Have you ever said or done something that was not, how shall we put this, fully thought through, in a sober, responsible, and grown-up sort of way? Perhaps not in the best taste? I have. To put it bluntly, I have behaved like an absolute, fully certified and signed-up idiot. I’ve had ‘absolute prat’ moments. Let me give you an example (a carefully selected one, as I am holding back on the really, really bad ones). A couple of decades ago at a student party I met three young women from Bicester. Read more

In Thailand, tourism is big business. For a country that relied so heavily on fishing and crop growing, making meagre money in the world marketplace and battling to retain a stable economy for years, its holiday industry is absolutely essential. It took off on the mainland, high-rise hotels appearing in major cities and local landmarks morphing into tourist attractions almost overnight. It eventually spread to the outlying islands, with the late 1980’s bringing the first intrepid divers and surfers Read more

Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, is a bustling metropolis of nearly 10 million inhabitants and like New York, it’s often cited as ‘the city that never sleeps’. As a gateway to Southeast Asia, Bangkok attracts close to 20 million tourists each year, from those returning for the umpteenth time to backpackers embarking on their maiden adventure in the Far East. But the city has also become increasingly popular as a brief stopover for those travelling further afield to destinations such as Australia Read more

Thailand is a wonderfully unique country, littered with tropical islands, adorned with sparkling coastlines and towered over by dramatic limestone cliffs that attract several million tourists to its shores throughout the year. It also has a long established reputation as a vibrant party location, and all too often it’s this fact, rather than the beauty and culture it possesses, that entices travellers to visit. It’s perhaps the fault of its cheaper currency – something us Westerners are always Read more