Krabi

We've had a good day at a buddist temple. Climbed 600m (1237 steps to be precise) and got a good view despite the misty conditions. We saw some spectacular limestone caves where monks live and there are some shrines.The children were pleased to see a scorpion and turtle in their natural habitat. If you remember the James bond film "Man with a golden gun" that gives you an idea of the landscape. Excursions and taxi fees aren't as cheap as what the Lonely Planet guide states but we've treated ourselves to a day outing white water rafting and elephant treking tomorrow. Probably the only opportunity we'll get seeing as we aren't able to travel north due to the time constraint that has been forced on us as a result of flying to Kuala lumpur. Kids have been bickering quite a bit (nothing unusual you might say) but i guess the fact they are restricted is showing and we'll head to a beach and have a few days where they can let off some steam.

Krabi seafront is pretty ordinary. Its a muddy creek but there's many longboats taking tourists to the mangroves and down the river to Ao Nang. We are going island hopping for the next few weeks and then back to Langkawi for the new year as we had planned and have booked a hotel.

Still clueless where we'll be for Christmas as everything i'd planned has gone out the window. Won't be worth travelling up towards Bangkok as its such a trek and expense when we have to come south again. Compensation is that Meals cost about 5 pound for the 4 of us. Its not worth doing packed lunch unlike China which was surprisingly dear. Food here and Malaysia is also a lot tastier from what we've experienced so far. Accomodation is very easy to come by, although its high season there are very few tourists because of the economic crisis affecting many countries. We are having to share a queen size bed at present but its only osting 400 baht about 8 pounds.