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.

Jan 20 2014

Thailand Day 9: Down for the count

Remember how I said that the spicy basil chicken was a bad idea? Well, it was a lot worse that I originally thought. I was up most of the night last night with food poisoning. 🙁 After a night of sleeping in the bathroom tub, I was finally able to get back into bed and rest for a bit. I ended up sleeping most of the day, because it’s really all that I had the energy to do.

Deb spent the day at the pool, and reading outside on the patio, so she said it wasn’t all that bad of a day. I just wish that I hadn’t wasted the day, especially with so little of the trip left. Unfortunately, though, it was really out of my control. Lesson learned: don’t eat lukewarm food from a street vendor.

I started feeling a little bit better in the early evening, took a shower, and headed out. I could only stomach a little Jasmine tea at first, so that’s what I had. After walking around a bit longer, I thought that I might be able to eat something. I had a pizza, and that seemed to be okay with my stomach. Overall, though, I didn’t really get to do much today. My only hope is that tomorrow will be better, since we are scheduled to go on a private island-hopping tour!

Jan 19 2014

Thailand Day 8: More beach relaxation and the Krabi Night Market

After a really good night’s sleep at the Mercure Krabi Deevana, we woke up and just lounged about for most of the morning. We sat outside our room by the pool, and just soaked up a bit of sun. We checked out of the hotel right before noon, took our luggage, and began to walk toward the next hotel (which was on the other side of the main Ao Nang strip. On our way, we decided to take a tuk-tuk since the bags were becoming quite cumbersome.


Amazing pool-front room at the Mercure Krabi Deevana, Ao Nang
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When we arrived at Aonang Phu Petra, it was well before check-in time, but fortunately, we only had to wait about 15 minutes for the room to be cleaned. They also upgraded us to a poolside room, and gave us free breakfast tickets at the hotel restaurant! Though the pool is quite small, and the resort has some really quirky rules in place (pool closes early, shuttle doesn’t run very late, et cetera), the room is massive and quite modern (especially the bathroom).


Outside the bungalow at Aonang Phu Petra
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The enormous bedrom at Aonang Phu Petra
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The modern, luxurious bathroom at Aonang Phu Petra
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The cliff-side pool and view from Aonang Phu Petra
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We unpacked our things, and headed down Ao Nang to the beach. We also stopped in at Tandoori Nights for lunch. I got chicken hawa with some naan, and she got chicken korma with puri. Both of the meals were nice, although a little expensive.

After walking around the beach for a bit, we went to the bus stop right outside of Nanta Restaurant in order to catch a tuk-tuk to Krabi Town. That’s the only place to catch one that will offer a decent fair (60 baht per person instead off almost 500 baht elsewhere). We went to Krabi Town in order to see the night market.


The affordable tuk-tuk to Krabi Town – outside Nanta Restaurant (very close to Ao Nang beach)
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The Krabi night market (which is right behind Vogue Shopping Centre) was pretty neat. It was filled with vendors selling everything imaginable from food items, to clothes, to trinkets. I ended up getting some spicy basil chicken and rice, which turned out to be a very, very bad idea. Not only was it incredibly spicy (to the point where even I didn’t like it), but it really upset my stomach.


The night market in Krabi Town
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The spicy basil chicken that I bought from a street vendor – wicked hot
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We headed back to the hotel, grabbed some fruit juices, had a couple cocktails, and went to bed.