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!
