Krabi/ Ao Nang (Thailand)
After Palau Pangkor we needed to start heading towards Thailand in order to meet up with our friends Shari & Eamon in Bangkok. As such, we decided to get ourselves into Thailand and spend another few days at a beach in Thailand before making our way to Bangkok. This involved a few more bus rides and an overnight stay in George Town in the province of Panang, Malaysia.
The first bus ride was all right enough. We went on a coach bus from Lumut to Butterworth for 3 hours and then took a 20 minute ferry to George Town. George Town was a nice place...ended up getting homesick for some western food and ate dinner at an English pub.
The next day was what I imagine hell would be like. Our 7 hour bus ride turned into an 11 hour cramped, roasting hot mini bus ride. There was hardly any leg room, there was no A/C (vent air just doesn't cut it), there were no curtains to keep the sun out and worse yet a stinky inconsiderate monk was sitting beside us. Wade and I had to take turns sitting beside the monk. You know a bus ride is bad when the monk beside you is undressing in the van and pouring water on himself because he cannot bear the heat! Further imagine that he hasn't showered in a while and is sitting spread eagle to get maximum air ventage and pushing his leg into your space! It was a very trying bus ride to say the least and a couple hours in I thought we were going to pass out before ever making it to our destination.
We did make it alive to Krabi, Thailand. I have since found out that women are not supposed to even touch monks as it is very disrespectful. Not sure what I was supposed to do when I was crammed between him and Wade with no where to move and his legs were in the space in front of my seat!
Anyways, Krabi was a nice seaside town. We settled into our hotel for the night which was our cheapest yet, the equivalent of $12.50 and nicer than a lot of other rooms we have stayed in for more. The next day, we moved to the resort area of Ao Nang (20 minutes from Krabi). There were three nice beaches around this area that we could access via long tail boat rides of approximately 15 minutes. Ao Nang was teeming with tourists and tons of Canadians! The days were hot with the occasional short rain shower. We had 3 wonderful days of beaching. Best yet, we had a $10 a night brand new bungalow in the jungle. Very peaceful, although a bit out of the way. Very surprised what $10 can buy you! Here is a picture of our jungle bungalow.
Here is a picture of one of the 3 beaches around Ao Nang that we spent the most time at, West Hat Rai Leh. It was a nice beach, with gorgeous scenery. Massive limestone cliffs surrounded the beach and there were many rock climbers around in addition to beachers. The water clarity was not as good as Cayman, but the scenery around this beach made Cayman seem like a boring flat rock in the middle of no where!
When I say there were 3 beaches around Ao Nang, I am not counting this one which is called East Hat Rai Leh. As you will notice the tide changes quite a bit, as this long tail boat is stuck in the mud until the tide comes back. This was not so much of a swimming beach. The west part of the beach is where we spent most of our time and although the tide changed quite a bit there as well...it never went into mud flats like on the east side.
There were many rock islands jutting out from the ocean around the beaches. One afternoon we rented a kayak and went exploring. Here is a view out of our kayak.
The first bus ride was all right enough. We went on a coach bus from Lumut to Butterworth for 3 hours and then took a 20 minute ferry to George Town. George Town was a nice place...ended up getting homesick for some western food and ate dinner at an English pub.
The next day was what I imagine hell would be like. Our 7 hour bus ride turned into an 11 hour cramped, roasting hot mini bus ride. There was hardly any leg room, there was no A/C (vent air just doesn't cut it), there were no curtains to keep the sun out and worse yet a stinky inconsiderate monk was sitting beside us. Wade and I had to take turns sitting beside the monk. You know a bus ride is bad when the monk beside you is undressing in the van and pouring water on himself because he cannot bear the heat! Further imagine that he hasn't showered in a while and is sitting spread eagle to get maximum air ventage and pushing his leg into your space! It was a very trying bus ride to say the least and a couple hours in I thought we were going to pass out before ever making it to our destination.
We did make it alive to Krabi, Thailand. I have since found out that women are not supposed to even touch monks as it is very disrespectful. Not sure what I was supposed to do when I was crammed between him and Wade with no where to move and his legs were in the space in front of my seat!
Anyways, Krabi was a nice seaside town. We settled into our hotel for the night which was our cheapest yet, the equivalent of $12.50 and nicer than a lot of other rooms we have stayed in for more. The next day, we moved to the resort area of Ao Nang (20 minutes from Krabi). There were three nice beaches around this area that we could access via long tail boat rides of approximately 15 minutes. Ao Nang was teeming with tourists and tons of Canadians! The days were hot with the occasional short rain shower. We had 3 wonderful days of beaching. Best yet, we had a $10 a night brand new bungalow in the jungle. Very peaceful, although a bit out of the way. Very surprised what $10 can buy you! Here is a picture of our jungle bungalow.
Here is a picture of one of the 3 beaches around Ao Nang that we spent the most time at, West Hat Rai Leh. It was a nice beach, with gorgeous scenery. Massive limestone cliffs surrounded the beach and there were many rock climbers around in addition to beachers. The water clarity was not as good as Cayman, but the scenery around this beach made Cayman seem like a boring flat rock in the middle of no where!
When I say there were 3 beaches around Ao Nang, I am not counting this one which is called East Hat Rai Leh. As you will notice the tide changes quite a bit, as this long tail boat is stuck in the mud until the tide comes back. This was not so much of a swimming beach. The west part of the beach is where we spent most of our time and although the tide changed quite a bit there as well...it never went into mud flats like on the east side.
There were many rock islands jutting out from the ocean around the beaches. One afternoon we rented a kayak and went exploring. Here is a view out of our kayak.
posted by The Adventures of Rena & Wade | 9:05 PM
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