Well, "a bit of a holiday" it certainly was! After escaping the hubbub of Bangkok we explored the Bridge over the River Kwai area and called into a floating market en-route. Sadly Kanchanaburi (the 'bridge') appears to have touches of disneyworld about it and was -largely- disappointing. The epic film 'Bridge over the River Kwai' was one of the first films we ever saw (how old are we?) and we had eagerly anticipated a nostalgic time in the area but, guess what? No Alec Guiness to be seen anywhere! (We know some people out there will know what we mean!).

An overnight train (the third so far) bought us to Krabi Province and a short connecting mini-bus journey took us to our bungalows near the Ao Nang beach. We said this would be a holiday in a holiday to celebrate Doreen's birthday and it certainly was. We won't bore you with details, suffice to say the four days there were 'golden'. The best beaches ever, magnificent sea landscapes, awesome seafood dinners -generally a memorable time! The photo's should bear testament to the 'chilling out' time we had.

We have now moved into Malaysia on the culturally vibrant island of Penang. on the way we passed a sign indicating the village of 'Kaki Bukit' -strangely neither of us felt the need to call in........we'd already been!

Today (Friday 13th April) is the half-way point of our little 'away from home' adventure (sorry to 'rub it in') and the present tour has only 8 days to run. After that we 'hit' Australia and move around independantly -yes please!

Thanks once again for all the messages and particularly for the birthday wishes for Doreen. Leah, the photos of Cerys are fantastic -can't believe how quickly she's grown -a real little bruiser! How has she's become so proficient with a pen?