Time to leave Krabi and go to Phuket for the last part of my holiday.           Ms Pong from my last stay made it easy for me by booking the ferry with road transport both ends included. The ticket was a sticker on my t-shirt and she told me not to lose it. On the way to the ferry terminal in the minivan I noticed a passenger had his sticker on his leg which I thought was odd until I checked mine and realised it was gone. I then had the awkward moment of asking if I could peel my sticker off his leg, he saw the funny side of it anyway.

Phuket is a mixed bag and when Ms Pong asked me if I wanted to go to Phuket town or Patong I said ‘Patong’ and she pulled a sour face. Anyway I deliberately chose accommodation that was a few miles from the centre and so glad I did. Patong has a huge shopping complex which I decided to bypass.

Further on I found Bangla Road one of those infamous places that are overwhelming.

When I saw the girls dancing on the tables, lady boys, transvestites and weird sex shows on offer I can see why I got the sour face look from Ms Pong.

Moving on from Patong I found some lovely beaches on the west coast. Obviously the best beach locations command the highest hotel prices but I still found budget accommodation amongst the five star hotels.

At Surin beach I found a great snorkeling area by ignoring the ‘do not swim’ signs. The rocks in the clear shallow water were a sure place to find fish.

I watched a wedding photo shoot on the beach with a team running round with remote fill in flash and various sun shades to protect the bride. The poses looked very elegant with the bride’s long dress drifting in the clear water. The reality was the wet trailing dress being dragged through the sand and over the rocks while the groom looked  uncomfortably hot in his black suit.

The quest for the perfect photo always amuses me. I saw a girl sitting cross legged on a rock in a yoga pose with thumb and forefinger touching. Neither she or the photographer noticed the huge wave coming…….

My last couple of nights accommodation are by Naiyang beach near the airport.

You wouldn’t know it was so close to the airport until you see the planes land

I hired a motorscooter and started to explore the beaches in the area, some busy and some so long there are parts that are deserted.

I usually sit under a tree for the shade and I watched a European tourist taking a hammock from his backpack. He strung up the hammock between two trees on the promenade and looked very smug and comfortable making me think I must try this.

There are often longboats leaving the beach taking people out to the islands that appear to be countless. When I Google researched it there are only 1430, ok thats still quite a lot. Without researching it I would have said Indonesia had the most islands. The sources vary but apparently Sweden easily takes the number one slot while Canada is in the top five.

I like the area a lot, it’s my kind of resort. It has good Thai, Indian and European food. It also has a mix of bars with live music, some laid-back and some lively but nothing manic.

The weather continues to be exceptionally hot and the weather forecasts remind me of the ‘Spanish’ weather forecaster on the Fast Show ‘Hoy scorchio, manana scorchio!’

I have been eating at recommended restaurants including this one with its interesting name.

They seem to make the food quite bland if you are a westerner so I have been asking for medium spice. This seems to vary from just right to resulting in coughing spasms! The seafood tastes really fresh and the prawn dishes are a real bargain for what would be an expensive treat at home.

My favourite time at the beach is the evening when it cools to around 28 degrees and the light mellows.

They put on some great fire shows for evening entertainment at the beach and it’s fine to grab a cold beer from the local mini mart and drink it while sitting on the beach.   

I have noticed the young girls here call me Baba the same name my Grandson, Luca uses. In his case it was easier to say Baba than Grandpa when he was learning to talk and the name stuck. Here Baba means father and the girls use it as a term of respect to a male of advanced years.    I find it quite endearing until they offer to carry my bag or help me up the stairs!

As usual my quest for unusual beers has resulted in various lagers.

This one was certainly different though.  Made with purple rice, imported malt and hops resulting in a European style dark lager.

I liked the details on the can, ‘The Siamese Fireback is a red-feathered beauty that feasts on fine Riceberry. Don’t confuse it with a red rooster. One is the national bird of Thailand while the other is just a big chicken’

I had an unexpected find when I went to a cafe for breakfast. They had an interesting selection in the fridge from all over the world including classic Belgian beers although I didn’t see any British stock.

They also served Draught beer from local brewers. I didn’t have one with breakfast but went back for a Whale Pale Ale in the evening.

Our cycling has come to an end and while saying our goodbyes I found that three others were planning the same island tour as me. As the area is called Krabi our breakaway group was referred to as the ‘crabby four’

Our first stop was Maya bay and I read that it was once  completely trashed by tourism. The bay was always famous and when the Leonardo DiCaprio film ‘The Beach’ was filmed there the number of tourists became unsustainable. The boats and swimmers were destroying the coral reef and driving the sharks    (non aggressive black tip reef sharks) away. The only photos you could get were a line of longboats and speedboats blocking the bay.

Fortunately they made some changes, not allowing boats to anchor, not allowing swimming,directing tourists on a boardwalk and actively replanting the reef. The recovery has been spectacular while keeping the tour operators happy. The coral reef is recovering and the black tipped sharks have returned making it a nursery ground.

While it’s not the exclusive experience you might hope for, the guide made it look like I was the only one there.

Maya bay is on Koh Phi Phi Leh where we also saw the Viking cave. There are paintings in the cave of what appears to be a viking ship possibly made by sailors sheltering in the cave from a storm. The cave is also a place where the locals harvest swiftlets nests for the Chinese birds nest soup market.

Koh Phi Phi Don is the largest inhabited island of the group and was hit by the 2004 Tsunami. One tidal wave was recorded at 21 feet high!

Our boat stopped without anchoring over a reef so we could jump in the water and go snorkeling. The corals were stunning and the visibility excellent making it a memorable experience.

I had a photo taken with Brendan the Irishman of the group. He has a great sense of humour, like listening to an episode of Father Ted. As for the last photo, I was taking pictures of rock formations …….

I have settled in to my new accommodation where nothing happens of note but it still feels like a unique experience.

I have seen them collecting what I thought were herbs and they told me it was just to feed the chickens. This one follows me like a cat since I gave it cassava and coconut.

I asked the lady of the house for a towel and she gave me a blanket as well, probably the last thing I  need.

I also asked for a beer and the lady said her husband would take me on his scooter to get some when he got home from work.

I went to the kitchen to sit at the table for a beer and there were a few friends and family there. I was handed a cooked crab to keep me going while they did the main meal.

Meechok cooked a meal especially for me and when he saw me finish the spicy food he said he would go more spicy the next night! There was no indication I would get dinner it just seems natural for them to look after whoever sits at the table.

There were no other guests there, just me, the owner and friends. Inevitably they produced more alcohol which they said was Chinese Whisky and they said I would sleep like a baby and they were right, I did.

Our last day of cycling today and the hottest yet at 40 degrees. There was a breeze but it felt like  opening an oven door type of breeze. Our back up crew came to the rescue with ice packs and chilled towels.

We also had a national park stop where there was a mangrove with a water mix of fresh ground water and salt tidal water. Very refreshing.

We finished our ride at Ao Nang, a huge touristy area with every trader vying for our attention.

I have a reputation amongst the group for eating a lot of ice cream and the caption with the next photo was ‘Rit describing how much ice cream Alan can eat at one sitting’

This is the actual ice cream they are referring to.

Now that I am paying for my accommodation it is a little more basic. Even so it’s a lovely private bungalow. There is no Aircon, just a fan so I had a siesta on the porch in the afternoon. When I got there the place was deserted apart from the cat and the chickens.

We left the coast and cycled East today. I have to say the accommodation has exceeded my usual budget place.

We passed forests, orchards and rubber plantations.

Yesterday we had a dip in the chilled waterfall ponds so today felt even hotter at 37 degrees c.

After lunch we went to an island referred to as ‘James Bond Island ‘ as it was used for the film ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’

The last stop of the day was a Muslim floating village built over the water on stilts. They all looked very content and they had even built a soccer pitch using floating bamboo mats. The local team were so determined they have risen to the top of the league.

Dinner was massaman curry followed by deep fried ice cream. Not sure that’s traditional but it was very good!

We left Khao Sok in the support vehicle and started cycling from Takua Pa. It was easy flat terrain passing numerous rivers down to the Andaman coast.

We visited a village that was flooded every year but the elderly refuse to leave and keep coming back. This lady watched us with bemusement while our guide explained.

The lines and dates marked on the wall are flood levels and the lady said they rise above the window and then recede within three days.

We carried on to the ‘white sand beach’ in Khao Lak and we all waded into the azure blue water in our cycling gear. This was the area that was hit by the tsunami in 2004. It looks so serene now and it is hard to imagine the reality of what happened.

The photo is of a patrol boat seemingly placed in the garden. The Patrol boat crew were protecting the Royal Family about a  kilometer off shore. The tidal wave carried the boat two kilometers inland. The crown prince was killed when he was hit by the wave while he was jet skiing.

We enjoyed the beach so much we abandoned the bikes and got the minibus driver to take us back for the whole evening until sunset.

We took a day off cycling and went for a hike in the national park instead. Khao Sok is home to the oldest evergreen rainforest in the world. There are elephants there but we only saw the trampled trail where they had obviously passed through. We saw loads of chameleons (once they were pointed out) , a snake sleeping in a tree above our heads and lots of monkeys. I pointed out what I thought was a monkey and the guide said it was a civet. These are the cat-like creatures I saw caged in Vietnam. They love to eat coffee beans and their resulting poo is used to make a very expensive elitist coffee. They looked so pathetic in the cages in Vietnam it was great to see them in their natural environment.

The highlight of the hike was swimming in the river. We were told that there was nothing in there that would kill us although I did get a nip in the fleshy part of my ankle probably from a crab.

There is a rare plant that grows in the park called Rafflesia. It has the largest flowers in the world. I didn’t see one and had to resort to taking a photo of a park picture.

Apparently it grows up to 90 cm across weighing up to 7 kg.

At the end of the day we went back to lovely individual bungalow accommodation at the cliff and river resort.

Leaving Bangkok we took an overnight sleeper train to Surat Thani. I was expecting to start from a rusty railway track but it was more like an airline check-in.  Most of our group are mature but it felt like shared student accommodation on board with lots of giggling and scrabbling in suitcases. I was assigned a top bunk and sleeping was challenging but we all managed a few hours.

Arriving at 6 am we had breakfast at a local cafe and changed into our cycling gear in the toilet. It was a complete change from the city cycling on the clear road into picturesque surroundings.

We finished cycling at the Ratchaprapha Dam (meaning light of the kingdom) as it supplies hydro electric power as well as irrigation. The resulting man made reservoir is beautiful against the backdrop of the limestone karsts.