Advertisement
Published: April 12th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Ao Nang Beach
Just outside Krabi town. The beach is made of tiny bits of broken shells and very little sand. Monday 9th: So we set off last night at 7pm and sat around for 2 hours till our ferry left at 9pm. It was the slowest ferry in the world, doing about 20 knots. Leanne and Julie were out for the count (They had Tamazapam a.k.a Valium as they both get very seasick) and Matt stayed up all night guarding his precious (the camera a.k.a Nikki - the Nikon), again the stormy sea made lots sea sick and the cramped sleeping quarters - one matress is about 2 and a half foot wide and there is no seperating barrier between one passenger and his fellow man - not Matt's scene. He kept nipped downstairs to have a ciggie and talked to a boatboy a lot of the night.
Eventually we got to Surrathani about 4am and waited for our 6am bus, eventually about 10 or 11am we got to Krabi town, and searched for a hotel. Meeting up with Bernie and Chunkie who had spent the last few days on Koh Lanta (the stayed on Koh Phi Phi 1 hour, saw hotels were 2000 Baht at the cheapest and changed islands). We found a good one called Banchoafra. After
Ao Nang Beach
From the otherside that we went up to Ao Nang beach and chilled there for a while. It's not Koh Tao though, the sand is made of broken shells and there are harrowing Tsunami escape route signs everywhere.
To be honest it was more like Costa Del Sol than Paradise found.
So we had our farewell dinner, as Bernie and Chunkie go home tomorrow and Bernie very generously paid for it all, and because we were all tired we got an early night.
Tuesday 10th: Got up early to wave off Bernie and Chunkie, tearful event. Then we just sat in the hotel foyer chatting to a couple from Nottingham who have been travelling 18 months and have 6 months left (They are travelling with 2 kids, a 9 year old girl and an 11 year old boy, homeschooling along the way), spent the rest of the day sorting our bags. Leanne didn't lose a lot, but Matt was merciless, unworn T-shirts and a collection of maps, leaflets brochures, even a ripped book went. He lost 4kg. Later we did the internet, went for dinner, booked a trip for tomorrow and made a revised route plan for Malaysia.
Wednesday 11th: Got
Tap island
Great for snorkelling - we found found Nemo, strange sandbar to walk on, and not far from 'James Bond' island where they filmed 'The Man with the Golden gun.' picked up for our trip, which was only 400 Baht (trips here always quote speedboat prices but if you ask, there are usually slowboat options that are far cheaper). First stop was Tap island where we walked across a sandbar and did some good snorkelling seeing lots of fish - icluding a Nemo fish - We found Nemo, and baby Barracuda.
Next stop was Chicken island which has a rock face shaped like a chicken.
Our third stop was where we all jumped in to snorkel in the open sea (Andaman sea) and the boatboy threw bread in to attract all the fish, that was great.
Our fourth stop was Poda island where we had lunch, chatted to a Japanese nurse who has travelled Malaysia already and a Danish couple of girls that have done a RTW trip in the opposite direction to us. They have been to Fiji, Nz and Oz, and we swopped tips, although they scared us with their ideas of the cost of Fiji. And we got ripped off for 100 Baht for a packet of cigs. The snorkelling on Poda was rubbish, the water was far too murky.
Our final stop
Chicken island
Called so because of the way it looks was to Phranang cave at Rai Lai Bay. It's basically a set of Stalagmite and Stalagtite caves with a mini lagoon which is bright emerald, although it's again too murky to snorkel.
Later we went to KFC (which is good here, you get stainless steel cutlery and real glasses) and then had a chat with Julie about where she's going in Malaysia. She leaves us in the morning and had a different route and timescale to us for Malaysia, so we agreed to do the goodbye's in the morning, Julie got an early night while Matt and Leanne drank at the hotel and played scrabble and then headed for bed. All in all a good day
Thurs 12th: Didn't do anything of interest today. Bought suntan lotion, Doxycycline etc. Went to Dunkin' Donuts and spent the afternoon updated this blog which we hadn't done forever - it takes longer than you think. Now we're just waiting for the big day tomorrow, Songran - Thai New Year, a giant national waterfight.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.182s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.1206s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb