Jan 23 2014

Thailand Day 12: Hangover Part 2 hotel and Sirocco

This was another one of those odd “split” days where we travelled from one place to another. This time, though, we started out in Ao Nang, and then headed back to Bangkok in the late afternoon.

We started out by having breakfast, and then headed to the strip so that I could pick up a couple pieces of artwork. I had purchased one a couple nights ago, and decided that I wanted to get another one like it and one that was a bit larger so that I could make a three-piece set on the wall of my office. After looking at a bunch of different places, I finally settled on the other two pieces, bought them, and we headed back to the hotel.

After packing everything, we checked out, and a taxi took us to Krabi Airport for our flight back to Bangkok. The flight was easy as can be on Bangkok Airways, and we got in just about on time. We took a taxi from BKK to our new hotel, which I booked just because it has to be experienced if you’re in Bangkok. We stayed in the Tower Club at Lebua (which is located in State Tower) in the Silom district. The hotel became famous for its outstanding restaurants and five-star amenities, but became a smash hit when it was featured in the movie “The Hangover Part II.”

After a really long (unacceptably long, actually) check-in process, the hotel was pretty nice. I don’t actually think that it is worth all the hype that it gets, and that the Eastin Grand Sathorn is truthfully a nicer hotel, but this one was pretty swank as well. We didn’t get to spend much time looking around because we had dinner reservations at 20:00 at Sirocco, which is the open-air Mediterranean restaurant on the 63rd floor of the hotel.


Club Tower at Lebua Bangkok – Fruit basket they brought us for our inconvenience at check-in
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We headed up for dinner, and the service was impeccable. We started with some jumbo prawns, which were massive, and came in a wonderfully aromatic jar. My main course was some pork with an apple compote, and she got a seafood sampler that had lobster, Japanese scallops, mussels, clams, crab legs, and more. Both of the main courses were exceptional in their own ways, and they didn’t disappoint in the least.


The presentation at Sirocco (even the bread and butter) was exceptional
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The prawn appetiser was delicious, albeit a bit small given the exorbitant price
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We also each had a bottle of wine with our meals. She had a 2011 Pinot Gris from Alsace, and I had a wonderful Spanish Tempernillo. We finished off the meal with two fantastic desserts: a black cherry cheesecake (also served in a jar) and a chocolate soufflé. Though the meal was RADICALLY overpriced, everything was delicious, and it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was also a beautiful end to our trip to Thailand.

Jan 22 2014

Thailand Day 11: Beaches, massages, and… monkeys?

Today was our last full day in Ao Nang, which was sad because that meant that the trip was nearly over. That being said, we didn’t let it go to waste. We started off by having breakfast at our hotel (Aonang Phu Petra), and then headed to the beach. I tried to get some photos of the beach, but the early-morning haze made it rather difficult.

When we were getting ready to leave the beach and go back to the pool, I decided that we should walk down to the other end of the beach just to see what was down there. At the very end, I saw a Macaque monkey running near the tree line. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, there were TONS of them running around! People started swarming in and feeding them everything from bread to bananas to crisps.


Stump tailed Macaque monkey eating a biscuit – Ao Nang Beach, Thailand
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Macaque monkey eating some peanuts – Ao Nang Beach, Thailand
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We spent a while watching the monkeys, and then one decided to lie right on top of our bag and dig through it. For a moment, I thought that Deb was going to lose another pair of sunglasses, but this time to a monkey instead of a baby elephant! 😉


A Macaque monkey raiding our beach bag – Ao Nang, Thailand
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Macaque monkeys sitting in a tree on Ao Nang Beach
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This family with a little boy in a stroller came by as well. One of the monkeys jumped up on his stroller, and just sat on the handle bar. I’m guessing this startled the little guy, because he jumped out of the stroller. Just then, another monkey walked up to him. He just sat there staring inquisitively at the monkey. He didn’t know what the monkey was, but he knew that he had better give up his stroller if that’s what the monkey wanted. 🙂


Little boy looking at a Macaque monkey – another one laid claim to his stroller
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We headed back to the hotel, and laid out at the pool for about an hour before heading back into town for our massages (again at Ao Nang Haven). This time, I went for foot reflexology and a milky cream massage (for a total of two hours). They were both nice, but I’ve found that I actually prefer Swedish massages (or deep tissue ones) over Thai massages. That being said, Ao Nang Haven offered an incredible environment that was completely professional and relaxing!

After our massages, we went for dinner at the Massaman Restaurant. I had the pumpkin curry, which was delicious, but to me, it wasn’t nearly as good as Ao Nang Boat Noodle, and it was more expensive. There are some good Thai places in Ao Nang, but if you find some that you like, I recommend that you stick to those. Feeling overly indulgent, we walked from the Massaman Restaurant over to the Mercure Krabi Deevana’s Kingfisher Restaurant (at our previous hotel) for dessert. They had some of the best ice cream (New Zealand Natural) that I have had in a long time, so we made the trip especially for it! I really loved the cookies and cream, so I got a few scoops of that. Surprisingly, so did Deb (even though that’s generally not her favourite flavour).

We then strolled along the main Ao Nang strip, walking in and out of shops looking at the various trinkets and such that the vendors had for sale. We weren’t really looking for anything in particular, but it was neat to see everything that was available (from scarves to jewelry to bespoke clothing and more).

Lastly, we stopped back in at The Diver’s Inn and had some wine. We talked for quite some time with the owner (Jürgen) about the trials that he had endured with owning a restaurant in the area for fourteen years. His story was fascinating, and his business model of providing excellent service and great value for quality European cuisine is one that has been and will likely continue to be highly successful in the area! After our nice relaxing time at the Diver’s Inn, we walked back to the hotel and called it a night.

Jan 21 2014

Thailand Day 10: Private island-hopping tour

Today I woke up feeling completely better, and ready to go on our private island-hopping tour. I booked the tour with Andaman Camp and Cruise (with a lady named Elizabeth, who is an expat from Australia). We were scheduled to see Koh Hong, and the four islands (which are Red Island [Koh Daeng], Koh Tup, Chicken Island, and Turtle Island).


Andaman Camp and Cruise – long boat tours of the islands in Krabi Thailand
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Elizabeth picked us up in the lobby of Aonang Phu Petra around 10:30, and we headed to the pier so that we could get on the boat. Unfortunately, she said that she wouldn’t be joining us since I had booked the sunset tour. Had I known that, I would have only done the day tour. She has a young son, and he doesn’t like it when she is gone that long. As such, we had a different tour guide, but she was very knowledgeable and friendly.

We started off by heading to Koh Hong, which is one of the few islands that actually has a substantially sized beach. It was really quite beautiful, but unfortunately, it was pretty crowded, which made taking photos quite difficult. I hope that some of them still turned out decently though. After being on the beach there for a little bit, we went around to the other side of the island, which is a lagoon. It was stunning, and the water colour was somewhere between teal and turquoise. The rock formations around the lagoon, and the mangroves growing in it made it a landscape that isn’t found in many places in the world.


The beach area at Koh Hong, Ao Nang, Krabi Thailand
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A mangrove jutting up out of the lagoon at Koh Hong
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When we left the Koh Hong lagoon, we went to Red Island (Koh Daeng). The island is appropriately named as it is one of the few with red rocks. There were some fishermen in a boat right off the shore, and our tour guide indicated that they were actually catching squid. During our stop there, we took some white bread and threw it off the side of the boat in little hunks. The sheer amount of fish that shot up to the surface to get the bread was remarkable. I tried getting some photos, but even at 1/4000, they were too fast for the shots!


Koh Daeng – Red Island – Ao Nang, Krabi Thailand
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The fish off Red Island, swarming to gobble up the bread we threw to them
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We finished off the island tour with Koh Tup, Turtle Island, and Chicken Island. To me, these islands weren’t really all that remarkable, but they were still worth seeing. Our guide took a funny picture where it looks like Deb is petting the top of the chicken’s head on Chicken Island (and no, there aren’t any chickens running around; the rock formation just looks like the head of a chicken). We got off the boat at Koh Tup, and there were some really interesting rock formations along the beach. On those rocks were tons of crabs of all shapes and sizes. They were moving really quickly, but I was able to get a couple photos of them. We finished off the evening with some BBQ on the beach, and the trip back to Ao Nang.


Colourful crab meandering around the rocks at Koh Tup
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On the way back to the hotel, we had ice cream at the Häagen Dasz store. I found it to be incredibly overpriced, and really not all that great considering the alternatives in the area. We then stopped by this road that’s an offshoot from the main strip (just north of Tandoori Nights restaurant). At the entrance to it, there’s a big sign that says “RCA.” It’s basically the somewhat sleezy bar district of Ao Nang, and apparently the place to visit is Amy’s 69 Bar. We stopped in for a couple drinks, and I quickly realised that “Amy” is actually a ladyboy. That being said, the environment was fun, but too wild for me.


Amy’s 69 Bar – Ao Nang – Thailand
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We quickly stopped off at The Diver’s Inn, and had a glass of wine (which is VERY difficult to come by in Thailand). The wine was pretty good (especially for the price, considering it’s generally incredibly expensive in Thailand), so I made a mental note to come back tomorrow night for some drinks.