Eterno Dia PhotographyFinding My Calm In Krabi
Posted on April 5, 2019
Arriving at Nopparat Thara Pier
Continuing our adventures in Thailand, after two days in Phuket it was time for the tour group to move on, which was fine with me because I was surprised to discover that I didn’t love Phuket. It had been loud, busy, and the general feel of the place was a frantic, party vibe, and not the relaxed beach-y feel I’d hoped for. I was ready to leave Phuket and see what was next. While the tour we were on was referred to as an “Island Hopper”, our next destination, Krabi, is actually not an island. Located on Thailand’s south west coast, it’s a province on the mainland, surrounded by more than a hundred offshore islands. The area is known for is jagged limestone rock formations jutting from the turquoise waters, snorkeling, scuba diving, white sand beaches, lagoons and rock climbing.
Transportation from Phuket to Krabi had been pre-arranged of by the tour company. After successfully not dropping our luggage into the sea while negotiating a very narrow gangway with skinny rope rails, me, Shawn and the tour group boarded a rundown, two story ferry, with ancient captain style seats and antique life preservers from decades past. It was a peaceful 1.5 hour open ocean trip until we got our first sights of Krabi.
splash!
Islands in the distance
The ferry first stopped in the bay at Railay beach to drop off other passengers who would be staying in this area of Krabi. By “dropped off” I mean traditional Thai long-tail wooden boats drove up alongside the ferry and loaded passengers and luggage into them and then jetted off to shore. I’d never seen a boat to boat transfer like this and was a bit surprised to not see a pier or port.
Railay Beach West
Railay Beach – Passengers disembarking onto long-tail boats
Traditional Thai Long-tail Wooden Boat at Railay beach
The view of Railay beach was simply stunning; a gorgeous bay surrounded by emerald green rain forest covered mountains. The beaches were sparking white sand. Long-tail boats decorated in rainbow flags and ribbons dotted the turquoise water. Paradise. Our ferry continued along the shore northward until we reached the Nopparat Thara pier where we disembarked and boarded a songthaew, a pickup truck converted to an open sided taxi/bus, to take us to our hotel.
Nopparat Thara Pier
A boat named “Gretzky”. Never too far from home as an Edmonton Oiler’s fan!
Riding in a songthaew on route to the hotel
La Playa Hotel
Spirit House outside the hotel
Stone relief outside of the hotel
Our hotel was also a pleasant surprise, especially compared to our hotel in Phuket; a gorgeous tropical themed hotel tucked secretly into a stunning garden grove just off the “main” streets of the town of Ao Nang. The rooms weren’t ready yet, and although it had started raining, we wanted to explore. First we wandered through the gardens of the hotel. We found beautifully manicured lawns, orchids, tropical plants and a variety of small birds, unknown to me from back home.
Orchids
Myna bird
Common Tailorbird
We headed down a quiet street behind our hotel and found two 7-elevens for water and a stopped at a delightful small restaurant for lunch. The shopkeepers and restaurant staff in Ao Nang were polite and welcoming, but far less desperate than they seemed in Phuket. The streets were nearly empty, only a few tourist wandering about. It was a bit shocking but a welcome change from the noise and crowds in Phuket. We walked around the nearby streets for a while before checking in, getting settled and meeting the group for a pre-dinner pool party.
Lunch!
My favorite. Plumeria aka Frangipani
We didn’t stay long with the group and soon found ourselves exploring the quiet streets again. On the advice of our guide, we found the Ao Nang night market, a small but charming set up. There were makeshift “clubs” and bars along the back perimeter, set up on the back of flatbed trucks, with blinking LED lights and most only large enough to seat 10 or so people. There were plenty of booths to find food, drinks and souvenirs. There were a number entertainments acts going on in the centre of the market, mostly children and teens dressed in traditional Thai costumes, singing or doing traditional dance for the visitors. For dinner, I opted for a coconut stir fry, which was served in a freshly opened coconut.
Krabi night market
The woman who made it for me was absolutely artful in her skill of opening the coconut, making the stir fry from scratch in front of me and even topping the finished dish with an orchid for presentation. I offered her a tip but she was confused, thinking I misunderstood the price. I tried to explain with our language barrier that the extra was because she did a beautiful job making it for me and I thought she deserved extra for her hard work and skill. We had known before going to Thailand, and it was noted by our tour guide as well, that tipping is a rarity. So rare apparently, that I had to explain what it meant. When she understood my intention, she was thrilled; she began to giggle and blushed, clutching the money to her chest, and we thanked each other with a wai, a slight bow with hands pressed together. Shawn and I wandered around the market, purchased a few souvenirs, had a few drinks and called it a night on our first night in the lovely town in Ao Nang in Krabi.
Have you visited Krabi? What did you think? Too quiet or touristy or just right? Thanks for reading and stay tuned for our continued Thailand adventure. Feel free to comment or ask questions. Until next time, safe and happy travels!
-L
Navigating The Packed Streets Of Phuket
Posted on March 8, 2019
The Thailand adventure continues. I left you last as were were checking into our hotel in Phuket after a long, exhausting journey from Edmonton, Alberta to Phuket, Thailand.
An amazing Pad Thai
After a brief rest, water and some rifling through suitcases to find shorts and tank tops, the next priority was food. We didn’t waste a lot of time in deciding that literally the closest option was going to be just fine. We walked across the street from the hotel to a “sports bar”. Nearly empty in the late afternoon heat, we were ushered in and given the royal treatment. I ordered a Pad See Ew. I had no idea what it was and I was so hungry I didn’t really care at that point, but luckily it was an amazing stir fry with extra thick rice noodles that I’ll never stop thinking about. The beer was the coldest, most delicious I’d ever tasted. We ate, had a few drinks, took in the beautiful tropical surroundings and reveled in the first few moments of our most adventurous vacation before moving on.
We followed the signs directing us to the beach and walked about 8 blocks from our hotel down a few well traveled back alleys. We arrived at a the busy and very touristy Patong beach near sunset. There were food vendors everywhere; meat on a stick, to-go Pad Thai, ice cream, fresh coconut drinks and fruit smoothies were just the beginning of the choices available. We walked along the beach, took in the sights and enjoyed the sunset before heading back for an early night. Despite my exhaustion, sleep was a challenge. Jet lag is the worst. We went to bed early but by 3:00 am Phuket time, I was awake and ready to go. This ended up being fine, as on our first full day in Thailand, we were booked for a two dive Scuba excursion.
Patong Beach at sunset
Yes, it sounded crazy to me too. Early in the planning of our trip we had decided to book a tour for our first week in Thailand. We knew that this trip would be a whole new level for us and thought a tour would be a great way to learn about the country, food and customs with someone experienced assist us for the first leg of our trip. With the help of a travel agent, we booked an “Island Hopper” tour that would start in Phuket, go to Krabi and Phi Phi Island before heading back to Phuket. I knew early on that if we were going to Thailand, I had to do a dive. I’d only been once before in Antigua and was assured by many that Thailand diving was not to be missed. Once we had our itinerary for the tour, I realized how tight our schedule was going to be and wasn’t sure we’d get the chance to dive during the tour or right after when we were booked to fly to Bangkok. I talked it over with Shawn and we decided to book the dive early in the trip so we wouldn’t be disappointed if we missed our window later. So, in what seemed like lunacy, we booked our dive from home for our first day in Thailand. I’ll give you all of the dive details in an upcoming post, but rest assured, it was simply amazing.
A sign posted in the lobby of our hotel that ended up being in nearly every hotel
We arrived back from our dive trip with enough time to shower and clean up before beginning the tour. We met with the group and tour leader for dinner at the hotel and we were admittedly out of our element. We were definitely the oldest in the group; older than the group leader as well. There were about 40 of us in total. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the group, but being that most of them were in their late teens and early twenties, there was a definite party vibe.
Sights walking through the streets of Patong
After dinner, we joined the group who had voted to go to a bar or club in the area. We felt awkward and out of place amongst the young people in our group, and the jet lag and exhaustion from our dive was sinking in. We meandered through the bustling streets of Patong with our group leader guiding the way; shop keepers and restaurant staff strongly urging us to come into their establishments. The sales pressure wasn’t any worse than anything I’ve experienced in Cancun or Playa Del Carmen in Mexico, or in Jamaica, but the huge crowds of people and jet lag made me feel overwhelmed.
The heat, even at night was oppressive. The roads and sidewalks were noisy and crowded and the smells ranged from delightful barbecued street food on one corner to sewer on another. We kept our wallets and purses tucked away and closely monitored on the advice of our tour leader, as pick-pocketing is common here. The streets were dirty; there was a lot of garbage on the road. The sidewalks were cracked and a definite tripping hazard. Many were wet in places, and I tried not to think about what the liquids might be as I stepped in a few puddles I couldn’t avoid in my sandals. Cockroaches scuttled about narrowly missing being squashed by throngs of tourist feet. We walked past large plastic totes and buckets on the sidewalks outside of restaurants that contained fish and all manner of sea life available to pick for one’s supper. While I enjoy seafood, the displays were a bit off-putting based on my own cultural and ethical lens. There were fruit and vegetable stands on every corner with food I didn’t even recognize and there were 7-Elevens on every other corner.
Fresh fruit stand
Our tour group ended up at Bangla Road, the epicenter of party life in Patong. It made Las Vegas seem cute. On each side of the wide road where tourists mingled and bar staff shouted offers of cheap drinks and discount cover fees, there were pubs, clubs, Go Go bars, ping pong shows (offering far more outrageous entertainment than anything available back home), cabaret shows (aka Ladyboy shows) and every form of fun or debauchery one could ever find. We went with the group to a bar where a Thai cover band was doing live versions of western top 40 songs; they were surprisingly good and were fun to watch. The bar had a two drink minimum and even after the tour leader negotiated with bar staff to get our whole group in, the drink prices were insanely inflated. But hey, when in Thailand…
Thai cover band
A popular nasal inhaler sold in local shops, used for congestion or to feel refreshed
After a long day of diving and meeting the group, we were exhausted and excused ourselves at an unreasonably early hour and began navigating our way back through the crowded, dirty streets and pushy vendors back to the hotel. The next day, we decided to take it easy. In the morning we lounged at the hotel’s surprisingly beautiful and quiet pool and found amazing Thai food and drinks throughout the day.
Poolside lounging
Ixora aka West Indian Jasmine
Pineapple Cashew stir fry. Delicious!
Fresh Coconut!
We joined the tour group that evening for discount shopping and some welcome air conditioning at Junceylon Shopping Center and dinner at Baan Saan market. Our guide taught us about some of the food court style areas here where you pay for a pre-loaded food card to use at any establishment in the area and then get a refund on whatever you don’t spend, after your meal. This experience came in handy, as this is a common way of getting food in malls or large markets around Thailand. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to re-pack and get some rest before starting the next part of our tour; heading to Krabi in the morning!
Food court at Baan Saan Market
As always, thank you for stopping by to read. Stay tuned for the next part of the adventure. Feel free to ask questions or leave comments. Until next time, safe and happy travels.
Eterno Dia Photography 