KRABI-KLONG MUANG BEACH
21Jan 2018
We arrived yesterday and took a taxi to Krabi in the heavy rain. Slow going. Fortunately it stopped as we got close so we didn’t get drenched while going into our new flat for the week.
Oliver came to greet us in the lobby of the condo complex. There’s a beautiful pool in the center. We were taken to our flat and Oliver showed us how things worked and spent half an hour describing things to do on a map of the area. We can ask him to arrange things. We decided to make today, Tuesday, a walkabout day to get to know our little spot on the map.
We walked to the beach and along the beach for an hour or so before stopping for lunch. We swam some afterwards. There are clearly marked areas for swimming – buoys/ropes, and then the non roped off areas are where the motor boats and long boats beach themselves to pick up or discharge passengers. The water is very warm, which is OK for me!!! However it’s murky and you wonder how much influence the motors have on the water you’re in. We decided to explore the islands in search of better beaches/water so contacted Oliver to arrange.
Our flat is on the 4th Floor and is well set up. It’s interesting that the sinks only have 1 tap. The shower has an instant hot water heater about the size of a large shoe box. Plenty of hot water!! I do the washing in a bucket in the shower to get warm water using the washing powder I bought. Then a bucket rinse, a real squeeze, and out to the drying rack on the balcony. We quickly learned at night, when we turn the AC on, that the exhaust from the AC units create enough hot air that everything dries very quickly.
Great sunsets!!
KRABI-KLONG MUANG BEACH
24Jan 2018
Today Oliver arranged for us to take the Orchid Speed Boat tour to the Phi Phi Islands, with several stops for swimming, snorkeling and lunch. We were picked up and taken to Ao Nang Beach to await the tour guides with the speed boats to gather up the group.
I had looked at staying in an Airbnb in Ao Nang, but saw a comment remarking as to the multitude of boats in the area and the “sheen” on the water when swimming there. Once getting to Ao Nang I now understand the comment and I’m very glad I didn’t book there!!!
We were grouped up with about 25 people, some children too, and taken to our boat. We removed shoes to wade to the back ladder and we took our seats up in the front behind the driver area to avoid sun and spray. Turns out even at high speed (twin 250 Hondas) there was little adverse motion or spray.
Our initial trip was about 45 minutes to get to Phi Phi and our first beach stop at Monkey Beach. Lots of monkeys – with warnings not to feed and let them get interested in your bag or backpack. They will grab it, and take it into the jungle, or even grab you!! They don’t bite, but best to keep at arm’s length.
There was some problem with one of the motors as it wouldn’t lift and get off the bottom in order to unload close in to shore. Thom was one of the first off but by the time I got to the stern ladder, the driver and crew were fiddling with the motor and I couldn’t get off. I wasn’t up to a leap off the boat either as it was rocky and I couldn’t tell how deep it was….. Turns out a few of us remained on the boat for the 45min to an hour and those on the beach were then summoned to return. The engine never worked properly for the whole day. It ran fine, but wouldn’t lift up when in shallow water.
Our next stop was at a place where the boat anchored and we snorkeled off the boat for a while. It was really nice, and lots of little fish. The water was not murky which was also nice.
Next was to the other Phi Phi island for a lunch buffet, provided as part of the tour fee. The number of boats at the beach was incredible…. Some people were swimming in the very small roped off area. We had a decent buffet lunch with chicken curry, rice, steamed veg, fish cakes, spaghetti and meat sauce and hot spicy soup. It served its purpose!
We then went to the area where the L Capprio movie, The Beach was filmed. Haven’t seen it but it was pretty. We walked from the main beach area to where we could climb a small tower and see into a pretty lagoon. Maybe that’s where the movie was made???? We swam some here, but once again, it was very crowded with boats.
Our last stop was at Bamboo Island beach. This was a beautiful small beach area, and not too crowded. The snorkeling was the best of the day, and the water was nice and warm as it had gotten cool and cloudy.
After about 45 minutes we were loaded back onto the boat for the trip back to Ao Nang, and our ride home. Nice day!!!
KRABI-KLONG MUANG BEACH
25Jan 2018
Today, again with Oliver’s helped, we enjoyed a longboat ride to Hong Island, close to us, and another island or two. Bat was our “skipper” and he spoke good enough English.
Throughout the day we kept seeing a Star Clipper yacht underway. She was beautiful. Later in the day, all her sails, even the square ones were pulled out. Bat indicated that she’s here in the summer (Jan/Feb/Mar) and somewhere else in the winter. Haven’t been able to get much more info except there are web links that indicate an itinerary in and around Phuket, Hong Island and north and south of here.
It was just the 2 of us and we left at 7:30 in order to get to Hong Island before many others. It was a good idea. When we first arrived there were only 4-6 people on the beach. We stopped for coffee and a coconut! I wasn’t up for coffee.
We found a shady spot behind a large outcrop and relaxed a while. The beach is beautiful. However it wasn’t long before many boats arrived bringing lots of visitors. When we arrived there was no one at the floating dock; when we left, many boats were rafted up.
We then continued through the day, visiting different islands, each getting more and more crowded as the day wore on. At our last stop it was so crowded and the water so murky we only stayed about 20 minutes. We asked Bat if there was any place with better snorkeling. He took us to an island where we couldn’t land. There were several “Prohibited/no entry” signs. We couldn’t quite understand Bat’s explanation, but the swimming was really nice and the snorkeling pretty good. Even there, after a short while other boats appeared, some apparently not even conscious we were swimming in its path!!!
That was enough. We headed back to our beach. We sat and had a snack and a beer before going back to the flat for some time at the pool.
KRABI-KLONG MUANG BEACH
26Jan 2018
Today was an interesting day, in part, because we took up Oliver’s offer to rent his motor scooter for $150baht/day. (less than $5).
Thom felt very uncomfortable due to his size, but off we went around 11am. We were headed to the Emerald Lagoon, a mineral pool, about 80km from our flat. Oliver said it would take about 1.5 hrs, but it took 2. The traffic through Krabi was very nerve wracking for Thom. Cars and trucks passing at nearly double our speed, while most scooters travel in the break down lane. What gets really disturbing is when you encounter another scooter in your breakdown lane, going the other way, and traveling to your left, not right…… Then there are stopped cars and trucks in the breakdown lane and you have to maneuver into the main travel lane and not get overrun by the real traffic. And then there are the intersections, and trying to figure out before you get there if you’re going straight, left, or right…
We made it eventually, stopping once for gas. It was hard not actually knowing how far along we’d come and being on the back seat. Thom doesn’t pay attention to the odometer so there’s no way of knowing if we should be looking ahead for our next turn. Signs got more prevalent as we got closer. There was one fork in the road as we approached with no signs and fortunately going to the right was the correct choice.
We also considered going to the hot springs that aren’t far from the mineral pool. After the 2 hrs on the scooter and a nice swim and cooling visit at the pool, we decided to head back and try to get to the flat before dark. Thom was a bit more comfortable on the return trip, but it was still a long 2 hours. The bike’s small size and vibration made many body parts go numb….. It was good to get back and have a drink before going to dinner.
We went back to the restaurant we went to on Tuesday night. There was a great array of fresh fish, clams, and tiger prawns on ice, on display in front of the restaurant. We were both thinking of soup!!! We got the large bowl (very large) of hot tom yang soup with 6 large tiger prawns that we were invited to pick out. Had some help with that…. And also a plate of stir fried morning glory, known in english as water spinach. We have it whenever we see it, which is often! It seems like it’s a really good for you green veg! Thom added some rice and some white wine, and I had a nice cold beer. Of course this followed our cocktail hour of cheese/crackers and almonds as we’d had no lunch, and my concoction of rum, 2 passion fruits, half a lime and a bit of soda water.
Not sure about tomorrow – had hoped to go kayaking but high tide is at 9, and the “loop” needs high tide and several hours. The kayak place doesn’t open until 9. And it’s a ride on the scooter again, and not sure we’re really up for that.
KRABI-KLONG MUANG BEACH
27Jan 2018
Slow starting today… walked alot yesterday and starting to contemplate our departure tomorrow. Our host will call the cab at noon as we fly off to northern Thailand, Chiang Mai. There until Friday.
We had thought of moving on to Rangoon and Bali but have changed our plans. Thom was not interested in Rangoon due to recent political noise and that it probably is fairly rundown, and not unlike Bangkok or Maputo. Been there!!! I was voting for Bali as another beach spot but getting the flights to work became difficult. Seemed even with spending up on flights, the connections were painful – as in fly to China in order to get to Auckland. Long legs in the wrong direction and painfully long layovers.
We decided to just get to NZ!!!! We leave Chiang Mai on Friday. Cheap fares of $800+/- also had long legs and long layovers, so we decided to up and spend $1300 each to fly to SIN and then get a nonstop from SIN to AKL. It’s a 3hr leg a 5 hrs layover (lots of lounges to choose from!) and then 10hrs to AKL. It’s Singapore Airlines though, the best in the sky I’ve heard….. I might finally use my chase points to see if I can upgrade to business. Singapore Air business is also supposed to be the best or nearly the best. For these long, overnight flights, being able to sleep is worth paying any price!!!! and using points is what they are there for.