After a quick stopover in Sydney to see friends and family, it was time to get moving again.

Our long, slow journey north was about to begin.

Although, technically, our first stop involved flying rather than anything particularly slow.

Destination: Kuala Lumpur.

And, because apparently I now plan international travel around dentists, more dental work.

This time we flew Malaysia Airlines, an airline neither of us had flown with before.

We were very pleasantly surprised.

The plane was lovely and new, the seats comfortable and the service excellent. Everything worked, everyone was pleasant and we arrived feeling considerably less battered than sometimes happens after a flight.

I would happily fly with them again.

Arriving back in Kuala Lumpur felt strangely comfortable.

We have been there so many times now that returning to K.L. is a little like putting on an old pair of slippers.

Familiar.

Easy.

And requiring absolutely no thought whatsoever.

We knew the routine.

Train to KL Sentral.

Grab to the apartment.

And voilà.

Home.

Well, not actually home, obviously, but we had stayed in the same apartment and the same neighbourhood so many times that it came surprisingly close.

There is something rather nice about arriving in a huge city and not having to work anything out.

No studying maps.

No wandering around with luggage while insisting that the apartment was definitely supposed to be somewhere nearby.

No standing on a street corner turning the phone around several times in the hope that the blue dot might suddenly become more helpful.

We simply arrived.

We were only in K.L. for a few days this time. The main purpose of the visit was to have measurements taken for my crowns before continuing the dental saga on our return.

But a few days was quite long enough to revisit some old favourites.

First stop was our favourite café.

The young guy who owns it knows us now and, almost before we had sat down, our coffees appeared with the usual smile.

This is the sort of service I could become dangerously accustomed to.

We also managed to fit in both of the dumpling restaurants we have come to love.

Obviously.

There are priorities when travelling.

Dentist appointment attended.

Coffee consumed.

Dumplings eaten.

Kuala Lumpur complete.

Before long we were back at the airport and getting on another plane, this time bound for Bangkok.

We arrived in the early afternoon and caught a taxi to Alley and Pier, our hotel in an area of Bangkok we have been returning to for more than fifteen years.

And I love it.

I have always loved it.

Once this part of Bangkok was almost exclusively the territory of backpackers.

These days things have changed. It is busier, more polished in places and mainstream tourism has well and truly discovered it.

I don’t particularly care.

There is still enough madness left.

It is still a little grubby.

It is still ridiculously busy.

There are people everywhere, food everywhere, traffic everywhere and something happening in almost every direction.

And somehow, amongst all of that, it feels comfortable.

It is our Bangkok.

We know where to eat.

We know where to drink.

We know where to find coffee.

And, perhaps most importantly, we know which streets actually lead somewhere and which ones merely appear to.

We were not staying long.

Just long enough for our usual Bangkok fix.

Dinner at Hemlock.

Another meal at the little restaurant whose name we still don’t know despite having eaten there repeatedly.

A drink at the bar near our room.

And coffee at the brilliant café downstairs.

Some cities demand sightseeing.

Bangkok, for us these days, is more about slipping back into familiar routines.

We have seen the temples.

We have seen the palaces.

Now we are perfectly happy finding a table somewhere we know, ordering something good to eat and watching Bangkok carry on around us.

And then, almost as quickly as we had arrived, it was time to leave again.

Our Bangkok fix was complete.

The bags were packed.

A Grab was ordered.

And we headed for the bus station.

This time we were turning south.

Next stop: Prachuap Khiri Khan.

The flights were finished for a while.

Now the slow travelling could really begin.