Ok,
it has been a week or three since my last post, and what a great few weeks it has been! I completed my cruise ship trip on the Sun Princesstotally great, apart from gaining 5kgs. I ate maybe 6 meals a day, call me Mr Piggy if you want, but I also went to the gym everyday. I would recommend a cruise to everyone.

Of course, a cruise is not totally without its downside. My sister-in-law tells me that my 5 year old nephew now expects a printed menu at breakfast, with a dozen menu options! Way to go kid.

I disembarked from the ship in Singapore. I originally planned to stay a few days in Sing, but when I went to book my bus to Thailand the guy behind the counter told me that there was a bus leaving in 1/2 an hour, so I thought for 1/2 a sec, and then bought a ticket. In reality, apart from shopping, and I am not much of a shopper, Sing is not terribly exciting.

I spent an overnight on the bus, exiting in the southern Thai town of Hatyai ('Hard-Yai'). It is just across the Malaysia/Thai border. It is a poor town, but people are busy and things get down. Dangerous? People always ask this, and the answer No! The greatest danger you will face in s.e. Asia is the traffic. No joke. There is some ongoing civil unrest in the region, between Muslims and the dominant Thais, but it is difficult to say how much is real and how much hype.

Hatyai is not a major tourist hangout, for westerners, however there are some tourists, 99% from Malaysia and Sing. I saw less than a dozen white folk in 4 days. There are a few things to see, mainly religious sites, temples and the like. After a day or so I found myself falling into a quiet routine, late breakfast, wander around, read, relax. All good fun.

I then booked a bus to Bangkok, and got ripped off, in a typical tourist move. Frak, you would think that I would not fall for these things but I did, having seen it a 1,000 times before! I walked into the bus station, and a guy said to me, come with me, I will sell u a ticket. He then took me to his family bus booking agency across the road, and sold me a pricey ticket for a VIP bus which did not in fact exist. When I came to get onto my bus I saw it was a 'normal' bus, but he was not to be found . Alas -- the wickedness of the world.

Overnight to Bangkok, and from their a two hour taxi ride to Pattaya. I returned to my fav guest house run by a cool English guy who has a wife in Thailand and a wife in the UK, both of whom know about each other. Does that make him very smart or the opposite?

Pattaya is a fun place, cool and relaxing or totally the opposite. Your choice. Yes, there are hookers, but there are hookers everywhere in the world, and there are also lots of 'normal' Thai girls who want to hook up with western men. The reasons: money, social status, and Thai men are disrespectful and abusive to women.

Pat town also has a wide variety of visitors from every corner of the world, and Pat has a friendly social environment. You can sit down in a small bar (there are 100s) and find yourself chating to a Russian, American and someone from France. Cool.

I will be staying here in Pat for a month or so and then head eastwards into the less touristy areas of Thailand. I have a load of friends and acquaintances to meet and greet, and still many things I want to see and do.

I posted some pics of my travels to date in my photo section, under the title 'south east Asia'. Take a look.

Jog-dee-krap (good luck, in Thai)