Back from Thailand

As luck would have it, the Payzip /First Asia saga had a positive result. As we booked directly with the Tubkaak Hotel, we'd only paid one night up front before discovering that it really wasn't the hotel for us! We moved to the Central Resort Krabi which was absolutely great - all our hotels are now reviewed on Tripadvisor.com.

We enjoyed Bangkok, but travelling around is more of a hassle than expected - the skytrain / subway doesn't cover the 'old' part of the city well so the boat ferry is more useful. Getting a metered taxi from the airport is a real pain - they really won't pick up from the cab rank unless they are desperate. There's too much touting for fixed price fares, which must infuriate the locals as taxi drivers lure tourists out of the queues.

Krabi is a really decent spot though and looks set to 'boom' with the airport being re-furbished as 'international'. Could be a good place to buy holiday property.

EVA Airways proved to be pretty good and their enhanced economy class is great value. There are some seriously odd single blokes 'of a certain age' travelling back and forth to Bangkok, which is not terribly pleasant. Thank heavens they vanish into the bowels of the city once you've landed.

There's a few photos on Flickr. Brrr! It's cold back in the UK!