Bye bye Fi

Sad! After three weeks travelling together, it's time for the father/daughter combo to split. Fi needs to get back to PP and SR to finish off her VSA work and say good bye (again!) to her Cambodian family and friends. Meanwhile, I have Bangkok and southern Thailand to plan.

After the fun of the ping pong show, the morning of Sunday 23 December is a bit of an anti-climax. We wander together up and down bustling Khaosan Road, filled with street stalls of all descriptions. Fi's after bikinis and dresses, and finally commits to a few, so she can now appear on a Kiwi beach with a bit of modesty (though precious little, as the bikinis are Asian sizings).

My attention is drawn to T-shirts. Any God's quantity of crass OTT Ts - the one that appeals to me most has a picture of a woman's crotch on the left, labelled Good Bush, and a picture of George on the right entitled Bad Bush. I'm tempted to buy it and add an annotation at the top - Not Bush, with an arrow pointing up. But it's a bit tacky, and I can't think where I'd wear it.

Big hugs at the bus stop, and we wave good bye. I spend a bit of time having a wander, and check out the local Youth Hostel. But it's a waste of time, so decide to stay in Khaosan Rd in the same room Fi and I shared. A stop by a hairdresser sees my shaggy appearance restored to my usual trim, dapper self, and all for 100 baht ($3) for a shampoo and cut. Not bad - even Bob the Barber in Birkenhead can beat that!

I start thinking about my itinerary. Fi's early departure has given me a few extra days up my sleeve. I can now:

• Do the River Kwai trip
• Fly to Burma
• Spend a few days on the beach at Phuket
• Spend extra time in Malaysia and perhaps get across to Borneo to see the orangutans.

I mull over the options and decide against Burma. It'll take three days for a visa, and the political situation is still volatile. My preference would be to fly in to Yangon and travel south overland, crossing over into Phuket, but that's not possible. A shame - it's a lovely country, and lacks Thailand's commercialism.

I check out River Kwai options - it can be combined with elephants (done that), bamboo rafting (looks boring after kayaking), and tigers. Tigers!

A few days earlier Fi and I read an article in the Bangkok Post about an unfortunate incident in India where a man had crossed a safety barrier then stuck his arm inside the cage to get an unfettered photo. The tigers promptly seized his arm, ripped it off at the shoulder, and he subsequently bled to death. I think I need to see these big cats close up! I book the day of Christmas Eve accordingly.

Now I need to get to Phuket. It's a long way - further than Chiang Mai to Bangkok. With the horrors of my recent train trip fresh in my mind, I choose the environmentally unfriendly option and purchase an air ticket. The cheapest of course is the 12Go airline. "Didn't they crash at Phuket recently?", I hear you ask. Why yes, but I'm a firm believer in "Lessons learned", and I'm sure they won't be repeating that mistake again in a hurry. Lightning never strikes twice etc.

So Christmas Day will see me doing a morning tour of Bangkok, followed by a dash to the airport and hopefully some time on a Phuket beach with a beer in my hand. I can think of worse ways to spend Christmas.