Beach Life on West Coast Thailand

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On Boxing day we set off early for Krabi, over the over side of Thailand on the Andaman Coast. It was an early start as we were to be picked up at 6:30 in the morning. Not sure how it happened, but the alarm clock failed to awake us and we finally woke at 6:15 instead of the planned 5:30 we had agreed on the night before. The trip was relatively straight forward. A mini van from Chewang to the main port of Na-than. Then everyone is loaded on to a coach only for it to drive round the corner to the boat, where everybody is off loaded again to walk on the car ferry! Once on the mainland it's back on the coach for a non stop trip to Krabi. And I mean non stop! Im pretty sure this coach driver wasn't going to slow down whatever might of have got in his way! At one point he drifted across the other side of the road towards an oncoming car for what felt like an age before drifting back over to his side! Anyway with our speedy driver at the wheel we made good time and arrived in Krabi Town about 1 in the afternoon. From there we made the short transfer to the area we were staying, a place called Ao Nang.
Ao Nang a beach area is approximately 20 mins from Krabi town and also a main connection point to the beaches of Railey and Pranang , both of which can only be reached by long tail boat.
Our stay in Ao Nang lasted for 7 nights. We booked for that long so we didn't have to worry about moving again before the New Year and also because this is where Rob wanted to do his rock climbing course which was run over a 4 day period. Ao Nang is a nice area, although you immediately notice a different crowd from Koh Samui. It's very family orientated and full of Europeans, such as Scandinavians, and Germans. Walking around in the evenings we didn't here many English speaking people at all.
On New Years Eve the hotel we were in put on a gala dinner. When booking we realised a lot of places were doing this and it seemed paying for it was going to be compulsory. Therefore having already paid, it was a bit of a no brainer when deciding whether to attend or go else where to eat. Later on we headed to the main, and probably only, club/bar in town, called the Luna Bar. As it happened this was directly opposite our hotel which was handy. Whilst being on the beaches in Thailand over the past month in the evening, we had often seen people lighting the lanterns that drift up into the sky. You may recall these from the film "the beach". By the time New Years struck, the sky was literally full of these lanterns which was a cool sight to see.
New Year's day was spent doing very little, kinda like most New Year's Days are spent I guess. I woke around midday after a late night and we went into town where we ate a real crappy meal, which we had to wait about an hour for. That evening we had an early night to allow us chance to pack and catch up on sleep, ready for the move the next day.

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Photos

The best way to get around Ao Nang!
Just one of the many long tail boats used as daily transport on West Coat Thailand.

Second best way get around Ao Nang!
Three wheeled Tuk Tuk, provided us with a breezey lift home each evening!

Longtail boat to Railey Beach
Rob in his postmans outfit on the way to deliver the mail and check out Railey Beach near Ao Nang!

Ao Nang High Street
So clean and tidy compared to Samui's Chewang!

Deserted Beach (Well Almost)
One of the stop off points during our Island day trip tour.

Final Sunset!
The sun says goodbye to Thailand for the last time in 2006!