
You could never, ever describe Khao Lak as pretty – it’s a strip mall, happily strung out along dusty old N4 North to Takupua. If you’re in Khao Lak, you’re here for one reason – diving.

You could never, ever describe Khao Lak as pretty – it’s a strip mall, happily strung out along dusty old N4 North to Takupua. If you’re in Khao Lak, you’re here for one reason – diving.

Sadly, I was off Phi Phi on the 9am ferry without spending daybreak hanging out with reef sharks. But, big bright blue skies made the ferry trip over to Phuket an early morning pleasure.

In theory, I’ve got to find out how to get from Trang to Kuantong Pier, then bag a space on a longtail to Ko Mook, then find my way across the island to Had Farang bungalows on the West side.

With just 36 hours in Amritsar, I was up and out early, GT-bound. After the chilled-out traveller hangouts of Manali and Mcleod Ganj and a bunch of one-goat Himalayan villages in between, the bustle of Amritsar was a shock – almost Delhi-lite. Obviously a busy commercial town rather than just tourist centre, rickshaw journeys in…