28th December - of all the days to have an early start and hours of traveling ahead of us to get to Krabi, we would have preferred it not to be the morning after a very very late night of celebrations. Had Jay realized what state Dawn would have gotten herself into he would not have booked the tickets and if he could have, would have postponed the bus and boat rides. Onwards we ventured and the seven hour journey can be summed up as Dawn sick on the mini bus to the ferry, fast asleep on the ferry, sick on the transfer coach to Suratthani, and sick again in the mini bus to Krabi town – to make matters worse the only plastic bags available were transparent – and Dawn was adamant to try and hide the fact that she was throwing up in a bag by leaning over into Jay’s lap…as you can imagine Jay was not impressed. Detox has set in now…for how long who knows.

Having got to Krabi we secured a room in Anong beach for the first night with a booking agent in Krabi town as Dawn was in no fit state to be traipsing the streets looking for a room (and it was pouring down). The next day was spent on a motorbike visiting every hotel and guest house in the area trying to find a room for four nights - it was near on impossible, we were laughed out a number of occasions. We gave up shortly after 1pm and headed back to our hotel to check out and have some lunch. For a laugh we asked the hotel next door if they had any vacancies….and yes you guessed it they did. Bloody sods law! We could finally relax and plan our Krabi adventure. Armed with a motorbike and local map we set off to explore the island of Krabi. We visited Fossil Beach which shoreline contained fossilised shells in the rocks. We then hit Krabi Town for lunch and decided to venture to the hot springs in the late afternoon…..now this is where our map scale abilities let us down or the fact that the map did not have a scale. A journey we thought would only take us 20 minutes took us two hours, and we ended up there at 6pm and it was dark. But it was still open so we paid to go in and it was worth it – it was gorgeous and hot – nice and relaxing, which was just what we needed as we had been on the bike for two hours getting blasted with dirt and it had rained.

New Years eve day we ventured on a half day climbing course with king climbers at Railay Bay. We caught a long tail boat over to the bay and got geared up with our harnesses, shoes and chalk bags, a short walk along the bay we were confronted by a set of daunting rock faces. We were pretty nervous as we had only climbed in doors, however, once it was our turn to climb the nerves were overcome with the sheer determination to get to the top. Dawn managed two and a half climbs before her muscles gave out on her, as you can imagine the athlete came out in Jay and he managed four climbs, of which his last one was rated at 6A plus. It was so different to indoor climbing a lot more strenuous and a lot more enjoyable. A very cold banana lassi later and we were back on the long tail boat heading home…..until the boat broke down and we were stranded in the middle of the sea, which the driver and his crew found highly amusing. 20 minutes later we were rescued and towed back in land, so it all ended well. We saw the new year in over a candle lit dinner overlooking the sea, all very romantic. We watched some great firework displays from our balcony. We treated ourselves to a tour of some of the islands the next day which included snorkeling, and finished our Krabi adventure with a hike up 1,237 steps to Tiger Temple.

Happy following our adventures, thanks for messages, Paul, Sylvie great to hear from you.

Off to Ko Phi Phi tomorrow, for maybe a little less adventure and more relaxing….who knows.