Escape from Phuket

We didn't enjoy Phuket quite as much as Samui but that was more us than the island. We had a nice excursion to James Bond island although were disappointed with the size of it. Movie wizardry seems to have pumped up a 30 metre high, 5 metre across rock into a super villain's hideaway. Scaramanga probably bought it sight unseen on the strength of an estate agent's blurb...

"Spacious and secluded Thai island with room for conservatory, high-powered laser, etc. Ideal holiday home or hideaway for international hitman.""

We had hoped to catch the train down from Surat Thani in Thailand there was only one train at 1:30 in the morning. We decided to make it easy on ourselves and get the bus. Three minibuses and ten and a half hours later we were across the border in Butterworth, Malaysia. We knew there were buses every hour so were a bit disappointed to see them coming and going and leaving us behind. We finally snapped when the 4 people who'd arrived after us were placed and we were left behind for the 11:45pm bus. Words were exchanged, temperatures rose; we decided to take our business to the rival firm next door and write off the ticket we had bought. It was then we realised that we were in the grips of the Butterworth Bus Mafia and that the rival company was, in fact, run by the same people. We graciously accepted a place on the 11:45 bus.

And then, at 5am, a mere 20 hours after setting off, we arrived in Kuala Lumpur to take our place on the hostel floor (they were booked solid).

Despite a poor start Malaysia is winning us over. KL is friendly enough and tomorrow we head off to the Cameron Highlands which is, excitingly, tea country.