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Published: November 16th 2010
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Very comfortable
our VIP bus was heaven After all the hassle in getting to the bus station the VIP bus was a welcome relief from some of the other buses we have taken recently. With more leg room than we knew what to do with, fully reclining chairs, donuts, water and pepsi as snacks as well as hot tea before lights out, along with the computers in the backs of the seats in front and back massagers built into the seats it was absolute heaven!! Mark enjoyed watching a movie in Thai on the computer whilst I played some old SEGA games. We slept well over night until I had a dream we had arrived at Krabi so woke Mark up - except it was 2am and we were only half way there!! Needless to say Mark wasn’t too impressed with me! I reclined my chair a little further and went back to sleep for the remainder of the journey. That was until we were woken at 5.30am with a cup of hot tea or coffee and told we would be at the bus station by 6am. We are staying in Krabi town rather than Ao Nang so it was only a short taxi ride to Good dreams
Traffic lights
We want these back home! where we are staying. Unfortunately we couldn’t check in until 11am so we found a café that was open at 6.30 in the morning and had a heap of tea . When our guesthouse eventually opened we went for breakfast and to wait it out until our room was vacated from the night before.
We spent the rest of the first day resting in our room and then ventured close by for some food. We explored the small town of Krabi the following day and just generally orientated ourselves. Krabi is a small but welcoming town that although there are a few westerners around has still maintained its Thai essence - which is very refreshing. You don’t get hassled by the tailors, tuk tuk drivers or massage parlours to any great degree - the long boat guys will ask where you are going and if you want a boat if you walk by the river but that’s to be expected. A night food area has provided us with many a cheap and delicious meal eaten in the open by the river. Even in the rain it was nice to sit under the umbrellas and eat in the warm evening
air.
The sun had been out for the most part so we decided to head over to Ao Nang beach which is the closest beach to Krabi. So we got on the local 'bus', which is basically a pick up truck with seats in the back for the 20 minutes ride around to Ao Nang. There are official bus stops but its just as easy to flag it down from the side of the road as they beep whenever they see tourists in case you want a ride! Although the promenade is full of small shops, restaurants and hotels it does not feel as touristy as maybe it should. The beach is more shell than sand but definitely not unpleasant and a gently sloping beach means the sea is close and warm. We spent the day lazy on the beach and in the sea before heading back to Krabi for food at the night market.
Good Dreams (our guesthouse) is also a tour agent so we had been looking at all the tours around. We decided on a kayak tour through the mangroves for a day. So, we were picked up at 8am and transferred over to Ao
Nang beach where we then got on a Song thaw and travelled over to Ao Thalane where we would depart from the pier. There was a few of us on the first minibus so we assumed here was a few of us going however, when we arrived at Ao Nang we were the only two that got out the bus for the kayaking!! So us two and four guides made the trip to Ao Thalane. We got into the kayaks at about 9.30am and set off across the sea to the mangroves. Luckily it wasn’t too sunny but we managed to avoid the rain so pleasant weather for kayaking. Firstly we kayaked by the limestone stacks, seeing sea gypsy caves and bones before stopping briefly in a secluded bay where the King used to visit! Onwards into the mangroves and the lagoons. It was so quiet and peaceful until we caught up with the other tour groups that were out!! I think our guides found this quite a relief as it was really hard work for them with only two of us!! We carried on through the lagoons and visited crocodile cave - which has now been renamed mosquito cave!
We were having to follow one boat behind the other which is probably just as well because our guide lost his dry back from his pocket and we only just caught it before it got swept off into he mangrove trees!! We continued on through lagoons and mangroves and as we came around a corner were welcomed by a group of monkeys! These are ones that can swim, jump and like to steal things from your boats. We had been pre warned so had fixed our dry bag to the kayak! A cheeky little fellow came and sat beside me and tested out the dry bag before walking of past mark and off the back of the kayak! Onwards we went and eventually came out of the mangroves back across the sea and to the pier. We then stopped for lunch (a rice box with chicken curry and fresh fruit!), before heading off to a cave and crystal pool. We climbed into the first level across some rather precarious rocks and slopes to be told this was only the first level of the cave to which there were four. I decided tat I didn’t want to climb ay more levels
due to very slippery sandals and wet rocks - Mark however decided differently and duely followed one of the guides up through the cave!! We then went onto the crystal pool which was really clear and had a connecting cave to a sister pool a short distance away at the bottom of it. There was a diver in there when we arrived who, when he surfaced told us the pool was 240m deep!! We both jumped in eagerly following the guides example only to discover it was freezing!! Well it felt it anyway but with the outside temp at about 33 degrees that’s not surprising! After a short while here we were ready to go so were dropped off back at the guesthouse for some well needed rest!
We have decided to stay another week here as its really chilled, cheap and has a beach nearby - but also because we are not sure where to head next!!
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Dad & Sandra
non-member comment
what a life
Pictures looked really great. We liked idea of kayaking, enjoyed it in NZ. Steves got a couple of doubles. You are making us quite envious. Did you get message about hotel. When we were booking couldn't believe how quickly the rooms were going. Great open air swimming pool on the roof.