The island of Phuket - Pearl of the Andaman sea...

The outskirts of Surat Thani
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I woke up somewhere along the Isthmus of Kra..

That long snake of land that connects Thailand/Burma to lower down Malaysia and Singapore. A sliver of land that is so narrow that at points it is only twenty miles between the Andaman sea and the Gulf of Siam. Outside we trundle past palm trees, towns and the bulbous onion domes of mosques - showing that we are now in the muslime south of the country..

The landscape was peppered with them making it look like a Chinese watercolour

The Thai kids opposite me in the carriage became more brave this morning and their father was proud of them for the little English that they speak. The Thais have been very friendly on this trip and certainly interested in the outside world although the conductors knowledge of Britain seems to be limited to Liverpool wunderkind striker Michael Owen.

Outside the monsoon hasnt quite finished. The sky is clouded over and the clouds ever present. The train had been travelling all night and reached Chaiya late at 9.30am. I was keeping a look out for the stop for Surat Thani and my concern is now getting the correct bus into town and to get out to Phuket. The majority of travellers head for Ko Samui or Ko Phangan from Surat Thani. Surat Thanis train station is quite a way out at Phim Phun. How do I get to Phuket?

Ineedn't have worried as soon as I stepped from the tain I was approached by a tout - he said he will take me to an agency to get the bus. I have no qualms about using tour agencies as it still works out very cheap and cuts out the hassle of doing it yourself at bus stations (but I am aware they are taking a large cut of the ticket price). The guys songthaew was parked nearby and I was whisked into town to Cham Weng tours. I paid for an airconditioned bus to Phuket and an hour and a half later one pulled up and filled to capacity. We pushed off at 10.30am and drove through the streets of Surat Thani.

It was a four hour journey to Phuket Town. The omens do not look good - heavy rain has followed us down the Isthmus of Kra. But the scenery was fantastic. The classic Asian landscape of buffaloes in paddyfields with a backdrop of rolling green mountains. Thailands Phang Nga Bay is famous for the limestone karsts which loom out of the sea. Around here they grow out of the land so, crag in jungle vegetation and wreathed in cloud they simply took your breath away. The landscape was peppered with them making it look like a Chinese watercolour and the cloud cover was so low it touched these karsts with weaves of mists. Simply lovely..

After Phang Nga town where you can do tours of the bay we crossed the bridge to Phuket. Obviously wealthy I noticed the number of country clubs and gold courses dotting the landscape. We are entering the realm of the the package tourist here. We pulled into Phuket Town about 3.30pm and there was a feeding frenzy of tuk-tuks after the newly arrived trade. Mine took me to Kata Beach for 250 baht. Kata Beach is on the west side of the island and I made the driver check out two hotels before settling on Lucky Guesthouse. 250 baht a night gets me a huge double bed, shower and balcony. I've spent two days on the road and need a shower and sleep.

That evening I crossed the Taina Road for a western bar and watched the England game on the overhead TV. Talking with a Brit expat he is saying the monsoon is taking its time to clear and may rain another week..

What am I going to do on Kata Beach if it rains all week? Maybe I should have gone to Ko Samui?