Krabi - Arriving into Nopparat Harbour after such a fantastic voyage from Koh Phi Phi, half of me was sad to leave and the other half excited to reach our home for the next month and explore the provinces of Krabi. So Jade and I now have 8 new friends in tow to Ao Nang , Krabi .Settling in was easy enough after we had a pick up from the harbour from Robert the owner of the house we are renting . Our house is 3km from the main action of Ao nang; it's set amongst the Rubber tree plantations and has huge towering limestone cliffs in the distance… with the sun beating down on us, it is just what the doctor ordered. Oh and there's a large swimming pool with ping pong table, nearly forgot about that- Jade is ecstatic about this, The condo itself is very spacious and has a large garden… Jade and I are really pleased with it .

After unpacking our bags and cooling off in our air conditioned living room , It was time to test out the scooter that we are using to get to and from our condominium, she drives like a beaut and I am driving even better. Jade is holding on for dear life as we weave in and out of traffic making our way into Ao Nang, although we didn't make it all the way in as Jade was too scared to let me go any further so we opted for a small local restaurant closer to us. The food was absolutely delicious, Jade had a Massaman curry and I had? Mmm, all I know is that it was in the top 5 spiciest dishes that has passed my lips!

Jade and I slept like a dream, It was after 12 before we crawled out of our pits! Our longest lie in yet. So with Jade a little bit more geared up for being a passenger on the bike ("only slightly" she has just grumbled), we head down to meet Jen and Sam .We came back up with the other 2 following behind and Jade and Jen spent the afternoon lapping up the sun in the swimming pool, whilst Sam and I went off exploring around Krabi. We went to try and find Phil and Katie who were exploring the forest nearby , Sam lead the way and the next thing we were off road on our scooters , mine actually gave in and started to go backwards as it was so bloody steep, so it was time to head back on to the main roads!

After our fun afternoon on the scooters we all meet up in the family restaurant in Ao Nang, every dish is 50 baht (£1) amazing!! This was great value for money! So after our dinner is devoured we all decide that we are going to make our way to the emerald pools and the hot springs tomorrow, which are situated about 50 km south of Krabi Town.

We all meet at 9am to head off on our biking adventure, first stop Krabi Town, Jade still not keen on being a passenger one little bit , but within an hour we were at Krabi Town. It is a Small Town situated on a river, Krabi is a southern province on Thailand's Andaman seaboard with perhaps the country's oldest history of continued settlement, due to artefacts found in the area. The streets are lined with vendors selling all kinds of snacks, the smell of barbeques fill the ai… from the sweet smell of the bananas, to the eye watering chilli chicken lollipops. After a short walk around Krabi Town we head towards the Hot springs and Emerald pools which are about 35km south of the town itself. Whilst driving out of the town we come to realise that our next part of our journey is going to be on a 3 lane motorway, this is terrifying for myself and Jade, but not so for the experienced drivers like Perry and James. So after a few wrong turns and a petrol stop we are now at The hot springs, situated at Khlong Thom. We park up and head straight down to the springs. A short walk through the nature reserve and we see many other tourists enjoying the spring which is famous for the healing water. All of us are in within seconds… it really is hot! The slow spring meandering over rocks and into another lagoon below. We all are now sliding down into the next lagoon and it is really cold down here, somewhat refreshing though after the heat from the springs. Forgetting to mention that we all knew we were coming to the hot springs today phill forgot to bring any form of swim wear and was wearing jeans… this didn't stop him from joining in on the action. He just jumped straight in with jeans on. There was a rope swing which was hanging over the cold lagoon which James , Chris and Perry where swinging from, all of us were having such a laugh and enjoying the springs and Lagoon. Next stop we head to the Emerald Pools also known as Sra Morakot, which are just another short scooter ride in the National Park here in Khlong Thom. After parking up in the middle of this lush green tropical delight with the sun beating down on us, we are all making a mad dash for the Emerald Pool. En route we are shaded from the sun by this vast lowland tropical forest. A big opening and the Emerald Pool with its crystal clear waters are calling us… we all dive in. It is an amazing feat at how clear the pool is. We are all frolicking around, it was such a fun filled day and also very nice to be cooled down from the scorching heat of Thailand.

The next couple of days are spent relaxing at our house, as the weather has not been so great, We are all eagerly awaiting a sunny day as we want to visit Railay bay, which is just a short longtail boat ride around the peninsula of Ao Nang -in fact it is only accessible by boat. The village itself is a pedestrian's dream, as there are no cars.

So the weather has cleared and we all meet up at the front of Ao Nang beach ready to catch our Long tail boat. The journey is spectacular; the Cliffs towering above us and the sun shimmering on the sea. As we pull around into the bay it is a sight I will never forget, Railay is flanked by high limestone cliffs on either side. We enter the bay cautiously which is great as we get a view of the three 2 other beaches before we get to main beach. It really is blistering hot as we are making our way off the boat. Karen and Perry, who have been here before, are leading the way by paths through the large resorts and by trails through thin jungle cover; aiming for Phra nang beach. First we walk through to the East side of Railay which has a beach, although it is not good for swimming as it is full with dense mangroves. So our group is nearly at our destination, Karen saying that it is worth the long trek. We round the final corner and come across an opening on the side off the cliff, with many people gathering round and looking upwards, "this is the view point" said Perry and we all look thinking "what the *?!@!" … It looks treacherous. I am somewhat nervous but also very excited to make this hill climb. Jade and Jen opt to go to the beach instead of making the ascent. We all don some mosquito spray and take a few glugs of water… Its onward and upwards . We are sweating like you wouldn't believe. It is hot, humid and exhausting in this heat, the climb is full with ropes so you can take some of the weight off my now aching legs. The near-vertical climb itself took us about 20 minutes and then a short walk through the jungle to make it to the view point. It was so worth all the effort and hard work, the sight is fantastic you can see both Railay and East Railay with the hotels and land connecting in the middle, surrounded by huge colourful limestone cliffs, whilst we were up there we were encountered by a different species of monkey , not to sure what they were but they were so cute with white rings around their eyes and mouth. The descent from the view point was just as treacherous, but we all made it back down safe and sound.

Now to Phra Nang beach. This broad strip of white sand, was voted one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. It has jaw-dropping spectacular scenery and is an excellent swimming beach as Sam and I found out! We could watch the rock climbers climb right off the beach. Have a massage if you fancied, I am quite surprised not to have found Jade and Jen having one! There was a range of foods to eat from one of the boats parked up with Thai ladies cooking away in this heat - how they do it, it is beyond me? This was a great place to spend a lazy or not-so-lazy day after our Mountain trekking. It still thankfully lacks all the things that spoil a beach: pollution, traffic, noise, over-enthusiastic hawkers, jet-skis and lager louts. So whilst in the sea with Sam, I notice the others walking to the far side of the beach towards the cliffs so Sam and I swim over towards them. It looks like we are going cave exploring. After a short swim back we all laze around and lap up the sun. I have just remembered after writing all this that Phillip was unable to attend Railay as he is well and truly injured after an accident on his scooter last night , I won't go into it too much , but he can hardly walk ! Silly boy. Anyway what an incredible day.

We had an early start to the day as we are going on a fishing trip around Chicken Island for half a day. Steve, my friend from Newquay, arrived last night and is joining me, Perry and Sam for the extravaganza, Perry says the first person to catch a fish has to get the beers in ..! The boat driver to my annoyance for the first hour of the expedition has been trying to catch some bait - he has caught none! But we manage to, whilst miles out at sea, buy some squid from a passing fisherman in his long tail boat, so now it was full speed ahead to the coast of Chicken Island. Game on, we all drop our lines and ha.. amazing- first cast and Sams caught a beautiful blue coloured parrot fish , So it looks like Sam is getting the beers in! We move on to another destination as there doesn't seem to be many fish here. We drop our lines again and I cannot stop pulling up the fish; Perry and Steve have both caught one each Perry was truly distraught as he is somewhat competitive, but the true competition lies between Sam and I. He lost! I caught 12 fish in total! Ok so they were nothing to write home about, (well actually I couldn't wait to tell Adam all about the fishing trip). So armed with 20 odd fish we head to get some food before first stopping to see the girls who were all getting massages on Ao nang beach front, Jades back was making some unusual cracking sounds! At the restaurant the waiters were very intrigued to what we had caught. So after our meals we were going to gut and bbq the fish, but realising just how tired we were, we instead chose to trade them with the restaurant for some Ice shakes, what a deal.

Soon all of the Geoffs have left for Koh Phangan and Samui to spend Xmas and new year's together, Jade and I little bit gutted to be honest but we have Heather and Simon arriving tonight Jade's friend from Uni. Anyway we'll see them for NYE.

With the gang now departed, we show Heather and Simon around Ao Nang and what it has to offer they rent scooters too as it makes it all a lot more accessible. I cook dinner for Steve, Hev and Si we all sit around trading our stories of travels.