Krabi: Day 1

I have finally recovered enough from my trip to actually write about it. Not that it was exhausting, but owing to the untimely birth of my nephew (welcome Matt! Can't believe the little dude popped out when I was overseas), I lacked time.

Day 1
We flew by AirAsia. Arrived at Krabi International Airport (IATA code: KBV) at about 12.30pm. Gloomy skies gave way to an outpour. Too lazy to wait for the bus, we got a cab to drop us at Ao Nang (TBH600). Although it was deemed the wet season, our cabby insisted that today was the first rain they had in a while.

While KBV is a pretty decent airport, on par with Chiang Mai's, the 40 minutes it took to reach Ao Nang revealed nothing but dry, unkempt grass and shanties. We did pass limestone caves, one with a sleeping Buddha.

Ao Nang itself is completely sustained by tourism. Or at least it feels so. Like a mini Patong sans trannies and hookers, 99% of the shops will fall into one of the following categories:

a) clothing/ ethnic accesory retail
b) food and beverage
c) tailors ("Cheap suit! I give you cheap cheap!")
d) "tourism info", i.e. offering accommodation/ boat transfers/ scuba diving
e) massage parlours

We got off at Ao Nang Villa Resort (USD83 per night). It turned out to be pretty decent. Our hostess wore a cream lace kebaya, indicating the Muslim influence of the state. We had arrived a tad early and housekeeping was still setting up the room, could we wait for 20 minutes

Welcome drinks in hand (sugary, mystery stuff), we completed the necessary paperwork and lounged about in the simple lobby. It was still pouring, so we saved the beach for later. There was some construction going on for the seaviewing rooms, which we weren't informed of earlier. Thankfully, it wasn't too noisy.



Our room was simple and uncarpeted. Very spacious. The promise of three beds turned out to mean two actual beds and one fold open one. Being the only guy, DL was automatically assumed the occupant of it.

Our balcony looked out to the garden, which again, simple, but well cared for. Exhausted from all the travelling, we rested for a bit until the rain abated. The beach was very similar to Patong's, not outstanding, but not completely Port Dickson-esque either. We had to cross a pedestrian walkway behind the hotel to get to it.

After a bit of beach walking, we hopped onto a songthaew (TBH500) to Krabi town, having read about its infamous nightmarkets. It is worth noting that unlike most Thai holiday destinations, we were not offered a single tuk-tuk ride the entire trip.

The rest of the space was taken up by a Dutch couple with four children. The lady was very talkative. She spent the time ranting about how Asians refuse to talk to Caucasian women and how marijuana was ruining Amsterdam, that's why they moved to a small village further away etc. We nodded politely, and agreed with her in the brief and infrequent intervals she paused for breath. Quite amazingly, she and her husband "loved" Kuala Lumpur, finding it "clean and friendly". I think the clouding of judgment was due to passive inhalation of pot.

Krabi town is, simply put, a waste of time. That's a little harsh but it's true. Having been to the Chiang Mai nightmarket (kilometres and kilometres of non-repetitive products), I'm a little spoilt I suppose. Nonetheless, the markets were definitely not meant to be a tourist attraction. Made of food/ fruit stalls all cramped in to one small, wet square, we found nothing so remarkable about it. The town itself was sleepy and dull.

Back to Ao Nang after our hour long stop at the town, we proceeded to hunt for food. Unable to find the elusive Sala Thai restaurant, reputed to be the best for seafood, we settled for Aree Bar Bar, as recommended by a vendor.

Seated at a cute pseudo-hut, we ordered seafood omelette, massaman (or mussaman - sourish curry, quite tasty), green curry chicken and mixed vegetable tom yam. The food was very good, albeit a little dear. Bill totalled to THB550, inclusive of steamed rice and coconuts and some complimentary fruit.

Forgot to take pics before eating

Stuffed, we strolled back to the hotel and stopped by numerous shops along the way, before heading back to hotel in search of our perfect fluffy beds.