We left Cusco on our first night bus with Peru Hop – a bus company that has guides on board and is a hop on hop off service from Cusco to Lima. After being fleeced by the taxi driver, we were pleased to find there were only 6 people on the coach and so the journey wasn’t too bad. We arrived in Arequipa at 5 am and were able to check into the hotel at about 7:30 after a long breakfast. We spent the day wandering another Plaza De Aramas and walking up to the mirador. The city is meant to be the most beautiful in Peru and the squares are all lovely but the rest is so tatty and full of rubbish – the poverty is quite easy to see.

The next day, we booked our Colca Canyon tour and went to meet Juanita. She is a frozen girl that was found on a stratovolcano, Mount Ampato, nearby in 1995. Despite Sergio’s (our Inca guide) insistence that the Incas only made offerings, we learnt that the most beautiful children were chosen as sacrifices to Pachamama (Mother Earth) when they believed a disaster was about to happen. The children were taken early from their parents at about 3 years old, raised together and then sacrificed at the chosen time by being given chicha (very strong beer type concoction) and when they’d fallen asleep bashed over the head with a star shaped stone on a stick. The guide was very insistent that they felt no pain from the one blow! They were then buried with ceremonial objects and small dolls of themselves. Juanita was in a museum in Arequipa, still frozen in a box for people to see! The moral of this would be to make sure you’re children weren’t too beautiful as babies as the parents had no choice in the matter and it was actually a great honour to be chosen. Heartbreakingly, the parents were present at their child’s death too.

To cheer ourselves up after this , we then went for a pisco sour (the local cocktail) making workshop. We hadn’t had one yet due to our sobriety because of the altitude and this seemed a good way to find out what we’d like. After quite a few very strong shots to taste the neat pisco and then the fruity ones, we decided that the passion fruit one was best and that’s what we will be ordering should we get one in the many happy hours around.

On Thursday, we were picked up at 3:30 for our Colca Canyon trek. It is the second deepest canyon in the world and is famous for the condors that fly over the top of it. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see them that day and after a stop for breakfast, we set off down the first 1000m. It was incredibly hot, was very narrow with steep drops (no barrier of any sort, of course) and the floor was made of rocks that slipped underfoot so one of us ended up very gracefully on their backside several times. However, when we did look up it was pretty spectacular. We stayed the first night in my first hostel which on first glance wasn’t too bad. Except we didn’t realise that the the glass in the windows didn’t meet in the middle, left a light on and came back to 1000s of mosquitos over the walls and ceiling of our room room. Half a can off bug spray helped and we went to bed with 50% deet on our faces instead of face cream! To be fair , it worked and we were bite free in the morning.

The next day was much easier with a 2 hour walk through the bottom and fertile part of the canyon descending another 200m. Our guide pointed out different types of flora and fauna as well as the potato and avocado farms.Our next hostel looked relaxing even from afar and we spent the afternoon lazing by our first pool which was rather lovely. Lunch and dinner there was tasty and the room looked great until you realised glass in the windows was an optional thing in the canyon. After the previous nights mosquito issues, we chose not to put on any lights and so were in the dark from 6! We had some lovely chats with Ralf (a Polish/Aussie who was in our group) as well as others who had worked their way down from Columbia where everyone we’ve spoken seems to have come from.

The next day, we left the hostel at 4:30am for the climb up so that could be completed in the shade. As you imagine, the surface didn’t make this easy and we were there with many people puffing up dealing with the surface, steepness and altitude. We had been told the climb would take 2 and a half to 4 hours which felt like forever at the start. We were very much plodders and didn’t stop much as it was hard to get going when you did. We did the whole “leapfrogging” thing with a group of youngsters who paused a lot (where we’d pass them) and then they sped ahead of us with their young legs. It was all very jovial and there was talk of who owed who a drink! Callum was very pleased that our fifty something legs made it up in front of the young legs in 2 hours 45 mins. I did remind him that it was not a competition or an endurance holiday and that it was meant to be enjoyable too! To be fair, he did restrain from booing at the people who paid 70 soles (£18) to go up on a mule though he very much wanted to. They didn’t look at you as they went past, Callum believes this was due to their shame!

On the way back, we had the whole trying to sell us lots of things so it took us 8 hours to get back to Arequipa after breakfast rather than the 3 we had hoped for but we did finally catch sight of the condors which did look quite impressive.

I used to be told at work in my performance management meetings how good for me it was to be pushed out of my comfort zone to which I always replied that I was quite happy there thank you very much! Well, these last few days have definitely pushed us out of that comfortable place and down the other side of a mountain. Having said that, we had an amazing time on the Inca Trail despite Callum getting really sick with food poisoning the first night (worst possible time as the hardest day was the one to follow and I’ve really no idea how he managed it) and me having altitude sickness on day 3 which totally floored me too for 24 hours. Physically, it was undoubtedly the hardest thing we have ever done but the views and the experience was amazing.

Despite being on our own trek, we spoke to many interesting people on the way, most younger but some other oldies too. The camaraderie and generosity of the people we met was was wonderful with people sharing coca leaves, inhalers to open lungs as well as gummy sweets. The organisation of Alpaca Expeditions was great; we had a guide, Sergio, super chef, Ronnie, and 7 porters who carried 25kg on their backs along the trail past us everyday to set up camp for lunch, take it down , go past us again to set up camp again and make dinner. The wildlife wasn’t something we’d considered but in addition to the quite fantastic ruins, we spotted many humming birds, snakes, a wasp paralysed a tarantula to lay eggs inside it, so many butterflies and orchids. We were really glad to have booked a night in a hotel at the end of the trek before the rest of our tour of Machu Picchu and the climb up Huaynu Picchu. Best bed and shower ever! We had though this would be the hardest part but to actually both feel well it was a bit of a breeze😂. Hopefully, the pictures illustrate a little of our experience.

After a lovely summer at home enjoying the good weather, we’ve set off again to South America -Peru and maybe Ecuador. We’ve got very little booked and so are going to play it very much by ear- slightly worrying as its a continent that we’ve never been to. We flew to Lima with KLM from a very disorganised Schipol airport though it was a great flight with good food and films. We stayed at the Holiday Inn at the airport overnight as with the time difference, very early start and over indulgence of the previous days, we were exhausted.

Cusco

The next day, we flew to Cusco and settled in to the prettiest but noisiest hotel ever; we had thought the side street would be quiet but nowhere is quiet in Cusco! After paying for our trek and getting a SIM card, we puffed our way to bed. We’d read lots about altitude sickness but it’s still  been a bit of a shock. A short uphill gives a heart beat of 154 and a feeling like you’ve just run a sprint and when linked with a headache it’s a challenge so we’ve kept popping pills.

Unfortunately, the next day we weren’t feeling much better but ventured out and immediately came across a huge parade which was on to celebrate tourism. The costumes and enthusiasm of it all was amazing. We wandered through the main squares and, very slowly, up to a viewpoint and cobbled area which nearly killed us. All very pretty but being exhausted that was all we could do.

A day later, the pills were definitely helping and so we set off to do a DIY trip to Pisac in the Sacred Valley. We found a local bus (collectivo) and really enjoyed the drive through the countryside. The little town was so pretty and we enjoyed a drink in a square watching people who had decided to hike up to the ruins. We’d read that this was 3 hours uphill (from 2972m to 3525m) and so decided we’d rather pay 25 soles (about £6) for the tuktuk and, boy, were we happy that we did. The collectivo dropped us where we had a 30 min uphill walk to the entrance and that was enough for us. The ruins were really interesting but there was not one information board there which was so frustrating as we had no idea what we were seeing. The view and terraces were quite stunning though and we did really enjoy it. We walked down to Pisac (90 mins) and met many people walking up puffing well and looking like they would have preferred a tuktuk too. We ventured into the market, which was “tat” central, and then ventured back out for a lovely meal. Callum is loving the menu of the day; 3 courses plus a drink for £6 with a choice of about 4 options for the 3 courses including an alpaca steak all in a sweet little restaurant. Everything we’ve eaten has been amazing though you always seem to get chips with your rice in the main meal- carb central with the churros too!

We spent the next day doing a self guided walking tour of the main town which included the main square, Plaza de Aramas, and the Choco Museum. We learnt a few interesting things in here, apart from how to make chocolate such as if you were drunk in Aztec times you were executed so people drank chocolate instead and the Catholic Church decided that drinking chocolate was ok when fasting as it was for medicinal purposes which is probably going to be a much repeated fact in our house. Also, for every 1 bar of chocolate the Chinese eat, the British eat a 1000 – the Rossie family does their fair share of this. Callum was definitely in his happy place here and was all for getting some chocolate as it smelt delicious until he saw it was £20 for 100g! Quick change of mind there. Next on the tour, we saw a 12 angled stone that was a key stone in the Inca wall that runs down one of the old streets. The walls are pretty impressive and they don’t use any mortar but the stones fit exactly so that if there is an earthquake they just jostle and settle again on their own. Lastly, we went into Qorikancha – an old temple that was turned into a church by the conquistadors (something they did a lot here) mainly using the enslaved Peruvians to do the demolition and new construction.There were lots of beautiful paintings and a garden to collapse in for a little while too. The following morning we both felt considerably better and so walked up to the Christo Blanco (White Jesus statue) which was donated by Palestinian Arabs to Cusco after the 2nd World War. It was a lovely spot to sit as it’s away from the noise of the city and then we went down for a rather painful Swedish massage. We had our briefing about what to take, met our guide Sergio and packed ready for the trek. Fingers crossed for good weather and comfy air mattresses.

Inca Trail and Tribulations

I used to be told at work in my performance management meetings how good for me it was to be pushed out of my comfort zone to which I always replied that I was quite happy there thank you very much! Well, these last few days have definitely pushed us out of that comfortable place and down the other side of a mountain. Having said that, we had an amazing time on the Inca Trail despite Callum getting really sick with food poisoning the first night (worst possible time as the hardest day was the one to follow and I’ve really no idea how he managed it) and me having altitude sickness on day 3 which totally floored me too for 24 hours. Physically, it was undoubtedly the hardest thing we have ever done but the views and the experience was amazing.

Despite being on our own trek, we spoke to many interesting people on the way, most younger but some other oldies too. The camaraderie and generosity of the people we met was was wonderful with people sharing coca leaves, inhalers to open lungs as well as gummy sweets. The organisation of Alpaca Expeditions was great; we had a guide, Sergio, super chef, Ronnie, and 7 porters who carried 25kg on their backs along the trail past us everyday to set up camp for lunch, take it down , go past us again to set up camp again and make dinner. The wildlife wasn’t something we’d considered but in addition to the quite fantastic ruins, we spotted many humming birds, snakes, a wasp paralysed a tarantula to lay eggs inside it, so many butterflies and orchids. We were really glad to have booked a night in a hotel at the end of the trek before the rest of our tour of Machu Picchu and the climb up Huaynu Picchu. Best bed and shower ever! We had though this would be the hardest part but to actually both feel well it was a bit of a breeze😂. Hopefully, the pictures illustrate a little of our experience.

We initially visited Maastricht last year in November but didn’t do a post which got us into a lot of trouble! Back then, we had a lovely time getting to know Kate’s boyfriend,Ali, a little better and enjoying the sites on bikes visiting a quarry that serves as place for a lovely coffee and beautiful place to walk. Now , we were back for her graduation after she has spent a year working on beaches, in cafes and learning a lot about global cultural differences in both health and approaches to work!

Maastricht is a beautiful city, especially in the autumn, with its tree lined streets and hundreds of people on bikes. The cafe culture is very strong here and they’re so many pretty squares with people enjoying the local beers. We were staying near a lovely market square selling all sorts of unusual finds and antiques, local food and lovely clock tower. Unfortunately, Britain isn’t the only place with strikes so we were glad to have left lots of time to get to the graduation ceremony as there were rail strikes (also a worry for our 6am train to Amsterdam the next day). The graduation itself was very small and quite personal. The university put on a reception straight afterwards and it was interesting that towards the end it was mainly the Thailand contingent that were left with the free wine and beer- to be fair they had practised for 4 months! We went out after the ceremony and had a celebratory meal which included the traditional bitterballen (a deep fried breadcrumbed ball with a stew-like filling) which were delicious. All in all, it was a great celebration in lovely place.

Our week on Koh Phangan has definitely been our laziest of the holiday. We stayed on a lovely beach with just a few massages and restaurants – there was nothing else we needed. We only had a scooter for one day but visited some lovely bays with some great (unexpected) snorkelling.

On Koh Samui, we were a bit more active- it would have been hard to get much lazier! We’ve been here twice before so have done quite a bit but we’d never seen a cabaret here so we decided to stay in Chaweng so we could see one. The town was a shadow of its former self and unfortunately the beach quite littered with rubbish so we only stayed here 2 nights. The show was quite entertaining and had only reopened a few weeks before. Luckily, we were on hand for Kate’s “Thai tattoo” (scooter accident and injuries) and we were very grateful just to be able to apply some antiseptic to her grazes other than have anything more serious happen. We did see a really bad accident on our journey back which brought home quite how lucky she/we had been.

We moved several times in Samui and were lucky with all our hotels. The upgrade to our own beach villa was a particular favourite. We saw quite a bit of live music here too which we really enjoyed. I finally got Callum to visit some waterfalls which we’re pretty impressive as well as a little secret Buddha garden. We had quite a bit of rain here and so got very wet on a few occasions both on and off the bike. Our last temples were impressive too with 2 lots of large Buddhas.

So that was Thailand though there are a still places we didn’t get to so we will be back but for now we’ve had a fab time with lots of laughs, great food, massages and views.

We left the north with something of an epic journey. We spent the majority of the day having a massage and wandering around the small town of Lampang before boarding the night train. It was a very much rougher round the edges experience than the first one with the carriage doors were left open all night so it was very noisy. Not much sleep was had. We had the first disaster of the holiday when I left my kindle on the train too. Jan without a book is not a good thing! Next, we boarded a plane to Surat Thani and then a bus and 2 boats. We were well stickered and shuffled around from one bus to another whilst lots of Thais had discussions about numbers but we arrived just after lunch to a beautiful, sunny island.

We have spent all week pottering around to different beaches on our moped. The snorkelling was been better than expected; we both swam with a turtle and I swam with a shark as well as some large trigger fish. Their huge teeth and open mouths always make me give them a wide berth. It was also exciting if off-putting when you look to the side and see a shark next to your shoulder that is about a metre long! There were many shoals of other fish large and small too. We felt it was much better than the Similian Islands but not quite up to Egyptian/Maldives standards. We know, we’re spoilt!

A few times, we met up with Kate and her friends (Dorinne and Pleun- great girls) for a drink or food which was lovely especially hearing all about the plans for Bali next. Because it was Songkran whilst we were there, we took part in the new year celebrations which were certainly something different. I was cleansed by a nice lady with a little formal ceremony going into a restaurant, however, when we were driving about, we got well doused with buckets of water and shot with water pistols/ blasters. We did retaliate too -it was great fun to be on the back of a moped with a water pistol in each hand shooting random people. In the evening, we went down to the beach which was quite rowdy by sunset with lots of well-oiled people who had been clearly celebrating for sometime. We had a few drinks ourselves and watched a great fire show before attempting a very long, very tipsy climb up to our hotel.

Koh Phangan next for more beaches!

On arriving early in Chang Mai, we headed to get a bike for the drive to Pai. We had heard that it is horrible on a bus and Kate had driven it with a company transporting your bags for you. Unfortunately, the early train is too early and so we spent quite a while sat on a pavement waiting for the office to open. The glamour of travel! It was worth it though as the drive up was beautiful despite the hair raising bends- all 762 of them! The hotel was lovely and Pai itself very chilled. We had a great first night chatting with people over street chicken ( best ever-KFC had better watch out), listening to a father/son band and then, on Callum’s insistence, joining the 20 somethings in a lively bar. It was fun and we were “adopted” by some young Danish girls who wanted to know all our plans.

The next day, we pootled about visiting a canyon (Callum was very under-impressed) and a lovely bamboo bridge that was built over a field for the monks to walk on. We were accompanied by a lovely dog and the temple was so serene. It was our favourite things there, along with its puppy which we really wanted to bring home.

The drive down to Chang Mai was not the lovely one we had been expecting. Over breakfast, we had torrential rain which became drizzle but never stopped so we bought rain ponchos , dropped the bags and set off for a very long drive. It had taken nearly 3 and a half hours but we think we may have the record for the slowest ever on the way back. Many of the roads say “slippery when wet” which is not ideal on hairpin steep bends with an anxious passenger on the back. It drizzled/ poured all the way down but our only injury was a static one when I got caught up in my delightful poncho and fell over much to Callum’s hilarity- jolly sore!

We stayed one night in Chang Mai where we had planned to visit the Saturday night market. We’d been there 4 years ago with the kids and had to leave as it was so claustrophobic and insanely busy. This time, there were very few stalls and it was really quiet and a bit sad. Probably the starkest pre and post COVID difference we’ve seen.

The next day, we got a bus to Chang Rai to arrive for the Saturday market (which didn’t happen). We knew there would be a lot of temples but even Callum enjoyed them. All of the ones we saw here were new or still being built. They were quite amazing and all very, very different. The White Temple, which we had saved to last thinking it would be the best, was definitely the least religious (having superheroes inside) and seemed to the only one without any monks or people praying which was pretty strange. We felt it was so touristy and it didn’t really have an atmosphere at all. Even the toilets were created for effect which were a very stark contrast to many we have used over here.

Wat Huay Pla Kang with the huge Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yin), a temple and pagoda, was amongst the top ranking of the many we have seen. It was only finished very recently after just being a hut for a monk in 1997. You could go inside to see intricate carvings all in white as well as visit the other parts. There was a lift to take you up and we were saluted in and out of it by the uniformed lift attendant which perplexed us somewhat (so much was both saluted back😂- awkward!)

We also went to very strange museum Baan Dam Museum which houses exhibits from a famous controversial artist Thawan Duchanee. There were many strange thrones, crocodile skins, skulls, , paintings and rude objects. It was certainly a change from the temples!

For our last stop in the north, we headed to Lampang the closest town to the Sky Temple or Wat Chaloem Phrakiat Phrachomklao Rachanuson. This is a new temple/ pagoda which was begun in 2004 on a mountain. What makes it amazing is the monks carried everything up by hand to build it and it was quite a climb even with the stairs. We were quite amazed by it despite the views not being good because of the burning.

We got an early flight to Don Mueang airport in Bangkok in order to go to Ayutthaya which was one of the oldest cities in Thailand. We got the train after having great trouble finding both the airport exit and train station. Lots of helpful Thais shouted and waved at us as we went the wrong way and we ended up running with our packs as the nice conductor held the train for us while we paid our 30p fare to Ayutthaya – not sure you would get that on British Rail.

We also went to Bang Pa In Palace which is a few stops down the train line (7p journey!) . It is the place the story of the King and I is based at. Again, we were helped by some friendly locals who prevented us getting off at the wrong stop with much waving and pointing and we enjoyed a few hours wandering round the gardens. We were the only tourists in the whole place and the guards stood to attention as we wandered past which was both off putting and amusing at the same time. The dress code was very strict here so I had to wander round not in the shawl I had taken to cover my shoulders but in Callum’s Heineken T-shirt which did bring a smile to the security guards otherwise stern face! It was quite strange to see such western building designs in amongst the very few Thai buildings but this King was trying to show the west that he was modern and progressive. The gardens and museum that was full of gifts given to the King were pretty amazing and the topiary an added bonus.

Ayutthaya was a bit of a shock after sleepy Koh Lanta but we enjoyed the temples – well I did. Our first evening, we had a private tour on the river which was very special and then ordered some street food. We were, very obviously, the only non-locals there which was quite strange after the south. The following morning, we did a deal with a tuktuk and saw most of the central temples. Callum did very well managing 5 wats( temples) in 2 and a half hours with next to no moaning- definite gold star moment.

The following day, we went into Bangkok where we had rented an Airbnb as Kate was staying with us. We had the first night there with Kate’s friends, Dorine and Mayke, in a German bar. It was a fun evening and lovely to get to know them after hearing such a lot about the friends she is studying with. We all did some sightseeing the next day going to a wat we hadn’t been to before, the National Museum and the massive Chatuchak market with 15,000 stalls. Unfortunately, we spent too much time at the first 2 so didn’t get to them all but Callum did manage to get the most disgusting football shirt ever invented- I think there will be a lot of stick at Wednesday night football when he wears it.

The next day, like our sightseeing day, was roasting so we had a lazy walk around Lumpini Park. Callum enjoyed the monitor lizard spotting and then we lazed by the pool. We did also manage to fit in a sky bar before we left and had a lovely cocktail with a view of the park we had walked in. We left Kate the following day and spent our last afternoon in China town where amazingly it is really hard to find somewhere nice to eat. After visiting the Marble Temple (which was sadly closed so we could only look from outside -I’m sure you can hear Callum’s sigh of relief) and massage, we set off for the night train north.

Having eaten a rather large breakfast (the Scot likes to get his money’s worth) , we got a van to Koh Lanta. It took about 2 hours with the shortest ferry crossing ever and we arrived at the Papillon Bungalows to find that it was opposite a building site with a jack hammer so first impressions weren’t great. It did, however, have a lovely little pool and was a 2 minute walk to a long, empty beach. We had a wander and then watched the first of several beautiful sunsets with a beer. We ate several times at the little beach restaurant nearby. Sadly, the bar only seemed to have sold about 10 beers for the whole night and the restaurant only had about 3 sets of customers which was what continued to happen the whole time we were there. It is really hard to see how on earth these people are making a living.

We hired a bike for the time we were here and headed to see just a few places each day. We did some beach hopping until the sand got too much and went to Koh Lanta old town which was just lovely: all old wooden buildings built on stilts over the water. We also visited another national park which had a walk through the rainforest and the most gorgeous beach. We did both have a little snooze on that one only to be woken by a huge gust getting completely sand blasted- the weather changes so quickly from blue sky to storm especially when you’re asleep. We had to dash for our bike and hope we got to a restaurant before the storm hit us. There was a nice owner stood in front of the first one waving people in- he must have prayed for the afternoon storms as his place was quite full of people dodging the rain.

As Callum was missing the 6 Nations rugby trip with the lads, we tried to find a bar showing it but the only bar we could find had closed during covid. In order for him to get some sport, we decided to go to the local muay thai boxing. It was very close by and staff at the bungalows were very enthusiastic about taking us (he also got us in for a local price). There were 4 fights and a fire show. We had been impressed by an 8 year old doing a fire show over dinner a few nights earlier – quite a different style of parenting here. It started with youngsters and then culminated in a Swiss man who seemed very “confident” against a Thai. The ref was very on it and stopped 2 fights which we were impressed with and I think that was the reason we actually really enjoyed it as it felt safe. It was also really interesting to spot the those men who were quite obviously sex tourists. They were quite easy to spot and it did make us laugh when one of these men was left by the Thai woman. His face when she didn’t return was a picture. Just desserts and all that!

The hotel and lots of the places around were doing quite a lot of work getting the buildings and grounds back to a good condition as nature had taken over in some places. The animals were certainly a feature here as the monkeys were very visible wherever we drove. We passed lots of troops of monkeys crossing roads or sitting on tourists bikes and the cicadas took it to a whole different level so it was hard to hear each other at times (Callum might have thought that a blessing after 4 weeks!) Even at dinner, lizards ran over our feet on the beach and, on the way to eat, we saw a huge python lying happily on the track. We were convinced it was dead after seeing it in the same place and position for several days until Callum decided to annoy it with the torch and it moved. We moved quickly too!

After our “poorly spell” we donned our back packs and set off to meet Kate in Krabi where she had been roughing it in a nice hotel waiting for us. The transportation here always amazes us by its ease, efficiency and low cost. We were picked up from the hotel, taken to the port on the opposite side of the island, shepherded and stickered (presumably to make the herding of foreigners easier) by staff onto a boat and then herded onto another van to be driven to our hotel. The journey cost £8 each and took 4 hours! The speedboat trip was something we would have paid for just the views.

The following day, Kate had a lot of work to do (she is actually doing a masters..) so Callum and I headed to immigration to extend our visas for the extra month we need. Callum liked the sign on the entrance-we did wonder who the other parking was for. We were amazed how easy it all was and we were out in half an hour all sorted. It seemed a good idea to make use of the moped and go to the Tiger Temple as Kate wasn’t keen on going. We found it easily (thanks to Google maps) and, after a quick addition of a dress over my clothes, set off. The tiger is no longer at the temple as, unsurprisingly, it ran off when the monks arrived in 1975 but it was still pretty cool to see. For some unknown reason, we decided that it would be a good idea to climb the 1260 steps up to the viewpoint and the Buddha. The steps were of very different heights and widths( some thigh height) and definitely not easy in 32 degrees whilst wearing a dress. Not only did we have to stop A LOT (and we were not alone in that) but I had to sit down to just breathe several times. We really did think it had beaten me. After a bit of bad temperedness, we did actually make it to the top and it was worth it- as was the ice cream when got back to the bottom again.

The next day, we joined Kate on a hike to a famous trek and viewpoint before her lectures. We really enjoyed the National Park spotting huge centipedes and ants but no monkeys or snakes this time. The noises were most amazing however, there were birds that sounded exactly like lorries reversing and the chorus of cicadas was at some points deafening. It took us about 2 hours up and only a little quicker downhill. It was much easier than the Tiger Temple climb, however, so maybe the lungs are recovering after all.

On our final day in Krabi, we decided a beach day was necessary so we got on a longtail boat and in a few minutes we were at Railay beach. It was quite idyllic. Kate sat in the shade to work though was dogged by sand and tech issues as well as mischievous monkeys trying to steal things. There is also a temple there with some rather interesting offerings. They were put there as fertility offerings so Kate (and you – if you’d been here Em) was ushered away rather quickly – we’re far too young to be grandparents!