Krabi

Krabi (2nd - 5th June 2006)

Day 1

Hatyai

Waited for the van to arrive at PISA at 5am. The van only arrived at 5.45am. We left Penang Island around 6am. Made a stopover at Bukit Kayu Hitam for breakfast at around 8am. We reached Hatyai at around 10am. At Hatyai, we need to transit to another van at 10.30am to Krabi. We were told there's another 4 hours to go before we arrive at Krabi.... Anyhow, walked around in Hatyai for 30 mins. Had brunch there as well.

A glimpse of a street in Hatyai.

Stan, TK and Wee Sern had cow intestine kuey teow for brunch.

Tiger Cave - Krabi

We finally arrived at Krabi town at around 2.30pm. We can't wait to get out of the van. We took a van to Tiger Cave. There, we climbed up a flight of 1237 stairs. Nothing much at the top of Tiger Cave but the view is nothing short of spectacular. We hung out at Tiger Cave till 4.30pm before we proceeded to Ao Nang Beach.

Tiger cave

Under-construction...

Inside Tiger Cave. We made some donations towards the temple fund. In return each of us have a wristband souvenir to take home.

1237 stairs up .. TK punctured after 450 steps. Exercise lah brudder...

Some of the stairs are pretty steep. We can hardly stand when we got back down. Ourlegs were shaking when we tried to stand still.

Tiger King? He seems pretty friendly..

Stan sudah overheat...

The view from the top. Many many kilometres of land.. wonder which direction is the sea...

The view at the top. The reward for conquering 1237 steps.

1237...That's the number of steps we climbed to get up there.

Apparently the monkeys at this temple has reached another level in evolution.. they can steal!

The little thief..

Ao Nang Beach

We reached Ao Nang beach at around 5pm. Looks a lot like Phuket to me but it doesn't have that much shops. It's the low season right now - the beach is not so packed.

We checked in to a hotel - P.K Mansion upon our arrival. The rate was pretty decent: 500 baht per night. Comes with air cond, tv, hot water shower and 2 queen size beds. Quite clean as well.

Went wandering around Ao Nang beach soon after.

Motorbikes for rent. We rented 2 bikes..the 100cc ones to be specific. Costs us 150baht per bike per day. Cheaper than taking tut tut but petrol in Thailand is not exactly cheap. Around rm2-3 per litre. Anyhow, will take the superbike our next trip back to Thailand.. :P

Thailand pancakes. Tastes like 'roti tisu'. The banana pancake tastes no different from our very own 'roti pisang'. Wonder who ciplaked who...

Was pretty late in the evening when we finally set our foot at Ao Nang's beach. Noticed that the waves were pretty strong. Not a good sign... means strong current, i.e. no scuba diving.

Lots of shops near the beach. Dive shops, travel agencies, restaurants, money changers, spa, massage, etc etc.

Sunset. We went looking for a place to have seafood dinner. Ended up at a beach near the restaurant.

Wangsai Seafood Restaurant. We had our dinner here. Prices are comparable to the going rates back home. The fish is pretty cheap though. Total amount spent on seafood for that night: 2050baht.... dompet mengerang kesakitan.. but it's worth every cent.

Our 1 kg fish and 3 tiger prawns.

Horseshoe crab. Stan's fav.

A roadside artist plying her trade.

Leather carvings

Our 500 baht hotel room. Works out to be around RM12.50 per person per night... dirt cheap. Comes with air cond, tv and hot water shower. What more can you ask for?

Day 2

Hong Island

Followed a tour to Hong Island. We'll be kayaking and snorkeling there. The truck pick us up from our hotel at 9.30am (8.30am Thai time). The tour agency is called 'Mr Kayak'. The van took us to the boat. The boat then takes us to Hong Island. On the boat, we noticed a lot of Jellyfish in the water. We were later told by our guide that it's this time of the year that the Jellyfish invades the coast of Thailand. They will be around for the next 3 months.

Mr. Kayak's office. We waited for them to prepare the boat here.

Boat trip to Hong Island. We passed through a lot of small islands along the way.

The waters are Jellyfish infested. No joke. Seems like it's the season of the year where the monsoon waves washes the Jellyfish onto Thai's shore. They will be here for a least 3 months every year.

Our boat also ferries some kayak at the bow. Wonder how the skipper navigates without visual view of where he is going? Gempak....

A couple of Sweedish backpackers' tent on Hong Island. They canoed all the way to Hong Island. Dread to think what will happen if they fall into the sea while canoeing. The seas are Jellyfish infested..remember? Always admired how ang moh can be so self sufficeint and carefree when backpacking. *tabik*

The high-tech looking kayaks used by the ang mohs.

We alighted into our respective ferries at Hong Island. The journey begins...

Kayuh, jangan tak kayuh.

Kingfisher? No idea. Sighted on our kayaking trip.

Clamps? Looks at the size!

Star fish!

Many2 Starfish...

Crab posing its claws. What a showoff!

Stan with Jelly fish. Apparently it still stings....

TK holding a Jellyfish. Apparently one of the least poisonous of the species. According to the guide: the longer the 'tails' the poisonous it is. Anyway, this one has a short tail. Looks like a transparent plastic bag.

OOo...corals. Pic taken with Stan's camera... enclosed with underwater casing of course.

Jellyfish. They are everywhere.

Lunch! The Thai food was rather good abeit all being spicy dishes. We had vege, chicken ad Jelly fish (at least that's what I think it is). The pineapple was rather good.

We left Hong Island after lunch and made a stopover for snorkeling. Practically jumped out of the water after Jellyfishes were sighted. Potong stim betul. We then made a brief stopover at a small but scenic island.

Went snorking at a nice bay. Seen in the photo is TK.

There are many fishes in the sea...

Shells

Got back to Ao Nang at around 5pm. We rent 2 bikes and went ronda2. Stan and I ended up at some seaside place which speacializes in ..err..shells. Took some photos.

Shells on some slabs.

Up close on the shells

Massage

Went for massage in the evening. Started at around 6.30pm. The massage session was 1 hour. It was already dark when we are done. Mosquitos had us for dinner that night... cham cham..

Stan KO. Tk with the satisfied grin.

Dinner

Went to a Thai food restaurant near Ao Nang beach for dinner. I think I'm startin to like Thai food. The food was not spicy at all.

Had Thai food for dinner. Around 600 baht.

Jalan-jalan

Went around to shop for some souvenirs after dinner. Stan got some soap carvings.

Went arount the shops to get some souvenirs. Soap carvings seen here is pretty impressive. 8 baht per unit.

Looks pretty real, eh?

McDonalds, Thailand

Ronald doing the 'wai'. Ronald is the one on the right mind you... :P We made a stopover at McD for supper. We each tah pau Pork Cheeseburger. 38baht each.

At hotel room

Alchohol + Pork Cheeseburger. 'Haram' kao kao.

KO-ed after 1 bottle? Need to attend training: Yum Seng 101.

Day 3

Our final day in Krabi. Time to go home. Went out in the morning to do some last minute shopping.

Taking the bike across town to visit some dive shops. Wanted to get some dive equipment but the prices there weren't exactly dirt cheap. Better prices in Bangkok or Trang maybe?

We left Krabi at 12pm. From there it was another 9 hours of travel before we finally got back to Penang. Funny why the Thais pronounce Penang as 'Pinang'.