Jan 18 2014

Thailand Day 7: Mangroves and back to Ao Nang

Well I THOUGHT that we were going to get some rest before today’s activities, but I was mistaken. It was so blasted hot in the tent, and loud outside (with the various animals making noise, and the heavy winds), that I don’t think I actually slept at all. We went up to the reception area for breakfast, which was primarily a western-style one, consisting of pancakes, waffles, cereal, et cetera.

After breakfast, we took a bus about 45 minutes away from the camp, and spent a little bit of time in a local market. Deb was able to buy some new shades at a Tesco Express, but we got a little ripped off. The tag said that they were 135 baht, but the cashier charged us 199 baht. Eh, no big deal; I’m cool with a couple extra dollars. 🙂

After the market, we took the bus a bit farther to the pier in Khao Sok, and hopped on a speed boat. The speed boat took us through the mangroves, where we saw some a couple species of snakes, some birds, and even some monkeys! We headed out into the Andaman Sea, and got off of the speed boat and onto a Burmese junk boat for lunch. The captain made some green curry, but made it wayyyyyyyy too mild for my liking.


The mangroves in Khao Sok / Takua Pa
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A Mangrove Snake hanging out in a tree in Khao Sok / Takua Pa
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After lunch, we got off the Burmese junk and spent about an hour on the beach of a deserted island. Some people were soaking up the sun, some were swimming, but I was more interested in taking some photos. In particular, there were a ton of little hermit crabs running along the shores, so I tried to capture pictures of them. They were really fast, so it proved to be more difficult than I had anticipated!


Trying to capture (photograph) a hermit crab on Koh Phra Thong
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After the beach, we headed back to Elephant Hills. If we had stayed, we would have had similar activities to the night before and dinner thereafter. However, Deb and I agreed to pay some additional money to have the minivan take us back to Ao Nang a day early. We had slept so poorly the night before that the day’s activities weren’t really even that fun. Our next hotel (Aonang Phu Petra) didn’t have the additional night available, so we ended up going back to the Mercure Krabi Deevana for another night (which turned out to be excellent after all).

We were upgraded to a nicer room since it was technically our second stay. The room was right off of the pool on the first floor, and much closer to everything. Though it had a bit more noise, it was great all around. We walked to the little shops nearby, and picked up some Stoli vodka to make our own drinks. We sat our on the porch that led directly into the pool, had a couple cocktails, and called it a day.

Jan 17 2014

Thailand Day 6: Elephant Hills and the elephant experience

We woke up and gathered our things for our trip to Elephant Hills luxury tented camp in Khao Sok National Park. The minivan arrived to pick us up around 08:30, and the drive was supposed to be about 2.5 hours. However, we ended up getting there in about 1 hour 45 minutes. These four German people in the minivan with us were freaking out about how fast the driver was going, and how he was weaving in and out of traffic. We didn’t mind, as his driving seemed quite tame by comparison to taxis in Bangkok.

Upon our arrival, they led us to our tent (which was number 20), and we put away all of our things. We met back up at the reception area for lunch, which consisted of some typical Thai curries (Mussaman—one of my favourites), some sweet and sour chicken, and some vegetable dishes. We had fresh pineapple and watermelon for dessert.


Our luxury tent at Elephant Hills in Khao Sok
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STUNNING view from Elephant Hills in Khao Sok National Park
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After lunch, we departed for the elephant experience, which is essentially the highlight of the excursion… after all, it is called Elephant Hills for a reason. 😉 We got to meet a bunch of the Mahouts (which are elephant trainers), some of the elephants (both younger and older ones), and prepared some food for them. After watching the Mahouts take the elephants for a swim, we had to wash them off–they got quite muddy in the little ponds. After bathing them, we cut up some food (pineapples, sugar cane, and some green bananas) to feed to them. It was really interesting that certain elephants didn’t like some of the food, and would refuse it by throwing it down on the ground.


One of the Mahouts catching a lift on his elephant – Elephant Hills
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Close up of one of the elephants – He says hello
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Elephant swimming and really enjoying the mud
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After feeding them, we went over to see the newest addition to the elephant herd–almost two-year-old Ha-Ha. Deb sat her purse down on the ground a bit too close to the fence, and Ha Ha put the “Ha Ha” on her by taking it and swinging it around. Ultimately, only her sunglasses got broken, but everything else seemed to be fine.


Two-year-old (in early 2014) baby elephant Ha-Ha – Elephant Hills
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Baby elephant Ha-Ha playing
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I went over and planted some banana leaves in the ground, and our tour guide (whose name was Rain [ฝน in Thai, pronounced “Fo-uhn”) told me that basically, we just needed to water those stems, and they would grow without any other interventions. In just about three or four months, they would be ready for the elephants to eat.

We headed back to Elephant Hills for a few evening activities, which consisted of a short documentary about elephants (their biology, their important cultural roles throughout history, et cetera), watching some local school girls perform four traditional Thai dances, and a brief lesson on making yellow curry. Thereafter, we had dinner, which was pretty good, but not as tasty as lunch, in my opinion.


Local school girls performing traditional Thai dance
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We headed back to the tent so that we could get some rest before our activities tomorrow morning.

Jan 16 2014

Thailand Day 5: Beach relaxation and massages

Welcome to the first full day in Ao Nang! I couldn’t take it any longer, so I woke up early and decided to go for a short run. I ran 10km, and it felt good to work off a little excess energy. Hopefully it will help with the crazy amounts of food that I’ve been eating lately too!

After going for a run and taking a quick shower, we packed up our things and headed for the beach. The hotel (the Mercure Krabi Deevana)provided a basket with beach towels for us, which was really a nice touch! With sun cream in hand, we walked down to Ao Nang beach. It felt REALLY nice to just lie in the sun for a couple hours, and then cool off by swimming out in the Andaman Sea (really the Andaman Cove, since we were in the body of water that separates Phuket and Krabi). Before heading back to the hotel briefly, we walked up and down the entire beach. It was really interesting to see how different each end was. The end away from the main Ao Nang strip has powdery sand and very few people, whilst the other end (near the strip) has more shells and a LOT more people.


The beautiful coastline of Ao Nang Beach (really Nopparattara Beach)
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Some long boats out in the Andaman Sea near Ao Nang Beach
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We quickly showered, and headed back to the Ao Nang strip. I was a bit hungry, but didn’t want to ruin dinner, so we decided to just grab a quick snack. Since Ao Nang Boat Noodle was so good last night, we went back there and ordered a couple appetisers. I decided to try the other Thai beer (Singha), since I had already tried Chang when we were at Siam Niramit. I didn’t like Singha nearly as much, and truthfully, beer isn’t my thing at all. However, I did want to try them during our trip.

After our small snack, we went for our massages at Ao Nang Haven. Interestingly, the beds are on the floor, and not elevated like Swedish massages in the United States. My massage was okay, but not fantastic. However, that wasn’t the fault of the masseuse. Rather, I chose poorly; the Adventurer’s Massage was more of a trigger-point massage. As such, it wasn’t really relaxing, but it did help my muscles feel better. Deb said that she really enjoyed her massage, and that it really took it out of her.


Ao Nang Haven – best massages in Ao Nang
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We left Ao Nang Haven, and decided to see just how far the next hotel was from the strip. We walked up to Aonang Phu Petra, and it really wasn’t all that bad of a walk (but there were a few substantial hills). I chose that particular hotel because of its distance away from the strip—away from the hustle and bustle, but still close enough to walk. Also, it was known because of the luxury bungalows that it offered guests.

We left there and decided to go to the Russian restaurant in town, Nasha (written Наша in Cyrillics). The waitress seemed a bit surprised when I thanked her in Russian, and ordered various menu items in Russian. The food was very good, and I especially loved the Pelmeni, which are little dumplings filled with pork and sautéed in butter. Overall, it’s a must-try restaurant when you’re in Ao Nang.


Excellent Russian food in Ao Nang – Nasha Russia (Наша Россия)
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After dinner, when we were on our way back to the hotel, we stopped at this street vendor making pancakes. I had one with sweetened condensed milk and raisins, and Deb got one with–what else–chocolate. :p They were both delicious, and certainly worth the 80 baht for both!

Back at the hotel, we decided to try the Starlight Bar again, but alas, were disappointed. The bar tenders were just not very good at making drinks. Fortunately, they were cheap, so it wasn’t all that bad.

Tomorrow we’re off for a three-day excursion about two-and-a-half hours away at the Elephant Hills luxury tented camp in Khao Sok National Park!