Krabi

Krabi is a town that we've often driven through on our way to somewhere else. 

I've occasionally wondered about spending some time here, but JB has always been dead set against it.

Indeed, he often becomes really quite agitated when discussing it, having visited it once, many years ago.

So, it came as something of a surprise to both of us to arrive here last night.

First impressions were not good.

The excellent Tom Waits sums the place up nicely in his song 'The Town With No Cheer'.

With scarcely a bar or restaurant open, we were back in our hotel by 9pm, hoping for better things in the morning.

The new day dawned and still not much cheer....

I'm beginning to suspect that the name Krabi is in fact a typo.......

A visit to the local temple lifted our spirits somewhat.

Excellent wallpaper and a statue of the Buddha carrying a baguette.....

And, yes, that's right. It's a load of balls......

After lunch,(restaurant open till 5pm) we set out for the Andaman Cultural Centre.

A modern-day temple of the Arts & Culture, it's home to exhibitions of paintings  and sculptures not only by local artists (many of whom seemed to be either visually impaired or on  drugs),  but genuine copies of famous paintings from other galleries (copyright paid for).

If only I'd realised that I could get up close to the Mona Lisa, I'd never have bothered with the crowds in the Louvre.

Thrillingly, we discovered that the Centre is also home to the Bead Museum!

Suddenly all was well with the world.

Inside the Bead Museum however, things began to spiral downward quite quickly.

There were no beads on display, apart from some oversized replicas in an art installation type thing.

More baffling still was this next exhibit.....

JB was especially put out that there was no mention whatsoever of his favourite 8th century historian, the Venerable Bede.

All in all, a huge disappointment .