Having extolled the virtues of land travel we flew today down to the beach at Phuket. The rain poured from a laden grey sky. So much for that sunny welcome to the beach. The clouds parted to reveal blue sky and after a relaxing afternoon mum and I had a very pleasant walk on the beach at sunset. The surfers out on the breakers; paddlers silhouetted in the water against a pink and yellow sunset sky, full of beautiful cloud formations. A week ahead to relax at the beach, and the good news is that there are some companies still taking out divers, even though it is monsoon season!