Final day in Patong. After a lazy day (again) by the pool we headed off to find a coffee shop with cakes for Yvonne. After an extensive search of all available options finally found a spot with good cakes and wifi. We blew the budget and any hope of not gaining weight on iced chocolate, iced coffee and two cakes £££££££!'s. Evening brought us involved in a naval disaster. Okay that might be a slight exaggeration. We were in a beach bar for dinner when a boat was beached and they couldn't get it out of the sea as it was full of water despite a dozen or so Thais, a pickup truck, a big lorry and loads of rope. It's a bit of a metaphor for Patong really they have loads of people and plenty of advantages but it's slowly sinking into the mure.

Every time we compare Patong to Vietnam, Vietnam wins. When we first came here in 2000 we were really taken with it but it's lost its appeal. The hotel here is nice but not as nice as the one in Nha Trang. The staff are all smiles and helpful but nothing seems to get done whereas Emily in Hanoi was the wonder woman of receptionists. The food is spicy and flavoursome but not a varied as we remembered. We think the problem is that Vietnam genuinely wants to attract tourists but Patong has had an endless stream of tourists for that last 20 years and just cares less.