Day one was very lazy, had a wander around the place and then back for a siesta. I set my alarm for one hour but didn’t hear it go off because my Bluetooth headphones were still connected and were in my bag, but I guess I needed the nearly three hours that I was snoozing for.

I did go out for a walk in the evening for an hour and then back to the hotel. Spoke at some length to our Egyptian host.

Today I went to Tiger Cave and temple. The temple is on top of the hill and you have to climb 1237 steps to reach the top. Now it’s still winter here but the temperature is over 30c. I was covered from head to toe because I hired a motorbike to get around for a couple of days, I didn’t want to end up like the many tourists that are wearing virtually nothing catching the sun. Even when they are riding the bikes there is so much skin on show.

You are warned before you climb to be aware of the many monkeys that roam around. They will steal anything they can get there hands on and they are very capable of unscrewing the top from a water bottle or anything else for that matter.

The stairs are very steep, in fact unnaturally steep which makes the going slow and of course the monkeys are lying in wait. When I went up this flight of stairs there would be about ten of them. I wore my backpack on my front and put everything inside it. I stepped over two monkeys and then this one grabbed my trouser leg and then my backpack, I slapped it hard on the shoulder, it’s wee eyes told me it did not expect that… I slapped it again and it let go and I also told it to bugger off. It crawled away with its pride in tatters. From my left I heard a woman saying, “he hit that poor monkey, I like monkeys” seconds later the same voice said “its taken my water”

A small snigger and onwards and upwards trying hard to not look at the number on each of the landings and then before you know it I was at the 1000th step. A quick breather and a slug of water and then the final push to the top.

The view is spectacular but the top was so busy that I made my way down after ten minutes or so.

So many people on the way up looked like they were about to have a heart attack and I wonder how many do, it’s a tough climb.

I headed for fossil beach, apparently there are fossils there. The 200 bhat entrance fee stopped me in my tracks after I went on line to read a few reviews and look at a few pictures. I decided I would rather spend 200 on lunch.

Ao Nang Beach was my next port of call. A beautiful tropical beach, picture perfect. The planet has turned up and so I left. I was imagining lunch at the beach before the long ride home but it was not to be.

I returned to Krabi old town and had lunch and then back to the hotel to where I am at the moment swinging on the chair watching the world go by on Hogmanay. I believe it will be a very quiet evening for me. I’m not sure what Krabi is doing for me year but I won’t be going too far from home.