Well we can certainly feel the difference in temperature now we’re
further south. It was way above 30 today & really sticky because of
the occassional heavy rain shower.

We spent the day researching our next move which, it turns out, will
be more tricky than we thought because surprisingly these gorgeous
paradise islands are really expensive. Almost 3 times what we are
paying here on the mainland so we may just move around the coast here
for a bit longer.

Otherwise we explored Krabi town, including the brand new temple
below. Ben had a very successful haircut (although we missed the
opportunity to take a photo like David’s in Sri Lanka!) and we had a
lovely tea from various stalls at the night market. Yummy!

Super easy journey to Krabi. Off for dinner now. Will post more
tomorrow!

Last night we met back up with our new Australian friends for a
farewell drink and dinner. We drank at Bia Hoi corner on tiny plastic
chairs that quickly got dragged off the street every time the crappest
cops in the world went past and then headed to a place packed full of
locals for food. Each table was given a big plate of meat strips,
veggies and a parafin burner and, again on tiny plastic chairs, we
cooked our own dinner (well Michael did cos he’s a chef in Sydney).
When the strips & veggies were done we grabbed a few, stuck them in a
baguette and shoved it in our mouths. Delicious! A few more beers
followed before we had to say goodbye.

Today we had a very welcome lie-in followed by a nice hearty
breakfast. Then we had a last wander around the city before going to
watch the wonderfully tacky water puppet show (see photo). Some parts
were pretty clever and it was definitely worth going but I doubt we’d
rush back for a second performance!

Early start tomorrow before our flight so will have a quiet evening we
think.

We’re back! What a trip. We booked a 3 day, 2 night trip on the Ha
Long Bay with Kangaroo Cafe which we almost couldn’t do until a family
of 4 Aussies walked in & made up the numbers for a trip on Monday.
Thank goodness for them!

We set off on Monday morning with another 2 people who had also booked
on the tour. This meant we had a 12 person boat with only 8 on it, so
we had loads of room. The boat was one of the nicest places we’ve
stayed in so far and best of all the other 6 people on the boat with
us were brilliant company. So good in fact that Robyn and Ken from
Australia (happy 60th birthday again Robyn) have kindly offered us a
bed for when we’re in Sydney!

While in Ha Long Bay we saw caves, swam in the sea, saw monkeys,
relaxed, but most of all ate lots & lots of really good food, mostly
provided by the staff on the boat. It’s gonna be tricky going back on
our budget now we’re back!

We have another day in Ha Noi tomorrow & then we fly to Krabi in
Thailand on Friday. Now off to meet the Aussies for a farewell couple
of beers.