Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Island Hoping In Krabi

Map of Thailand highlighting Krabi Province}Image via Wikipedia

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The following day, we head to Krabi by Air Asia. As when we reach Krabi, we were led to the Tiger Temple. No tigers are seen. Please do not obnubilate your self with the tiger temple up north in Bangkok where you have in mind . Instead this tiger temple is occupied with monkeys. Nothing much to view there, only a few nuns were making their prayers.



Tiger Temple


Tiger Temple Cave


We stayed in a hotel located in Aonang Beach, Krabi La Playa Resort. A relaxed and cozy resort serving delicious buffet breakfast I would say. I got a great swimming pool view from my room. Along the way to La Playa Resort you wouldn’t miss the beautiful beach. Head down to the town for a stroll, along Aonang Beach you’ll see many massage parlors, sea food restaurants, western dinner, fast food chain restaurant, Talad, traveling booth, bank, currency exchange shop and camera shops, tailor and etc. Not much of vehicles, it’s not hectic, not a heavy traffic jam like in Kuta, Bali. It really soothes the mood. The sounds of the wave which is just nearby are just simply bracing.


Pool View

Resort Main Entrance

Aonang Beach



What to do in Krabi?


If you are to reach Krabi and ain’t got anything much to do you can go to the small traveling booth to book a day or half day trip of an adventure. Price is affordable. I picked a 4 day long tail boat, island hopping for a day trip which only cost 450 Baht and it includes lunch, snorkeling and transportation for return from hotel to the jetty. Islands arranged on itinerary are Poda, Tub, Phranang and Chicken Island.


The port before we leave for island hopping. - Aonang Beach



Second day in Krabi, we went island hoping by a traditional long tail boat which took around an hour or less to reach the first island of Phranang Beach. We took 10 minutes walk in the island to reach the beach as boats are prevented to stop right in front of Phranang beach. We halted at Railay Beach. En route to the beach you will come upon these stalactite caves. Mind your head if you are more than 6 feet tall. There is this one private (name forgotten)5 star luxurious hotel resort which is located in this secluded island that caught my attention. Fences are built around the resort and have prevented us from glimpsing inside. I only get to peek a bit of the luxuriousness of the resort, when a hotel guest who was checking out from the resort, escorted by the bellboy the fence was only wide open for a minute or two.


While on the way


The sound of the waves really makes you eager to reach the beach. I can’t wait to be dousing in the sea. Not much of tourist, as I reach the beach there is this small shrine filled and assembled with wooden a like phallus where the Thai’s believe when a woman touch or pray the statue of phallus, they will be blessed with offspring. As for the fisherman, they pray for their safety to return to land before they head out to the sea. Snapping photos of the cave, the temple, the last thing I do, run in to the sea. The water is simply freshening up after walking under the hot sun. We were there for an hour. We return back to our boat for the second Island hopping.



The Penis Shrine



Next stop Poda Island; this is where we stop for 3 hours for our lunch and leisure. Poda Island is a bit crowded with tourists. Cleanliness is not as expected, there were lots of dead dried sea weed, dried corals, sharp pebbles- when where you step on it you want to just curse!, a bit of here and there used food waste at the coast of the beach. Not really what I have in mind. It’s just a typical island.



Poda Island


After the whole 2 hours of boredom in the small island of Poda, we were brought to the Chicken Island. The boat ventured us to the center of the sea for snorkeling. It was way awesome, feeding the colorful vibrant school of fishes under the water, swimming with the fishes, the beauty of the nature and sea is just speechless. There were not many people snorkel with us as our boat carried less that 10 people. No weird stranger, unlike what I had in my past experience with the Sea Angels Phuket Cruise which took us to the Monkey Island, where hundreds of people jump into the sea in each other’s company and snorkel for an hour. It was a dreadful scene; it was like a bunch of illegal immigrants attempting to take their breath after outwore swimming for hours. There was supposed to be school of fishes but was all kicked back away. People are trying to kill each other by kicking at each other in the sea. All I can witness were legs and the ripples that the immigrants did. Nasty!



Koh Kai - Chicken Island


Tub Island was the last island to hop. The island reminds me of Mataking Island in Sabah. It is one awe-inspiring island. How do I describe this island? A small island with a big rock, on top of the rock there were few bushes grown on it. It’s was truly inspiring, To be exact, it is an island where the middle part of the island is kinda submerged and washed away with shallow water so it looks like as if there were two island connected by a sandbar. The two islands are joined by sand bars that rise up from the sea when the tide is low. Out far, you can envision as if people were float walking on the sea.

Tub Island


The trip at Tub Island was a bit short as the cloud was dark and was on its mode with heavy down pour. I was busy having fun at the island and the gust clouds urged us to get back to the boat .What a waste! The trip back is a no fun we were all soaked wet as it was like a boat race against the rain. I was worry sick that my camera will be dead wet. The rain subside when we reach land. Camera is still dry clean in my thick plastic bag. LoL


Well the second day ended with our dinner at Pizza Hut with beer. Continue with Swenson which is right next to Pizza Hut for dessert. We were tired but happy for the awesome cheap trip. Drunk and tired returned to our hotel to charge up for our next day island hopping to Phi Phi Island..


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