Bird’s Nest Bevarage – 25% bird’s nest

From Hoi An we travelled by bus to our next stop, Hue. It was short enough for a daytime journey which allowed us to appreciate the scenery, including a spectacular seven-tiered pagoda perched high on a limestone karst.

On route we stopped at a small beachside hotel for a disappointing lunch. After the delectable meals and snacks in Hoi An perhaps our expectations were just too high. Either that or the food was plain crap. Ruth ordered a cheese and tomato salad and received a plate of sliced tomatoes with a triangle of dairylea in the middle. Raymond fared even worse with his Potato Salad – a plate of sliced, boiled spuds. This michelin-starred meal was made worse by the small fortune it cost.

By mid afternoon we had arrived in Hue, a quiet city that is firmly established on the tourist trail thanks to its close proximity to the nearby Demilitarized Zone, and its wealth of historical monuments. At this point in our trip we were in a slight rush to reach Hanoi so i could arrive in Beijing for Xmas. So we dumped our stuff in a hotel in the main backpacker area (a few guesthouses and cafes down a small side alley) and decided to make use of the day.

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Krabi was merely a stop off before we hit the first of the thai islands. I wish we had stayed longer as around the actual town are many beautiful waterfalls and beaches.

We contented ourselves with a boat trip. The four of us (Myself, Lisa, Jon and Mark) hired a traditional, wooden, thai longboat. Tied to the bow of the boat (which is a strip of wood that juts out and up) were ribbons, strips of cloth and flowers, all different shades of colour and which purportedly bring luck. Large or ancient trees also have such colourful adornments strung around them.

Our guide took us along the winding, narrow and overgrown waterways of the river Krabi, past mangroves and large limestone monoliths stretching up from the water. He pointed out monitor lizards in the water or birds in the trees and answered any questions we had in his broken english (far better than my broken thai – i can say thankyou and hello however) after which he would say “Me good eh?” or “Manchester United” with two thumbs up, clearly with no eye on a tip at the end of the journey of course!

Then we stopped off at some limestone rock formations where we climbed up a rickety wooden staircase to a set of caves.

Afterwards, in the evening we sat on the waterfront along which a number of hawker stalls had set up shop. These are small food stalls where thai people cook the most amazing food within about a square metre. We ate deep fried whole crab, tiger prawns drizzled in sweet chilli sauce, pork sticks, pad thai (a noodle dish) all washed down with some thai beer. All for about one or two pounds! Forget the cafes here, no one but westerners eat in those places, follow the local population and invariably you will end up at a hawker stall; definitely the place to eat.

We did not explore Krabi much…at all. We were all eager to get to Ko Phi Phi. You can’t do everything while travelling and Krabi was one of those places that got struck off the list. Phi Phi more than made up for it though and that would be my next stop.