Krabi and Laos

Dear all - we have had a lovely relaxing time at Railay although the snorkelling wasn't up to much until we hired a boat to take us out to other outcrops/islands. The main bays are very dead, with all the boat traffic I suspect, and the east bay is just messy mud flats and mangrove when the tide goes out. Our favourite evening meal spot however was on the east side as the tide was in by then and it was beautiful. We also climbed about 200m up steep rocky cliffside to reach the jungle on the top with a great viewpoint. A swim was very welcome afterwards as we got very hot - especially Ann! The whole area is comprised of specacular limestone karsts covered with jungle and the beach on west Railay was silky white sand - very like picture postcards! We stayed in a semi-detached bungalow set in gardens between east and west bays of Railay and had two swimming pools to choose from as well as the beach. Apart from the days we arrived and departed the sun was fierce and we had to use plenty of suncream!
I did eventually get my phone back and took the opportunity of waiting for it in Ao Nang to have a great massage. Iain has just reminded me to say that there is very little evidence of the after effects of the Tsunami apart from a lot of new buildings - although 10,000 people were killed here. They tried to plan the rebuilding but it didn't work as people needed to rebuild their homes and businesses quickly.
We then had our adventures getting to Laos. No problems getting a longtail boat to Ao Nang and then a taxi to Krabi airport. The flight was even twenty minutes early getting to Bangkok so we had plenty of time to get a taxi to the railway station and catch the overnight train to the border. We had paid for first class (still very cheap by European standards) so we had a 2 berth cabin with washbasin to ourselves. We were stung for food though and didn't get much sleep. One of the weirdest things was hearing sounds as if the train was in a car wash at 3am - it was branches brushing over the train and went on and off for at least an hour! It was due at Nong Kai at 8.30 but actually got in at 10.15am (which we were told would happen despite the timetabling!). We took a tuc tuc to the Thai border and had to pay for our three extra days in Thailand (you now only get 15days without a visa if you arrive overland and we didn't hear about this until half way through our trip) but it was still cheaper than buying a visa. Then we boarded a shuttle bus that crossed the Friendship Bridge into Laos. In Laos we had to wait for a visa but it only took a couple of hours to get through the border, so not too bad. We then took a taxi to the starting point hotel in Vientiane and met up with the group last night. Vientiane is an amazingly quiet city - very peaceful and laidback - with wide tree lined streets (Rues and Boulevards because of French influence) and very little traffic. Laos only has a population of 6 million and 60,000 live in the capital, Vientiane. It was strange to cross the streets without taking your life in your hands! As in the rest of SE Asia their economy is slowly growing with a lot of new building and investment, particularly from China. We went to see various temples and stupas this morning and are flying to Luang Prabang tonight. It's not far but being a bit north it may be a bit colder and we may need our sweaters...today was like a good English spring day and I needed my fleece last night sat out at dinner! We understand that you are all having very cold weather in England and we're not looking forward to returning to that! We will be coming back here briefly in a week's time so will update the blog then if not before. Lots of love to you all and keep warm...Ann and Iain