Leaving Thailand

At the moment, we're sitting in the bar of the hotel we've been staying in on Koh Samui, killing time till we go to the airport to fly to Penang in Malaysia. Yes, I know I said we were going to Phuket, but we suddenly changed our minds on the train down from Hua Hin, since getting to both places involved getting off the train at Surat Thani.

Which is not a place we're likely to rush back to, really. It's very rough-and-ready, with almost nothing to do other than get on a bus or a ferry to somewhere else. Because the train from Hua Hin was an hour-and-a-half late, we ended up having to stay there for the night. We were awake nice and early the next morning to find a hotel on Samui and to get on the first ferry out of there.

Samui, on the other hand, is very nice. Sun, sea, beaches, smiling people and a very nice hotel mean that we'll probably be back at some point soon. The beach we're staying near isn't the best on the island, but most of the other beaches are a 20 minute, 80 pence pick-up truck ride away, so it's no big loss.

In half an hour or so we go to the airport here to fly to Penang. Flying does feel slightly like cheating seeing as we're supposed to be doing this by train, but having checked the UK Foreign Office site which advises against all but the most essential travel to or through the southernmost four or five provinces of Thailand and to make personal security arrangements if you do decide to go there, we've decided that a quick flight is better then the (admittedly remote) chance of getting killed to death by stupid people with bombs.

Anyway, I've still got 15 minutes of relaxing on a beach to do, so tata for now.