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Large chicken and strange menu choices Probably the best way to get to Phnom Penh is by bus from the centre of Siem Reap. It takes a few hours, but it avoids the hassle of flight and the inevitable long journey from the airport to the city. We arrived at the Giant...

Siem Reap I appreciate it's been a while, but the name of the city must wind up the Thai people. Siem Reap references a victory by the Khmer King Ang Chan I over Siamese forces around 1530. The translation of the name is Siam defeated. I suppose it is hard to change...

The other Pangkor Island We had been ogling at the Island across the water for months, as if it were the jewel in the crown of Perak - an unattainable holiday destination for those of us with ostensibly too much time on our hands, but in reality too many boat jobs to...

Telang Another day of motoring brought us to Telang, where there is a lovely anchorage if you avert your gaze from all the junk accumulating on the shore. The reason for stopping here was to spend time preparing Jamala to enter Pangkor Marina. Maria usually handles...

Chalong to Kuah There's hot and there's so hot that you go past caring. And that was our state of heatiness on the way past Phi Phi Island from Ko Yao Yai, where we anchored the night before. Maria's head was hotter than a welder's nozzle - hence the t-shirt draped...

Chalong We returned to Chalong so that Maria could get plastered - literally - three weeks after Dr Wipoo wrangled her wrist into a temporary splint. Because the weather here is as unpredictable as a day in politics, we thought it best to get into Chalong Bay sooner...

Nai Harn beach To be clear, Nai Harn Beach isn't a party town - it's the sort of place holidaymakers bask on the beach for a fortnight. But our reason for being here wasn't to bake ourselves pink; it was for more practical purposes. We wanted to run the watermaker in...

Broken in Khelong Bay After almost 8 years of accident-free sailing deposited in the bank of good fortune, we were due for a fall, but this was a big one. We weren't even sailing. Parked up at anchor near Chana Beach, Maria stepped outside to take a photograph of our...

Wind Dodging The wind was forecast to be all over the place after our visit to James Bond Island. So we ended up shuttling between Ko Phanak to shelter from the north-easterly winds and an anchorage near Ao Po Grand Marina to shelter from the westerlies (nice lunch in...

Ko Phanak In beautiful contrast to the clattering racket of Phuket Yacht Haven, we parked for the evening at Ko Phanak and took the dinghy over to the 'bat cave' further up on the west side of the island. Ko Hong The next morning, we sailed (and when I refer to...

Rebak to Phuket Clearing out at Kuha was as smooth as one of Clooney's Nescafe ads. After spending 20 minutes visiting the various officials at the Kuha ferry terminal, we were granted clearance and came away with the paperwork that allowed us to set sail for...

Johor It's impossible to get to Pinetree Marina in Johor without almost circumnavigating Singapore to get there because, in 1919, someone decided to build a causeway between Singapore and Malaysia, with no way through it. And that causeway has a secondary effect,...

Singapore What better way to reminisce about your old stomping ground than starting at the beginning - Orchard Towers - the place where, for some, the magic (and sometimes STDs) happened. Not so much anymore, though. The authorities have put the non-fluffy cuffs on...

Empty Countryside and Busy Roads It isn't all congestion and pollution. Between the cities is countryside like this, photographed through the train window somewhere between Jaipur and Delhi. The reason we travelled back to Delhi by train is that it's the easiest way...

Pearl Palace Heritage Hotel The train ride was disappointing to the point of being miserable. It was too short a journey for a sleeper car, and the bed was less comfortable than a sleeping bag on a peat bog. Lesson learned - don't book a first-class sleeper coach on a...

India's Train System I suspect the modern-day equivalent of the Bletchley Park team would struggle to crack the Indian railway booking system. It required judicious use of a VPN service, tedious trials of booking apps and an awkward customer service interaction to get...

Batam to Singapore Crossing the shipping lanes from Batam to Singapore isn't for the faint of heart or anyone with a heart condition, especially if, like us, your AIS receiver is set to pick up all the ships in the area, whether stopped or not. VTIS (Vessel Traffic...

Home Alone While Maria was in the UK catching pneumonia, I spent most of the three weeks not lying by the pool, catching up on reading, or sleeping, as I had told Maria I would be. Instead, I decided to take care of servicing Jamala, starting with the winches. A job I...