I left London on an Etihad Airways plane, and after a short transfer in Abu Dhabi, arrived at Bangkok’s International Airport just before 6am. Even though it was still dark, it was 28C, 24 degrees hotter than where I was 24-hours earlier, so after collecting my Bag, the first point of order was to get changed into something befitting the climate. After a trip up to where my father lives, I came back to Central Bangkok with my father and his wife to catch the train down to Surat Thani.

The overnight train south, was surprisingly comfortable, given that a 2nd class seat/bed was under a tenner, for a trip that was to take over 11 hours. About an hour before we arrived at Surat Thani, we were treated to a nice sunrise over the flatlands of Southern Thailand. When we got off the train, we were greeted with hordes of people offering taxis, buses etc to various places, but we were looking for a bus connection to the port of Don Sak, for the Seatran Ferry over to Koh Phanang.

Unfortunately Seatran don’t operate a bus to/from the rail station, so you are left with the chaotic cowboys from Phantip Travel Co, who usually connect to another company that run a boat that barely floats, and may or may not get you to Phanang. But on this occasion, after much wrangling, they took us and about 50 other people to the awaiting Seatran ship. The ferry is comfortable and safe, and all you’d expect from an inter-island ferry service.

The main, and possibly only reason, people come to Koh Phanang is of course the Full Moon Party. This huge beach party draws people from all over the world on the night of the Full Moon, and takes place on Haad Rin Beach, away from the main population of the island. The bars along the beachfront play various types of music from Trance to House, Garage to what is popularly known as hip-hop (although I’m not convinced that it can really be classed as music).

The night was an incredible experience; the beach was packed with people dancing to various different beats, by far the best of which was played from a club called Vinyl, which was banging out Trance to an eager bunch of revellers. My companion for the night was a lovely woman called Pla, originally from Northern Thailand, but living and working on the island, she was introduced to me earlier in the day by my father’s wife, Thip.

The next day we left Phanang for Samui, unfortunately Pla could not accompany me as she had to work the next day, but after sorting out some transportation, a less than perfect Isuzu jeep, we found our bungalow. I use the word Bungalow in its loosest possible sense, it was more like a shed with a bathroom, and in mine they were gradually parting company.

The beaches on Samui are simply beautiful, they really do have to be seen and experienced. Whatever the time of day, whatever your persuasion, whether its toasting your skin, swimming in warm tropical waters, or gazing at the some of the most beautiful sunsets you’re likely to see, Samui is the place. Sounds touristy, but its true.

Not only is the sand soft, although very hot under foot, but also for the most part the beaches are clean, not polluted like UK beaches. Many of the beaches have bars and restaurants, but some are just quiet and tranquil.

That night we went to the town of Lamai, which along with Chawang, are the main focal points on the island, with the majority of the nightlife. Lamai is the lesser of the two, but its still lively enough for the average farrang (their word for foriegner). Chawang is like Lamai, but on a much larger scale, and is packed with tourists most of the time. Each has a collection of little Soi’s (side streets) where there are many bars and little restaurants, one of which had an interesting sign directing you to the toilets. They also have issues with motorcyclists and safety, although they could've put it better on this sign (spot the deliberate mistake).

From here we headed back to the mainland on a late afternoon crossing, which gave us yet another beautiful sunset, this time over a tee-pee shaped rock. Once back on the mainland, we headed south to Georgetown in Malaysia. This trip might not have been so much of an adventure if my father had booked the right train tickets, but eventually we found our hotel, and an interesting curry house.

Shopping takes on a totally different meaning in Malaysia. Three huge malls on 6 levels, each packed with various stores, selling goods for a fraction of the price they are in the UK, and yet maintaining the same quality. I found 6 DVDs at £1.25-£2 each and also a couple of CDs for just over a pound each. After two days here, we chartered a minibus to take us back to Hat Yai, and from there we caught train 36 back to Bangkok, but the journey wasn’t what we expected.

After a smooth overnight journey, I woke up at around 7.20am, and after getting the attendant to put the bed back to two seats; I sat down and opened a bottle of water. No sooner had I done that, the train suddenly braked in a cadence motion, pulling me forward 5 times, and launching my bottle down the train like a missile. Once we had stopped it was clear we’d either hit something or someone had pulled the emergency cord, but as I hadn’t seen any, that ruled that out.

I first looked out of the left side of carriage, but being right at the back of the train, all I could really see was a cloud of dust, but upon looking out of the other side, I could see a loco pointing towards me, and the first few cars had been derailed. My first instinct was that we’d hit an oncoming train, as the line is single track, but once I got out and started to walk down the left had side of the train, it became clear that we had in fact hit a truck loaded with about 3 ton grain, hence the sudden stop.

The force of the impact sent the loco into a nearby paddy field, the luggage van was on its side, and the 1st class Car 2 was also badly hit. There wasn’t a lot left of the truck it hit, some pieces of the engine on one side, the bonnet on the other, and bits of the back of the truck on each side of the train, which suggested it hit the truck square on. Sadly due the truck driver’s mistake, 6 people lost their lives, and another 30 or so were injured, but the man in black waved us on this time, despite the fact we were in Car 13. An article on the train crash can be read here.

To get to Bangkok, we had to get a coach from the nearby town of Ratchaburi, but we eventually got to our hotel, once I’d met up with Pla in the central station. That night, after surviving the train crash, a good drink was in order, and so we went to the Brick Bar, one of many bars in Bangkok that have live music. We arrived to the sound of the Hoochie Coochie Man and his band, to which followed a band that played Sca. HCM is one of Thailand’s best guitarists, and was very good, but there was more to follow.

We then went to the Saxophone pub, undoubtedly the best jazz and blues pub in Thailand. When we arrived possibly the best guitarist in the world was playing, namely Mr Chai. Unfortunately he was nearing the end of his gig, but we had intended to go there again on the last night.

On my final day we decided to take a boat trip up the river to the central pier. Along the way we saw some interesting sights of Bangkok, including some interesting boats.

That night, after some preliminary drinking, we headed back to the Saxophone, and Cheep Chanok, an acoustic guitarist, was just finishing his set. He was a good warm up act, although he only plays at weekends. The highlight of the night was of course Mr Chai and his Blues Maniacs, who were excellent. Mr Chai was quite easily the best guitarist I have ever seen, he could blow Clapton off the stage any night.

Unfortunately after this I had to return home, say goodbye to my lovely Thai lady, and head for cold miserable England. As I descended through the cloud that sits permanently over Britain, all I could think of is when I’ll be able to come back, and when I might be able to see Pla again.