Adventures in Krabi, Thailand.

Adventures in Krabi, Thailand.

May 2015.

It was a long drive from the city of Hua Hin to Krabi Town. In fact, if you do it yourself in a half-decent hire car without making a stop, they say it can be done in eight hours. Go by private minivan though, as I did, and you’re looking at over nine hours with all the farting around in various tumbleweed towns.

Anyone who’s ever done these journeys in Southeast Asia knows what I’m talking about. A stop here so that Mrs. Miggins can hitch a lift to the nearest city. A drop-off there so a restaurant owner can pick up a cage of chickens. It was tedious, but at least I had a bulging bag of snacks and drinks. In addition to the fourth season of Breaking Bad on my laptop.

By the time I arrived in Krabi Province and its bustling capital I was starting to feel a bit like one of those aforementioned chickens. It was late afternoon, hence I decided to write the day off with pizza and an early night at my hotel. I couldn’t tell you where I stayed. But I do remember it being small and relatively quiet in a city stuffed with party hostels and boisterous bars. Definitely an early victory.

Adventures in Krabi, Thailand.

Krabi Town is a curious place. As a key transport hub for a glut of southern Thailand’s popular islands, it exists in a perpetual state of commotion. Nevertheless, all you have to do is branch off of Utarakit Road onto the Krabi River promenade and that chaos soon melts away. Gone are the buzzing bars, honking cars and revving motorbikes. In their place… smoking fishermen, beached boats and my first look at the region’s handsome limestone rocks.

I lapped up this gentle introduction to Krabi. The further I followed the river, away from town, the quieter everything became. Indeed there was very little of note as I progressed, other than the unmissable Mud Crabs Sculpture. Funnily enough the name Krabi has nothing to do with crabs. Rather, the word relates to a kind of sword used in the Thai martial art Krabi-Krabong. Krabi’s crabs actually stand as a symbol of kinship among friends and family. And that the nearby river and sea will always keep the local community nourished.

The sculptures reminded me how much I’d been looking forward to sampling the local cuisine. With this very much in mind, I paid a visit to Krabi Town’s famous Walking Street Market.

Here, I soon lost myself in a small but compact square of cafes, restaurants, food stalls and souvenir stores.

Krabi Walking Street.

It was great going from stall to stall trying out a bit of this, a bit of that. At one station I dispatched a couple of chunky spring rolls packed with chicken and bean sprouts. Then it was onto a fresh juice vendor for an icy cup of watermelon juice.

Heck, there was even a donut lady offering a tantalising and somewhat experimental array of home-baked creations. According to my trusty notes, I had a chocolate, custard and whipped cream donut topped with pink icing and a cherry. Because I could.

Very well-fed indeed, I felt it was time to get out of town for my first field trip. So I hailed a tuk-tuk for the twenty minute drive to another Krabi Province town, Ao Nang. But within seconds of arriving all my reservations about the south of Thailand came into full focus. Yup, Ao Nang was everything I feared it would be, an unabashed festival of inauthenticity designed to prise as much money from as many wallets as possible.

Adventures in Krabi, Thailand.

The whole place reminded me of a mini Khao San Road in Bangkok. Which is never a good thing. I’m talking endless pizza joints, ATMs, poky Indian restaurants and tourist “information” offices. This was also the drag from which you could book a boat tour out to the islands. Tub Island… Poda Island… Bamboo Island… Hong Island… too many more to mention.

Instinctively, I put my head down and battled through the touts (“hello sir, you wanna boat cruise?!?”) onto the finely sculpted Ao Nang Beach. I really like the below shot of the beach, which I’m guessing the photographer caught on some blissful, off-season afternoon. In contrast, the scene that met me that day was so awful I didn’t even take a photo. Instead, I pushed on, picking a purposeful path through the crowds and litter towards the beach’s southern end.

Photo courtesy of Kallerna.

In truth, one of my main goals for the day was to walk the Ao Nang Monkey Trail. Happily, I had no problems finding the ladder entrance to the elevated walkway. So up I went, leaving the beach madness behind. The trail isn’t very long, around one kilometre. But I’d read that there’s a fair bit of luck involved regarding how much monkey action you might get to see on any given day.

As it turned out, my luck was in. Within a few minutes I spotted several families of Dusky leaf monkeys frolicking in the trees. They were such gorgeous creatures with their fluffy grey fur and white patches around the eyes. A characteristic that sees them also referred to as the Spectacled Leaf Monkey.

Ao Nang Monkey Trail.

Much to my delight, the monkeys were very inquisitive about me and proved to be model posers. Staying stock still, they held my gaze until I was done with my photos and had walked out of sight. With few other people on the trail, this was a fantastic experience that made having to deal with the town and beach well worth it.

At the end of the trail my descent brought fine views over Pai Plong Bay and the altogether quieter Pai Plong Beach. Once again, for the umpteenth time during my global travels, I marvelled at how transformed my experience could be by just walking twenty minutes away from the drooling masses.

There was just me and another walker on Pai Plong Beach. Consequently, I made sure to sit for a while just to listen to the tide rolling in.

The peacefulness was especially surprising when I realised that Pai Plong Beach serves as the back garden of the swanky Grand Centara Beach Resort & Villas. I hadn’t even noticed upon first entering, but sure enough there was a line of deckchairs behind me with a few napping guests.

Adventures in Krabi, Thailand.

Their website describes the bay and beach as “private”. This was confusing to me as clearly the beach was available to anyone who came out the other side of the monkey trail. Wondering if it was at all possible that I was trespassing, I drank in some more of the karst-studded vista before making my way towards the end of the beach. Where, all of a sudden, a flurry of bodies had begun streaming towards the pontoon pier.

Joining the line of people heading down the pier, I got chatting to a South African guy who told me a boat was about to leave for Railay, a small peninsula situated between Ao Nang and Krabi. “Just give the captain a hundred Baht” he winked, “I’m sure he’ll let you hop on”.

And that’s exactly how it played out. Onto the boat I went with a bunch of Grand Centara Resort guests. When the driver figured out I didn’t have a hotel wristband, he wordlessly accepted my monetary gift and we were off. The journey took fifteen minutes and was only necessary, Mr. South Africa told me, because Railay’s soaring limestone cliffs cut off access from the mainland.

The boat docked at Phra Nang Beach and… oh…. boy was it busy. Unfortunately, it is very rare indeed that someone is able to come to Railay and have the place to themselves. Described by numerous blogs as having “the most beautiful views in Krabi”, Phra Nang Beach and its surrounds hum with activity. Pretty much from dusk to dawn three hundred and sixty five days a year.

Phra Nang Beach.

While I didn’t like how busy the place was, I found it impossible to deny what an exceptionally picturesque location Railay peninsula enjoys. Forcing all the noise to the back of my head, I absorbed the scenery with a smile. The glittering turquoise waters… the stunning skyscraper rocks… the lush green outlines of Koh Rang Nok and Koh Nang, a pair of nearby islands.

Eventually, my eyes drifted to the far end of the beach where I spied a giant cave. People were streaming in and out, so I thought I better take a look. According to my map, I was heading for Phra Nang Cave, though locals also call it Princess Cave in tribute to a string of ancient legends.

One of these stories talks of a princess called Phra Nang who lost her life in a local shipwreck. Another says she was a fisherman’s wife who spent her final years living in the cave waiting for her husband’s return from sea following a vicious storm.

Amusingly, nothing in these legends could have prepared me for what I saw when I entered the cave. Yes, that’s right, an eyebrow-raising collection of penises! Some were small, others were massive, a few were even golden.

Apparently, the cave represents different things to different people. For fishermen, it is a place to leave offerings in order to ensure safe passage while out at sea. For pregnant women and hopeful couples, it’s all about obtaining a blessing for a healthy and happy child. Moreover, Hindu visitors see the statues as lingas, a representation of Shiva.

Adventures in Krabi, Thailand.

Leaving the cock collection behind, I embarked on a long, leisurely stroll to Railay Beach. With great delight, I realised I was starting to lose the crowds again. So I pushed on… and on… until I ended up at an almost deserted patch of sand with breathtaking views all around. As fate would have it there was one other person there. So I asked her to capture the moment for me with a photo. I have often looked at this shot and asked myself what the heck was I doing with my right foot!?!

Finally, after managing to walk back to Phra Nang Beach, I had to admit how tired I was. Luckily, it wasn’t too long before a boat appeared and I was able to catch a ride all the way back to Krabi Town.

The next day I figured I should really try to get out to one of the islands. Despite the fact that I was feeling less than enthused about returning to Ao Nang and booking a boat tour through one of the shady travel agencies. But hey, when in the South of Thailand, one really has to make an effort to see an island or two.

Hence I did some research online and found myself tempted by a little island called Ko Kai. With the promise of “shady, secluded beaches” and “not as busy as other islands”, I booked a ticket on a sailboat with just a handful of other hopefuls. Later, as we approached, I saw why Ko Kai is better known to locals and tourists as Chicken Island. Yeah, cute rock formation.

Chicken Island.

But this mild amusement soon turned to horror when I realised that tiny Chicken Island was playing host to not one, or two, but three sizeable speedboats of Chinese tourists. In fact, I could hear them all shouting at each other long before we even docked. Cursing my luck, I paddled ashore and stood watching the mayhem unfold.

There must have been between fifty to sixty people on the main stretch of sand. Some were eating from instant noodle pots brought from home. A few of these, I saw, had already been discarded on the sand. Nearly everyone was wearing a bright orange lifejacket because they couldn’t swim.

Not sure where exactly to go, I headed down the beach as far as I could away from the crowds. Right at the end of the beach I found a section of raised rocks, which I proceeded to climb. On the other side of the rocks I arrived at an extremely narrow but perfectly secluded and deserted beach. Whoo-hoo! 

But my joy was short-lived. I had been there for perhaps five minutes, not even enough time for a swim, when about a dozen of the Chinese tourists emerged from over the rocks. And they certainly didn’t waste any time settling in. Bewildered, I sat on my spot processing the situation and wondering how it was possible to make so much damn noise. Around ten minutes later I got up and left.

Adventures in Krabi, Thailand.

Chicken Island’s only saving grace that day was that it had a small restaurant. So I installed myself at a corner table and ordered a plate of horribly overpriced seafood fried rice. It was alright, but nothing to write home about. Just like the coconut milkshake that came with it.

That evening, back in Krabi Town, I spent some time looking around the Night Market. Here the food was much tastier and prices were back in the folder marked reasonable. It was early evening, way before the busy period kicked in, so I was able to saunter around at my leisure.

In the end I went for a piping hot bowl of Yellow Egg Noodles (Pad See Ew) with pork and mixed vegetables. Truly, it did a great job putting what had been a disappointing day behind me.

At my table, I struck up a conversation with an American guy from South Carolina. He listened with interest to my Chicken Island story before offering a few consolatory words. I told him that my next island choice had to be a resounding victory. That it needed to be something that would knock my socks off. “Dude!” he exclaimed, a grin breaking out across his face. “I know just the place, trust me, you’re gonna LOVE it”. 

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