The weather has been marvellous in and around Ao Nang, near Krabi in Thailand but Lawrences appear to spent large parts of today wet.
After shaving and showering (one) we had breakfast. It is worth, at this point, taking a few moments to mention the importance of breakfast as a holiday meal. Yesterday we arrived in Ao Nang not having booked anywhere to stay. We knew the place fairly well and knew that we would find somewhere to suit our needs (not many) and budget (not much) and so consequently didn't worry too much. The first two places we asked at wanted far too much money for two rooms so we parked the car and walked around for a bit. Eventually we settled on the Ao Nang Sunset Hotel. It had two rooms available, they were connecting and the 'special price' offered by the receptionist sounded special enough to me. She then said these two important words "Including breakfast.' A deal was done and we checked in.
Any price that is 'including breakfast' translates easily into Lawrence speak as "Eat as much as you can kids!" The family-on-a-budget gland worked overtime in all of us this morning and seemingly only minutes after Lexi and I saying "Go" children devoured a cumulative mass of five croissants (mini), seven slices of toast, six eggs, various slices of ham, bowls of cereal and litres of cordial-like juice. Lexi and I ate well too. They were all stuffed and required no more feeding until dinner this evening. When an inclusive breakfast stares you in the face the least you can do is feed that face and feed it until it is full. Wisely all of them treated the chicken sausages with extreme caution, with Trixie being the only Lawrence brave enough to try a nibble. Following her analysis no-one else risked any.
After breakfast we drive around 80km to find Ron Khlong Thom Waterfall, a hot water stream and small falls. It was only 60km from our hotel but the extra 20km was for the several wrong turns that we took. I blame Ron. The waterfalls are not high and mighty but the small drops have been semi-sculpted into pools in which we bathed (two) enjoying the warm volcanic waters. Marvellous.
After drying off it was time to drive on to The Emerald Pool, a large green (obviously) pool again filled with warm volcanic water. We bathed again (three) and did our level best not to slip over on the edges of the pool. I am pretty sure that we were charged a special foreigner price as a Thai sign around the side of the entrance building appeared to suggest different entrance fees for Thais, a practice that I really don't like. Given though that we were still stuffed from breakfast and that the cost wasn't ridiculous I didn't let it spoil another immersion.
A strictly enforced rule at the Emerald Pool though was the one about food. No food, soap or shampoo was allowed inside the jungle or in the hot water pools. We were told to wait and finish our barbecued sweetcorn before going in which we duly did. Moments after entering we passed a family happily munching ice creams. On the way out we saw a family bathing in another pool along with, yes, soap and shampoo. I am not sure if these infringements are as serious though as the motorist at a petrol station who I saw chattering away on his mobile phone, engine running, while having his car filled up by an attendant just in front of a sign expressly forbidding the use of mobile phones and threatening all sorts of terrible things if one did not turn off one's car engine. Still, at he wasn't smoking.
We arrived back in Ao Nang just before 6.00pm which gave us time to dash the 1.5 minutes of distance down to the sea to have a swim (four) and wave battering before dinner. The sunsets over the cliffs are really are impressive and look all the better when watched from the sea.
We had dinner from the collection of street food sellers near our hotel and dined on the delicious staples of sticky rice, barbecued chicken, and papaya salad. We added a plate of cashew nut fried rice plus spring rolls and prawns for good measure.
After showers (five) back at the hotel it is probably safe to say that we spent nearly as much time wet as dry today.
Back to Malaysia tomorrow.