I left Bangkok over a week ago and me and Mike headed for Krabi on the South West coast of Thailand. Following a very long and uncomforatble 12 hour bus ride we hopped on a long boat over to Railey, where we stayed for 6 days.

Railey is a headland split into the lush west and the "affordable" east. The beaches on the west are sandy with turquiose waters steeped by beautiful jagged limstone cliffs, however the beach on the east (which is where we stayed) is nothing more than a mere muddy mangrove swamp.

The highlight of out time on Railey was a day out diving......our 'superday' consisted of 3 dives and tho it was overcast and the viz wasnt great it was wonderful to be back in the water again....and evenmore so as i was joined by Mike. The rest of our time on Railey was spent lazing around drinking coffee and eating delicious indian and thai food.

Yesterday (Friday 9th) we hopped on a bus to Penang, Malaysia. to get here involved another long bus ride but i was quite excited as i did my first ever land border crossing. Malaysia is vastly different from Thailand, upon crossing the border you are instantly aware of the greenery and of the advanced infrastructure of the country....it is obvious that the standard of living is far greater than Thailand.

I got a little too over excited when we headed across the water to Penang and i saw a huge Tesco!!!! Globalization right before your eyes....still havnt managed to persuade mike to do a trip!