Krabi Part III - Day 2

23rd April 2009
We booked a Phi Phi Don Day Tour on the day before and paid 900 baht per person for this tour. It was one of the cheapest Phi Phi Don Day tour we found as we checked on few tour agency stalls and they charged around 1200-1400 baht per person.
Started the day with breakfast at the hotel.

After breakfast, waited at the lobby of the hotel for pickup from the tour agency.

Krabi La Playa Resort

We boarded our speed boat at Phra Nang Beach.

We thought it was something fun to sit at the front of the speed boat as we will get to see more beautiful scenery. We were wrong...very wrong. It was a very hot sunny day. We already started sunbathing on the boat before we arrived at the beach. The wave was so strong and as the boat hit the wave, we were totally "flew" up from our seat. We had to hold on the hand rail all the time and my arm banged on the hand rail and caused bruises.

First stop was Railay Beach to pick up other passengers.

Next, we headed to Bamboo Island, which was the first beach in the itinerary. The water was so clear and the scenery was just breathtaking.

After spending like 30 minutes at Bamboo Island, we headed to Viking Cave. The cave contains prehistoric Viking ship cave painting on the wall.

According to the tour guide, Leonardo di Caprio jumped from this cliff in the movie The Beach...I doubt.

Next destination on the itinerary was Pileh Bay where we stopped by for snorkelling...ok, not we, as I do not know how to swim.

"Pileh Bay is a small lagoon-like bay. Entrance to the bay is only at low tide although the far end of the bay drops off to form a small lagoon. A small beach is located in one corner of the bay."(credit to http://www.divingphi.com/snorkeling_phi_phi_ley.php)

LKC went for snorkeling

After snorkeled for like 15 minutes at the Pileh Bay, we went to Monkey Bay for another round or snorkeling.

Monkey Bay

It was almost time for lunch and we stopped at Phi Phi Don for lunch. Personally, I feel that the Phi Phi Don is too overrated. The beach is not clean and the water is not clear anymore.

The last stop for the day was Hin Klang, another snorkeling spot. LKC was too tired to go for another round of snorkeling and we just stayed in the boat camwhoring.

We were supposed to go to Maya Bay but the wave was too strong and it was not safe to go there. The journey back to Phra Nang Bay was an adventurous one. Few of the passengers actually vomited on the way back. Arrived at Phra Nang Bay around 4 something in the evening and we were transfered back to hotel for rest.

This is my arm after repeatedly banging on the rail for 30 minutes

We had our dinner at a Thai hawker stall just nearby our hotel.

Thailand and coconut juice - perfect match

LKC had the local beer - Chang Beer

Barbequed squid

Steam red snapper with chillies and lime

Fried mix vegetables with oyster sauce

After dinner, we walked along the Ao Nang beach and I went for aromatherapy whole body massage, which was only 350 baht for 1 hour...super cheap!

Typical pose when you see Ronald Mc'Donald in Thailand...sawadeeka

Krabi Part II - Day 1

22nd April 2009
Our flight to Krabi was scheduled to depart from LCCT at 12:05pm. We booked for a cab to pick us up at 9:00am and arrived at LCCT at around 10:00am. The newly expanded LCCT airport confused everyone flying on the same flight with us. What would be the first thing to check when you arrive at the airport to check-in? The check-in counter, right? Where do you check the check-in counter? From the LCD display right? The LCD display showed us to check-in at some counter (forgot the number). We were quite kiasu as we were 2nd in the queue even before the counter open. Usually internation flight counter will open 2 hours before the flight but we waited till 10:30am, the counter still remained closed and the queue was getting longer.
Thanks to my kaypoh-ness. I walked to the new wing of the LCCT and found a dedicated areas for flights to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Luckily we managed to check-in on time and still had time to have our breakfast.
Had breakfast at Theobroma Chocolate Lounge.

Mushroom cheese omelet, garlic bread and baked beans with coffee or boutique tea @ RM10.90

After breakfast, we went to the waiting lounge and waited for the gate to open. Everyone says that Air Asia always delays their flights and through my experience (I flew on Air Asia for 3 times before), I'm always the lucky one. All the flights departed on time. Hopefully my next flight in August would be on-time as well.

Arrived at Krabi airport around 12.30pm and there was a guy already waited for us when we arrived as we booked for airport transfer from the hotel. This pick-up guy didn't know his way back to the hotel though he is a worker there. We spent more than an hour to arrive at the hotel when in actual, the hotel is only 45 minutes away from the airport.
Anyway, we checked-in to Krabi La Playa Resort located nearby Ao Nang beach. We booked the hotel via Asia Web Direct website which they were having promotion of "buy 2 nights free 1 night". We checked-in to a Superior room. The room was quite big but there was no bath tub in the bathroom though the bathroom was big too.

Towels folded into elephant shape...so cute

After unpacking our luggage and changing, we went to walk around to look for food. We took the "tuk tuk" ride to the Krabi town and the charge for the ride was 50 baht per person. Krabi town is a very small town with just few main roads. Most of the shops were selling similar products like food and clothes.

On the tuk tuk ride

At the Krabi town

We walked around the town to look for food but as it was around 3-4pm most of the shops had already closed. We just stopped at a restaurant and ordered the following dishes.

Outside the restaurant

Seafood tom yam

Fried squid

Fried kai lan with salted fish

We were not sure if this restaurant was a famous one or not, but the quality of the food was superb. The seafood tom yam was sourly and spicy enough and generous amount of seafood like squids, fish, crabs and prawns. The fried squid was something different from the one we have in Malaysia and it was something very special and tasty. The fried kai lan with salted fish was not something very special but it was great as well. The total bill cost less than 500 baht, i.e less than RM50. Considering the generous amount of seafood in the tom yam soup and the quality of the food, the meal was definitely worth the price. You can't find this kind of taste in any of the famous Thai restaurants like Good Evening Bangkok, Amarin Thai and etc.
After our late lunch, we walked around the Krabi town. When I go travelling, I like to visit their local 7-Eleven store to check out the local specialties. We bought lots of Lays potato chips and Rocky chocolate sticks. Lays potato chips is always selling very expensive in Malaysia, at least RM7 and above while in Thailand, it was selling for less than 50 baht, moreover they have their own local flavours like tom yam and spicy lime flavour. Super yummylicious.
There was nothing much to do in the Krabi town, we headed back to Ao Nang by the tuk-tuk again. Please bear in my mind that the tuk-tuk rate will be increased after 6pm. The ride costs 50 baht per person before 6pm, it will cost 60 baht per person after 6pm.
Once we reached Ao Nang, we went to a store nearby our hotel to book for the day trip for the next day. It was one of the store we found that provide Phi Phi Island day tour at the cheapest price. On average, the Phi Phi Island day tour will cost around 1300 - 1400 baht per person. We were lucky enough as we paid 900 baht only.

The Ao Nang beach was around 5 minutes walk from our hotel. There was a stretch of shops along the Ao Nang beach. The shops mostly are selling clothes, souvenirs, massage parlours and restaurants.

Sunset



Restaurants by the seaside

LKC and LPC @ Ao Nang Beach, Krabi (please don't look at LKC's big tummy)

We had our dinner at one of the seafood restaurant by the seaside. We ordered a set of seafood which consisted of clams, mussels, flower crab and fish, and had it barbecued. This set of seafood cost around 350 baht (I think). Additionally, we ordered another 2 big prawns for around 300baht, a plate of mixed vegetables for 70 baht and a bowl of cream of mushroom soup for 50 baht. The price of the seafood didn't seem to be very cheap but the freshness of the seafood was worth the price that we were paying.

Cream of mushroom soup

Seafood platter (crab, clams, mussels and fish)


Stir-fry mixed vegetables

If I were to have to drink beer, Heineken would be my choice of beers (exclude the Hoegarden and etc). A bottle of large Heineken beer cost less than 100 baht (if I'm correct). It's a heaven for the "kaki botol" like LKC.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and stopped by at a convenient store to buy more beers and snacks to munch in the hotel before calling it off for the day. LKC even "ta pau"ed the pork burger from Mc'Donalds as he had never tried pork burger before.