches. And the small green frog in the bathroom was more cute than scary. Although Matt reminded me today to shake towels and clothing before using them in case you come across an unwanted inhabitant. He didn’t tell me what he found in his towel after a shower and I don’t want to know… ...

Rock-climbing in Railay is (apologies for americanism here but it needs to be used) awesome. Would definitely recommend it to anyone. I’ve never really climbed outdoors before and it is is completely different to indoors. I managed to do 4.5 climbs and Matt did 6. The weather couldn’t have been better. It was dry but overcast whereas later it rained and since then it’s been sweltering. Karen ...

Checked out of bland Harmony House at 10:35 and legged it to the main port of Koh Phi Phi nabbing a ticket on the way to catch the 11am ferry to Krabi and “free transfer” to Ao Nang. Intention was to check out Ao Nang and then go onto Railay. Settled down on a ledge at the back of the ferry alfresco and watched beautiful angelfish darting around the coral attached to the jetty. Why fish want to hang around large ferries with their engines blasting and amongst fag butts is beyond me. ...

Picked up by a pick up truck to go to Koh Lanta ferry & 90mins later land at Koh Phi Phi. Doesn’t seem to be much accommodation left so we end up at Harmony House the cheapest the touts could find for us. It doesn’t start off well. One girl is checking out because of noise and smells. Another 2 girls want out as guys have been trying to bash their doors down in the night. Hmm doesn’t bode well. We cannot be arsed to make the trek back down to the pier to complain so wander off for brekkie to wait for our room. ...