Smell the rain, feel the wind...: 2014

Geez, it’s been too long since my last post and I supposed, it is due for an update and what’s more interesting than writing on my recent trips hey? J if I were to review back what 2014 has been all about, it would have been bold decisions (mainly related to work and future career plans which would be a bore to talk about!), travelling, travelling and more travelling.

So, the first trip taken since I officially got back to KL was a short family trip to Krabi which was a rather last minute plan, as flights were booked only 1 ½ weeks prior departure! (but lucky us, despite during peak season, we managed to grab a return AirAsia flight at a mere RM320!). Once flight was booked, then came the planning for all other parts of the trip which includes: accommodation, transportation, activities and not forgetting…. Authentic thai food!

DAY 1
On the day of travel, we took the earliest flight from KLIA2 to Krabi which took about 1 hour and 20 minutes (short enough that the next moment I woke up from my nap, we’ve already landed at Krabi Airport) and arrived at about 730am (local time, Krabi is 1 hour behind Malaysia time).

The first thing we did once clearing at the immigration was to check out the pricing of the shuttle buses and taxi to AoNang (where our hotel is located at). You can clearly spot both the bus and taxi counters the moment you walk out of the arrival hall; and at the time of my travel, the bus would cost 150baht/pax, whereas a taxi would cost 600baht/cab. Since there were 4 of us, it would make more sense to take a taxi instead!

Prior to coming to Krabi, I’ve done thorough research on what to expect when taking taxi from the airport. Most travellers who have taken the airport taxi would have known that these taxis would stop at a so-called taxi station where an English speaking tour operator will approach you and offer tour packages which are usually much more expensive than what you would be offered at Aonang. Thus knowing this, we have prepared ourselves not to fall into their traps :D Just be polite in rejecting their offers, they are generally nice and polite! :)

After thirty minutes drive, we have finally reached our hotel – Baan Pulaoon Hotel which is located strategically at the Aonang main street where most of the tour operators are at and it is only about 10-15 minutes walk to Aonang Beach area. Nothing fancy about the hotel but they do have helpful and friendly staff who could speak reasonable English.

We booked deluxe rooms which was approx about RM250/night with breakfast included from Agoda. The moment we got the room, we were impressed with the amount of space that we’ve got, pretty worth of all that we paid for. The furnitures were basic but sufficient and room was absolutely clean; would have been perfect if hair dryer was provided (so, bring your own hair dryer if you were to stay in this hotel…) and if it was less noisy at night (since it was facing the main street, tons of noise coming from moving vehicles).

After having to check in early, we strolled around for our breakfast and after having to walk to several places, we ended up at this restaurant – Adam Bungalows which turned out to be less luxurious than what its name.

It didn’t impress us despite being extremely hungry with their slow service and what I would say as the worst phad thai I have ever tasted! It was far from being authentic and overpowered by the taste of fish sauce, all of us ended up having less than half of the portions served.

After the round of horrendous breakfast, we walked along the main street with hopes to secure a tour to phi phi island on the next day. With over 30 tour operators around offering prices ranging from 900baht/pax to 1300bhat/pax with rather similar itineraries, we decided to go for Aonang Orchid Resort tour as they claimed to have licensed and registered speedboats at 1200baht/pax.

We continued walking around the main street. Most of the shops were selling overpriced beach items and clothing with not much space of bargains (I have seen and bought certain items at much cheaper rates in Bangkok just few months back!), so forget about shopping if you were to come to Aonang. Not so sure if it’s applicable to their night market as well since we did not have the chance to visit (note: night market only open on fri-sun and is located at krabi town; we went on mon-wed).

Since one of the must do in thailand is thai traditional massage where they break your limb bones into pieces by performing yoga stunts (I am exaggerating, haha!).

We came across this massage place – Aonang Haven Massage (also located on main street) which was one of the recommended massage place and it was indeed a wonderful experience with fully energized body after the an hour full session (320 baht/pax for 1 hour traditional thai massage). all smiling after a much in need massage!

When it was about time for lunch, we were introduced to Aonang Boat Noodle restaurant by one of the tour operator we’ve spoken to about having good authentic thai food (what’s better than asking the locals themselves right?). It was not hard to locate as it was surprisingly located just opposite of our hotel.

This place indeed was a jewel of its own which its flavourful broth in their boat noodles (50-60baht/bowl) impressed us so much that we ended up having another serve of boat noodle on our last day before leaving to the airport, haha! The som tum was indeed appetizing but only regret was that we’ve chosen the ‘3 chili’ level which was the spiciest thinking that we’ve high tolerance to spiciness. Turned out our spiciness level is nothing comparable to the thai level thus my mom ended up saying we should have said 2 chili instead (too late, mom!).

After our rather late lunch at 3pm, we decided to go to Railay beach which is only assessable by longtail boat - Known as reua hang yao in Thai, these wooden, banana-shaped boats have been used in Thailand for hundreds of years, with today’s versions usually featuring a diesel engine connected to a thin, lengthy rudder that resembles a long tail.

Tickets for long tail boat can easily be obtained at the long tail boat operator which is located at the end of Aonang main street (towards the beach area) at 200baht/pax for a return ticket.

We were all excited about the ride until we witnessed how the other tourists got down from the boats, only then we realised, it would unlikely be a dry ride after all. It started off with going up (and getting off as well) the boat which could ended up with a wet affair when waves joined in and you’ve gotten all wet up to the thigh even before boarding on the oh-so-unstable wooden boat; and it is definitely not advisable to move around the boat, or even standing up to ensure equal distribution of weight; Often, you will observe that longtail drivers work in teams of two, with one handling the engine and steering in the back and the other lying at the very front of the boat to keep weight balanced. Despite it being a short ride (about 15 minutes), it was indeed an exciting experience!

Our boat arrived at west railay beach which according to most people, the cleaner beach compared to the mostly mangrove at the east side. Upon arrival, we were greeted by limestone cliffs at both ends of the beach. It would have been a great scene if it were not for the cloudy weather. There weren’t much to do at Railay except sitting by the beach or for more adventurous ones, rock climbing. We walked around the area for about 45 minutes before leaving back to Aonang as we would not want to miss the last boat at 6pm.

After taking a short break in our room, we decided to have a simple dinner at The Massaman restaurant which received rather good review on tripadvisor, and indeed was not disappointed with the dishes we ordered!