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Published: December 29th 2008
Krabi - Ao Nang Leaving paradise is always a difficult decision, but the excitement of perhaps finding another place of equal beauty was enough motivation to get us on the boat. After a 3 hour slow boat ride back to shore from Koh Lipe and then another 3 hour ride on a bus, we finally arrived to our new home for 4 days in Krabi. Quickly deciding that the buildings surrounding us were too claustrophobic and that the shock of not being able to see the beach from our accommodations was devastating, we decided to take the "local bus" (read: 1/4 ton pickup with bars to hold on to while hanging out the back of the would-be tailgate) from Krabi Town to the more familiar site of the beach of Ao Nang. Our next mission once we finally found decent accommodation in Ao Nang was to decide what to do for the perfect 26th Birthday celebration for Matt. Luckily Krabi is home of many outdoor activities including rock climbing, elephant trekking and kayaking to name a few; we chose the latter for a proper early morning start. We chose the half day option of a guided tour through the amazing limestone
karsts that frames the town of Krabi. On route to these enormous rock formations we made pit stops to inspect the local marine life exposed during low tide and encountered our first sea cucumber, starfish and crabs that hastily bury themselves in the presence of any shadow. Along the way we also encountered monkeys who were obviously used to excited tourists who couldn't wait to throw out scraps of fruit peels for the monkeys to fight over. By the end of our tour through the mangroves, our guides had sufficiently broken the ice between the whole group and we found our selves in a fierce waterfight; nothing like a mouthful of questionable couloured salt water to quench our thirst...no worries we were sure the beers later would wash it down adequately.
We met another couple on this tour (who would become our travel buddies for the next week or so) who we arranged to meet up with later on in the evening for a drink. It was appropriate that we chose this night to have our first experience with "buckets" (read: mickey of Thai whiskey, coke and redbull all in a child's sand pail), and well, the next day
of relaxing and doing nothing on the beach was much needed!
Railey Beach Penis cave! See it got your attention too! We had heard that there was a beach accessible only by longtail boat that which paid hommage to the male phallas, so of course we jumped on the next available vessel. Actually, Railey Beach is famous for it's excellent rock climbing and beautiful beaches, but the penis cave was an added photographic bonus! After a brief visit to the cave, which is actually a good luck shrine for fishermen (they would bring a carved phallic statue to this site in hopes of a good catch), we hiked up to a beautiful lookout point. Hiked is really the wrong word in this case - let's try climbed, scaled, and rappelled using ropes in accordance with the "Thai safety standards" that we've now come to accept. The viewpoint was breathtaking (as was the assent) and was definitely well worth our efforts. The advertised "lagoon", which was even more difficult to get to (rappelling down 15 ft vertical drops) was a bit of a letdown as it was more of a washed up mudpit, but the beer that we had brought
Viewpoint
Totally worth the hike up!along distracted us from the dismal view. Actual rockclimbing was on our initial agenda for the day, however after the few hours of this excursion we no longer felt that we should pay someone to hold our ropes and tell us the next handhold to grab for. Well, Matt did! However, we spent the rest of the afternoon at a beautiful beach, playing frisbee and relaxing.
Koh Phi Phi Koh Phi Phi was one of the hardest hit islands from the tsunami of 2004, but it's fame stems more so from the beach of the movie of the same name. We had heard that this island had turned into high budget resort style island, and near impossible to find accomodations at this time of year, which made us a little hesitant about heading over. However, we were delighted to find that it still does cater to your average backpacker and there were still many accomodations left on the island (perhaps a result of the Bangkok airport scare from earlier in the month). Koh Phi Phi has a great vibe with characteristic streets lined with shops, restaurants, and food stalls. Although we enjoyed the beaches here, we have come across
nicer sand and cooler refreshing water (the water here is batheable temperature) in previous places. At night, the island comes alive with everyone selling buckets and fire shows and dancers on the beach. To further your opinion on Thai safety standards, each bar along the beach encouraged the crowds to join in on the flaming jump rope, fire hoop jumping, and even a fire limbo (it is amazing how a couple of buckets will make you think this is a good idea)!
We booked another tour to go and see the famous Maya Bay, the beach from "The Beach". Much to our suspicions, despite being a beautiful inlet beach with gorgeous views, it really is just another hyped up holleywood tourist trap. Our tour included snorkelling at a couple of points, which was actually quite good, a lagoon which was beautiful turquiose waters, and the famous Maya Bay at sunset. Much to Matt's disappointment we opted out of the cliff jumping package, but we got to witness the crazies who did! Sunset in Maya Bay was again, despite advertisments, not as it seemed. By the time that we got there, the sun was already too low to shine any
light on the inlet, and although we fully expected to watch the sun melt into the water from "the beach", the sun never actually came as far around as needed and we had to witness it from the boat ride back.
With it being December 24th when we were on Koh Phi Phi, we didn't really want to leave, especially after seeing mulitple people wearing santa hats and suits, but we did want to avoid travelling on Christmas day so we headed out to Phuket.
Phuket We wish that we could tell you that we spent our Christmas day sunning ourselves on another beautiful beach, however when we arrived to thousands of package resorts/tourists, and a beach town where the beach is really secondary to the bars featuring ladyboys, we made other plans. We walked around for hours trying to find accomodation to fit our budget ($50/night just doesn't cut it!), sweaty and flustered we finally stumbled on a place that we could afford. It also had a bar across the street that we lucked out with as it featured a free X-mas dinner which apparently includes rice, mussells, bbq'd chicken and spring rolls in this part of
the world. Free was the key word! Later we found a bar owned by a Canadian guy who played our request of a little Tragically Hip and some Bryan Adams, and featured $1 beers. He had us at $1 beers. Merry Christmas to us! Less than 12 hours later we were back on a bus away from Phuket.
Ranong and Myanmar It was a good thing that we actually left when we did as our Thai visas were to expire on December 26th. After the Bangkok airport fiasco the Thai military took over and changed all tourist visas obtained by land to be only 15 days, as opposed to the usual 30 days. This put a little crimp in our original plan as we had to now leave the country to be issued another visa. Ranong is a town on the Andaman coast and just across a river is the Myanmar border. Myanmar was never on our itinerary as it isn't a heavily touristed country but we now have the stamp in our passport. Despite many concerns from family and friends, our visa run was painless, and we even managed to get a bottle of Myanmar whiskey for $3!
Feeding time
Monkeys love pineapple! We were ushered directly from our taxi to the immigration kiosk, stamped out of Thailand, whisked to a long tail boat, taken to Myanmar, stamped in and out of their country, then back to the Thailand immigration and welcomed back with another 15 day visa. The whole process only took an hour and a half and much cheaper (only 100 Baht) than all of the companies offering to do visa run packages for about 10x that money.
Koh Payam While in Ranong, we heard about another small island off the coast that was a little off the most travelled path. In search of another Koh Lipe we headed over. Koh Payam was a much quieter island than anything we have been to so far. We scored a hut right on the beach for only $7/night, and a motorbike rental for $5/day. We were finally able to have some wheels of our own, and to fill Matt's motorcycle craving. A little 125 CC bike, badly paved concrete roads (if we were lucky), a full tank of gas, and we were able to explore the small island at our leisure. The island is covered in cashew trees which were blooming and
the locals were preparing for the harvest in the next few months. After having a semi-local (read: British dude who satisfies the white guy with Thai girl cliche) explain the complex process of actually producing the final product of what we know to be the cashew nut, we will never complain about the extortionate price of them in the grocery stores again. The island still works on the honour system and our resort (Smile Hut) was no exception. Upon check in we were given a book where we were to write in everything we ate/drank and then pay it when we checked out; proof of the laid back lifestyle. We spent a few days here partially because we liked the relaxed atmosphere, but also because our daily allowance was only half what we would usually be spending. We explored the island on the motobike, relaxed on the beach or in our hammock reading, and even managed to squeeze in a few volleyball games. Although not on our original itinerary it was a nice stopover and a few days of chill before heading to our next destination of Koh Phangan for the craziest New Year's party of our lives!
Love
to all,
MandL
Tips for Travellers: Krabi - the far ends of the main beach strip are much cheaper on the wallet than central. We stayed at the Andaman Spa Resort, although it was a 2km walk to the main beach. The night square market is a great alternative to the more expensive restaurants. Try the "hot plate" - it's a dish that arrives on fire!
Railey Beach - it is quite expensive to stay on this beach, but well worth the day trip over. The beaches are beautiful, the rock climbing top notch, and the phallic cave is worth a visit.
Koh Phi Phi - look for accomodations on the north east end of the island near the viewpoint and away from the main pier. Despite what people tell you, it is possible to get many places for under 600 Baht. Maya Bay we could take or leave it, as much of it's hype does stem from being in a Hollywood movie. Seeing it in the sunshine would also have been nice as I'm sure that adds the needed sparkle.
Phuket - skip it, you're not missing anything!
Koh Payam - the main Aow Yai beach is
where to go - cheap bungalows, 5km of white sand beach, and enormous tide, and beautiful sunsets. We would recommend renting a motorbike right from the pier as it is a great way to get around, and the same price as one taxi ride.
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Dan R.
non-member comment
Skip Patong, Not Phuket
Hey Matt and Linds, If you're talking about Patong beach (matches your description) then I definitely understand what you're saying about Phuket, but Phuket is a huge island and you're not really giving it much credit. I went into Patong for about an hour one night in February and got the hell out in a heartbeat. It's a huge shithole with a questionable beach. However, if you take the time (about 10 minutes) to go over to the next beach, Karon, or another 10 minutes to Kata Beach, you'll not be disappointed. There were rooms to suit all comers (we stayed at Karon Beach) as my parents found a good place for them at 1200 baht and I found a very clean guesthouse for 400 baht just around the corner (I got a hotel style room, with my own hot shower, mini fridge, two fans, clean sheet and towels daily) called the Beshert Inn. The nightlife was not crazy (that's what Patong was for) but the beach was certainly chill and the food was fantastic and not overpriced. I met some really good people there! So all I'm saying is that you can't judge the entire island by that one tourist trap!! -Dan