Krabi Thailand

McDonald Thai Style

Sawadee-kap! My greetings to "Mr. Chairat McDonalds" from Krabi which I hope he will never ever greet me back. This is Krabi Thailand and it is absolutely one of the most amazing place I have been to with white sandy beaches, spires of limestone karst and turquoise seawater. Now, I've not even mention about the delicious food and the uber friendly locals. I couldn't possibly describe the beauty of this place without including many pictures because some scenery just can't be described with words. Once you have seen the pictures, then you'll understand why.

This post will be a long-winded because I'm compressing 3 days into 1 entree. We arrived at Krabi airport approximately 1 and 1/2 hours on Airasia from KL Low Cost Terminal (Bottom). We opted for an afternoon flight on Friday instead of a early morning flight since this is suppose to be a relaxing trip. The taxi trip from the airport to Ao Nang took us 45minutes. We were detoured to Krabi town by our taxi driver because he is a part-time spy for a travel company - or so according to my hunch. I was nervous at first for the sudden change of route and felt like we have been scammed. After giving second thoughts, it aint that bad after all because we are paying for one trip to Ao Nang but we get to sight-see Krabi town as well. On top of that, we got a steal for the price of Four Islands Tour tour at only THB550 per person.   

We stayed at Ao Nang Cliff Beach Resort, which is not to be confused with Cliff Ao Nang Resort! Rest assure that both the resorts are perfectly wonderful although the former is much closer to the beach and the shops. The hotel has a very open concept therefore its lobby is not air-conditioned. One of the many stunning views that can be seen from the lobby (1st bottom). The hotel has a full frontal view of an amazing limestone cliff, hence the name (2nd bottom). We were privileged to have our room facing this beautiful cliff. Before I begin, I must mention that I take no credit in the beautiful pictures that were shown here. There were mostly taken by Julia.

Inside, the room is cleverly split into two tiers and exudes a cosy ambiance (1st bottom). The location of the hotel is to die for because foodie stalls are everywhere and 7-11 and 24 hours McDonald's are just downstairs. Once we settled down, we grab the beach bag and head towards the beach! (2nd bottom).

I could not resist my first touch of the soft sand at the beach (1st bottom). The seawater washing-out the shells and stones at the beach while leaving streaks of sand lines after receding (2nd bottom).

We left our trail at the beach too although not a permanent one (1st bottom). Amazing shot of a crescent-shaped coconut husk on the beach and the shadow it casted due to the evening sun (2nd bottom). 

Me standing on top of wor..l.......rocks for a good vintage view (1st bottom). Some locals were fishing at a corner of the beach. Julia seated on a man made bank listening to the sound of crashing waves (2nd bottom). The seawater here is definitely clearer at this location.

Later, we walked back to our starting point. Sun sets at late evening (1st bottom) which also means time to leave the beach and start looking for food. We ate at the restaurant that specialises in BBQ seafood just across our hotel. After a sumptuous dinner, we walked along the main road and spotted painters in a shop working hard at their masterpieces (2nd bottom). The night ended after we have strolled through the streets and market.

Rise and shine on a Saturday morning! Its also time to be picked up by the travel company for our Four Island Tour. We have been notified that they'll be picking us up at 830am. But first we have to get our breakfast to get energized (1st bottom). There were only a handful of us which I've counted to 5 guests. Therefore not surprisingly, the hotel did not provide any buffet style breakfast for us. Instead, we ordered ala-carte from the breakfast menu. I've ordered real bacon, ommellete, tomatoes and potatoes. The travel company came to pick us up at 900am which made us worry for the first half an hour. The lingering thought of being scam was still there. Apparently, there are two types of boat for island hoping: speed boat and fish tail boat. The in-house hotel travel personnel has kindly told us that speed boat guests leave at 830am while the fish tail boat leaves at 900am. We were also told that travel companies are just middlemen and they will hire boat companies for the tour. That was a good piece of information to know. Nevertheless, the pick up truck came at 900am. What a relief. There were about 20 of us in the same fish tail boat. Half are locals, a handful of whites, tourist from other Asian countries including both of us and and an Iranian family of 4 that includes two babies of 1 year old! We were about to board the boat (2nd bottom).  

On the fish tail boat towards the first island.

The first stop was Tup Island. It is a small island with white sandy beach and crystal clear water. Depth of the seawater is shallow and we were able to wade to another small island about 50m away. We took a dip at this second island (1st bottom). The picture of school of fish swimming around is a great evidence of the clear seawater (2nd bottom). 

The next stop is Chicken Island (1st bottom). Look how the formation of rocks looks like a bobbing chicken head! Technically we did not step on the island. We were dropped off from the boat for snorkelling just at the fringe of the island. There are many beautiful corals and colourful fishes but not the best yet. The third stop and the most amazing by far is Poda Island  (2nd bottom). This island has the definition of paradise written all over it. Stunning wide sand beach that stretches as far as my eyes can see. Speckless and cyrstal clear torqouise seawater thats changes shades of colour as the depth of water increases. Exotic millon years old limestone spires thrusting out of the sea that has been aged by weather.

Our boat was anchored at the beach right in front of a wooden hut. Its time for lunch. The package includes lunch but did not go far enough to specify what kind of food so this will be exciting. I'm just hoping they would not serve us too exotic of a food. Any guesses? *Drum Roll* we were served green curry pork with fragrant rice. We took our lunch box and sat at the hut for lunch (Bottom). They were very yummy or I was very hungry. We brought some fruits from the hotel to have it as dessert.

After lunch, its time to explore the island. What do you call this kind of place? (1st bottom). Pine trees, soft sea breeze, blue skies, cotton shaped cloud, turquoise seawater...

Later, can't resist the temptation to dip myself in the sea. (2nd bottom).

Oh while you're there, no feeding the monkeys on the island, please! (Bottom)

Time to leave Poda Island and head towards our last destination, Phra Nang beach (1st bottom). Technically this place is not an island but it is actually connected to the mainland although it is shielded from the 'ouside world' by the limestone cliffs. This place is more crowded than the other islands as there is at least one hotel here. It is also more crowded with tourists because of the rock-climbing walls available. As I have read, the limestones cliffs here are not only one of the best / challenging in Krabi but in the world as well. Nevertheless, the sight is still awesome and they are many corners that is worth the visit. I'm at one of the corners of the beach shaded from the sun under the limestone cliffs (2nd bottom).  

The tour ended with Phra Nang Beach. We got back to the hotel in late afternoon. We bought a chicken pad thai for only 35 Baht. After snack, its time for the badly needed shower and nap. The last night we had street food which is very authentic. Whole fish 190 Baht, 2 chicken thighs 100 Baht at 50 Baht each, stir fried vegetables 80 Baht and 2 cans of Chang Beer 80 Baht. The night ended with the dinner and shopping.

 

We woke up late on the last morning as we do not have any plans to leave the hotel. Instead we will be getting traditional thai massage in the hotel. A view of the lobby from part of the hotel (1st bottom). The massage pavillion faces the simming pool (2nd bottom). The massage pavillion from the outside (3rd bottom). An hour of full body thai massage only costs 300 Baht! This was a great way to end the trip.