Postcard from Phi Phi

This is a bit more like it. The teaching course has ended and now, finally, it's time to relax.

About a 40km boat ride east of Phuket is Phi Phi Don, the larger of two islands that appear out of nowhere in the middle of the Andaman Sea. The smaller one, Phi Phi Leh, is where The Beach was filmed, chosen no doubt for its idyllic isolation. We sailed past. It looked like a watery version of an Asda car park, packed with boats of all kinds queuing-up around the bay as film-struck sun seekers jostled for room on the iconic sand.

The main village on Phi Phi Don is unashamedly touristy. Brightly saronged and shorted tourists are flushed along narrow streets past shops selling all manner of tat till they tumble out onto the main beach on the other side. As wall sized photos in some of the cafes show, this is one of the spots most devastated by the tsunami in 2004. You'd not think it today: the place is buzzing and new buildings are still being thrown up before your very eyes.

I hopped into a taxi - a long boat water taxi - and headed a bit further east to the quieter Long Beach instead. I proceeded to get myself thoroughly sunburnt ending up looking like a matchstick: skinny white body with a bright red head.

As I was gently grilled on both sides, I had time to reflect on a fantastic five weeks in Thailand. I've mentioned the smiles before but, especially coming back to China, it's the attention paid to manners and politeness that I'll most miss.

There's one other clear distinction between China and Thailand. In the latter, foreigners are known as farang and in the former, laowai. But the Chinese use their word in a vaguely pejorative way and normally when they assume you don't know what they're saying. But the Thais go out of their way to embrace outsiders with, for instance, taxis carrying stickers hollering the slogan "I love farang". It's still oddly distasteful to be referred to as a foreigner in the first place but at least it's in a positive way!

A final difference: descending towards Chengdu airport, blue skies gave way to smog. It'll be a while till I see stars at night again. But, still, I've really enjoyed my five week long breath of fresh air.