3 October
This morning was spent packing my suitcase etc. I checked out of my hotel and then went to the main road and flagged down a taxi. The driver pulled up. He was a balding Chinese looking man of about 45 years with a pony tail and pointed beard.
“Can you take me to Don Mung?” I asked. He nodded and I loaded my suitcase into the boot and then got in.

“Ah, er you don’t need meter?” he suggested hopefully.

“Yes, meter!” I said firmly in Thai.

“Oh,” he said disappointedly and turned it on. “I thought you were a foreigner…”

We spent the journey in pleasant chit chat. He told me that he was half Chinese, that he was from Bangkok and that people from the South and from Isan were “not to be trusted”. The women were “worse than the men”, he finished. I thanked him for his advice. By the time we’d reached the airport, the meter stood at 167. I gave him 180 baht and told him to keep the change. We both departed on our respective ways, invigorated.

I flew with Thai Air and had a good and uneventful flight. We arrived at Krabi International Airport on time and I took a cab to the Grand Tower Inn. It was a different world from Bangkok. The roads were good, the traffic light and orderly and everywhere was so clean. I sat back in the cream leather seat of the taxi and silently rejoiced. This was a place to write.

I checked in and then went to eat at Pizza Firenzi– a wonderful Italian restaurant run by a Thai woman who is married to a retired Italian stockbroker. After a delicious meal, I met with my friend Dook.