Lessons learned

Sorry for the wordiness of this blog of late, but we are having problems uploading photos. Hopefully, we will be able to do this soon.

In the meantime, here are some pearls of wisdom for travelling in south-east asia.

• Unless it's an airline ticket, or a bus ticket that's likely to get booked out, never plan ahead. Even for an airline ticket, you only have to book a few days in advance. Case in point: the airport hotel in Bangkok we booked 6 weeks in advance was no longer open by the time we returned.
• It's also likely to be more expensive if you book in advance. For example - we booked a boat from Ko Phi Phi to Phuket before we got to Ko Phi Phi, and found that we could get it 100 Baht cheaper on the island.
• If a local is being super nice to you, it is unfortunately probably because they want something from you.
• Always insist on the taxi meter. it will be cheaper!
• Always be prepared that something you booked may be cancelled.
• you get what you pay for - but not always. Like when we got the uber expensive bus from Bangkok to Krabi, only to be unceremoniously dumped at a tourist bureau at 6am in the morning, 2 hours from our destination, and then be carted from place to place until we ended up on a public bus which took 4 hours to reach the same destination, stopping at every town along the way (clearly, the bus was to Krabi was overbooked and they needed to offload some passengers)
• never expect to be told what is going on. you have to ask. and ask early before they do whatever it is they intend to do.
• if you have time - shop around. there are huge variations in price on everything, even sunscreen. With accommodation, if we weren't happy the first night, we usually only had to look around for a little while before we found something that we were happier with and was cheaper.
• 7-11s in Thailand seem to be the cheapest for stuff. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't support the independent businesses!
• Talk to people. You learn alot from your fellow travellers and even more from the locals.
• Smaller restaurants with short menus tend to have good food. If they only have one meal on the menu, even better.
• Read up on where you are going before you get there. (Although you can buy the travel books cheaper there than when you are at home).