Krabi Day 2 - Phi-phi Island tour

In Krabi, the more common one day island excursions are The Hong islands, 4 islands and Phi phi island. 

The islands closest to Aonang would be the 4 islands which includes the chicken island, poda island, koh tup and koh Mawr whereas The Hong Islands is part of National Marine Park, can be reached within 20 minutes by speedboat or 40 minutes by longtail. Since it's a rather short trip, we have decided to only go for one island tour in Krabi - the Phi Phi island (also named as the jewel of Andaman Sea) given the good reviews on tripadvisor.

We managed to secure a tour at 1200baht/pax with Aonang Orchid Tour from one of the tour operators at the Aonang main street. Given that we were assured it is with licensed speedboats, we settled with that price without much bargain despite some other tours offering cheaper rates (cheapest at 900baht/d).

The Phi-phi islands lie around 45 kilometer from Aonang and would take about 45 minutes to 1 hour journey by speedboat. Given the distance of travel into the occasionally rather rowdy waves of Andaman sea, it can only be reached by speedboat/ferry. We were picked up at 830 am from our hotel into a truck to the pier before allocated to our speedboat. We were on a 4-engine speedboat with 30 odd other passengers.

me and bro on the truck ferrying us to the pier!

 before departing off the Andaman Sea

The 45 minutes journey was a mixture of exhilaration and relaxation with occasional splashes of sea water, smacked right onto our faces when the waves were rough. It was a whole lot of fun even on the boat, you'll never know when the bumpy ride will come and when the water will start splashing in!

Our first stop was bamboo island, however due to strong waves deterring the boat to stop at the shore, our guide decided to detour to next stop instead at Monkey bay where we were given 45 minutes for snorkeling session in open water. Being a rather beginner in swimming, i was rather worried to go down alone (my dad, the only swimmer in the family, was down with cold and chose not to snorkel instead), so there i was, standing with the snorkeling gears at the edge of the boat until one of the crew on the boat dragged me down with assurance that he would bring me around. It was indeed a good experience swimming/floating along with colorful fishes although it was a rather disappointing view of limited live corals (mostly destroyed due to tsunami years ago).

After the 45 minutes of snorkel, our second stop was the stunningly beautiful Maya bay which was made famous by The Beach (Leonardo Dicaprio! :D) filmed in 1999. It is sheltered by tall cliffs on the sides leading to rather calm sea in turquoise with clear white sands. Beautiful but definitely not secluded with more than 100 tourists crowding the 200-300 meters beach and 20-30 other speedboats parked at the beach, it was... not a good experience.

that's Maya bay for you; views that is always obstructed by boats!

After a 40 minute stop at Maya bay, we proceed to another round of snorkeling at the open sea.

Lunch was at Phi Phi Don, the only inhabited island for a disappointing canteen styled lunch which was stated as an unlimited buffet spread. We had a quick lunch and then off to the beach for a short round of swimming.

phi phi don

After lunch, we were bought around for sightseeing around the viking cave which is now no longer open for tourist visits and is protected by Thai government for swallows breeding.

Our tour then attempted to turn back to Bamboo island which we gave a miss in the morning due to rough waves but with the rather poor weather forecast, our tour guide decided to change the itinerary to Poda Island (which is usually part of the 4 island excursion). It was nice beach for relaxation but the waves were too strong for any proper swimming

Poda island from afar

 We were then led back to the pier upon the end of the tour. It was a tour with fantastic crew, friendly and helpful; however phi-phi island on the whole wa disappointing with ridiculously overcrowded at most of the visit spots. Would I ever revisit the islands, i'd say probably not! Scenic but the crowd was a big turn off, so if you are planning for a trip over, i'd definitely suggest to go on off peak season, probably you'd enjoy better than i do.

till then, cheers! 

Krabi Day 1 - Aonang/Railay

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!

Steamed snapper with garlic and lime, awesomeeeee

That’s all for day one, we had an early rest for the night as it had been a long day and we were expected to start the next day at 730am!

cheers. ♥

 I'm grateful to have met people who have never failed to make me smile the whole year through. Every sincere greetings, every honest gesture of care and love, but because there is still hesitation, I needed more to be convinced.

"If you always watch the demons behind you, then you will never see the angels ahead."

I am happy of what life has to offer so far, 30 days to the end of the year. I know i will miss 2010 for all the lessons of life and for all i know, all the changes it has made and to see how much i have grown from a weepy kid beginning of the year to whom i am now. 

 THANK YOU for all those who were there for me all these while and i am looking forward to 2011. 

cheers. ♥

hello december. 

KOTA KINABALU, SABAH

10^th July 2010

Oh my, I so cannot believe I am in Sabah now! The place is gorgeous. Just as the plane was about to land, I saw the picturesque, quaint and scenic sea, just below me. It was amazingly stunning and I am lost of words now. I am looking forward to the island tours tomorrow! *jumps in glee*

Anyway, we reached Kota Kinabalu at almost 1130am and was greeted by our guide at the arrival hall. We were then told to place our luggage at our condominium, Marina Court before heading for lunch.

Lunch was mouthwatering. They served snails, can you believe it?! My eyes almost popped out when I saw it served on the table. I had a try of the snails, quite disgusted at the attempt to whirl out the flesh but it tasted pretty good. There were too much food for the ten of us though, we ended up having a lot of leftover seafood on the table. What a waste.

The condominium room in Marina was decent enough, we had a living room and kitchen of our own. Nice and cozy! I shared a room with Verona, my roommate back in KDO and we were given the master bedroom, comfy.

Evening was spent at the waterfront with a few of the ICM people, just plain camwhoring and did a bit of shopping for the mount climb and got myself a pretty blue shorts from F.O.S. sale! XD

Dinner was in Promenade Hotel, we were given a welcoming speech by Prof K and were then briefed on the Sabah’s program arrangement by our guide.

11^th July 2010

After breakfast this morning, we departed to Sutera Harbour Resort’s Jetty. A pretty jetty with private yatches and ships everywhere, spectacular! The boat ride was speedy and awesome, the clear seas and the blue sky, it was almost like heaven.

The first island we went was Manukan Island. After getting changed, we were off for snorkeling session. The first attempt to snorkel was hard and annoying, the water keep going into my nostril and it was darn salty. Yucks. It took quite awhile for me to get used to the snorkel apparatus and then off I go, snorkel into the sea with the life jacket keeping me afloat. =) There were lots of fishes around BUT…. Just some ordinary grey fishes. I spent almost 1 hour in the sea and suddenly there were a pinching ache on the forearm. I went back to shore and there were no scars but just needle pain twinge. It did not deter me from continuing my enjoyable search for fishes in the sea.

After an almost 3 hours of snorkel, we were off to Sapi island for our barbeque lunch. After lunch, off we go again for more sea and fishes. =) I love sapi island, there were tons of fishes around, all sorts of them and the corals were gorgeous. Just an annoying thing about the fishes, THEY BITE! Ouch.

12^th July 2010

Instead of going to the state museum, we headed to Lok Kawi Wildlife Centre to catch a glimpse of the orang utan! It was a nice tour around the wildlife centre and the orang utan is such a poser despite having only to see it from afar.

After lunch in Sri Melaka, we took an almost 3 hours journey to the Tip of Borneo aka Tanjung Simpang Mengayau. The scenic pictographic scenery connecting both the south china sea and sulu sea was breathtaking. We spent quite some time camwhoring around the rocks and cliffs with strong sand storm slapped right on our face, resulting in sand chewing session. Disgusting. Then the clouds turned dark, strong breeze with drizzle came next as we head back to our bus. The poor STH group only reached as we are about to leave and they did not get the chance to view the panoramic beauty.

Then we headed to the Bavangazo Runggus Longhouse for our stay for the night. We were first served dinner with some of their traditional food. Some were pretty delectable but some were just not to my liking. It was a decent meal though.

We were then entertained with their dance and music as well as culture. Interesting and impressive.

After the performances, we freshen up ourselves and had own activity in the longhouse. We had long chats and laughs until early in the morning, and I only slept at 2am. It was a nice customary experience to sit on the bamboo floorings and to sleep in a long house. The feel of togetherness is bizarre.

13^th July 2010

Oh no, oh no…. we are only one day away from the Mount Kinabalu climb. I am getting nervous now. Yatim just warned us about how dangerous and scary the climb would be and now I am not sure if I am prepared physically, emotionally and mentally. I am so DEAD.

We checked into our room in The Cottage hotel today. They separated the locals and international students, saddening. On a brighter note, we get to meet our STH mates whom we have not been having good long meeting up since the program started.

The evening was spent at Kundasang War Memorial which was a tribute to the Ranau-Kundasang Death Marches in 1945. Gorgeous garden on a cool weather with some sober ambience.

I am now spending most of the time packing all the stuffs for the climb tomorrow, hopefully there will be some good sleep before the vigorous activity and I hope I could make it to LABAN RATA, at least!

14^th July 2010

640 am : I woke up reluctantly this morning, had very little sleep last night, probably due to nervousness. I cannot believe that the day is finally here. It is going to be a long long day today. The climb will start at 9 am and I hope I could make it there just before dinner ends which is at 8pm. Checked all my stuffs again and yes, all the required item are in the backpack, including some really good snacks, Nabalu’s banana! HAHA!

345 pm : helllllloooooo thereeeee from LABAN RATA! Oh yeahhhhhhhh, I made it to Laban Rata after an almost 6 hours plus walk from the Mesilau Gate. The first 2km was horrendous, it was so steep and exhausting that I sweared so hard deep inside. At the third kilometer, I fell from one of the steps and hit hard on my bum, it was painful. I hope the pain will wear off soon. Every kilometer I took became a harder and harder challenge, after almost 5km walk, I almost gave up as there were no longer anyone walking along with me. There were times I had to keep myself motivated, telling myself I can do it despite the heavy bag and lazy feet. I am glad I kept on with the journey. It was hard and challenging but not impossible. And another important note was that, it was a panoramic breathtaking and scenic journey. There were so many different types of vegetation as you walk up higher.Along the way I bumped into a few guides and every time, I asked them an obligatory question: berapa lama lagi? And from 3jam lagi to 2 jam lagi until….. when I heard 15 minit lagi, I was almost overjoyed.

As I was approaching laban rata, I could hear some scream of joy from above, that was when I knew, I am almost there. =) ALMOST but not there yet because….. our accommodations, Pendant Hut is 3 more flights of steep stairway ahead, I almost fainted when I saw the steps. But I could see some of the ICM guys cheering from the windowpane of the hut as I was walking up. The moment I went into the hut, I immediately grabbed a cup of hot tea, it was freezing cold at laban rata.

The heater broke down and thus I ended up just clean up myself with a towel with that cold icy water while waiting for the rest of the friends to check in. Dinner was at laban rata resthouse, met up with most of them and had a great time catching up on one another’s experience during the climb.

730 pm : A few people came up to me, including a few guides I met along the way, asking if I would attempt the summit tomorrow morning. As much as I want to conquer the peak, I don’t think I have the ability to do it. And now, I have so many doubts in mind, and I am far from convinced that I did well for the climb this morning because as far as I am aware, I dragged myself up this morning, and at such weak physical state, I wonder I have the ability to maintain such mental strength. Sigh, I will probably go to bed now and only decide that tomorrow morning. NIGHT!

15^th July 2010

1 30 am : I was awaken by the alarm and saw many eager faces. Somehow, seeing their enthusiasm, I told myself, I am going to do this, even though I may not get to the summit but at the every least, I tried and there’ll NOT be any regrets. I get myself dressed up and at all of us had our breakfast in the hut while waiting for our guide to brief and pick us up. There were a few people who decided not to attempt the summit. We left the hut at 2 30 am and the journey begins.

There were steps after steps, and it gets steeper and steeper that you will have to rely mostly on the ropes attached. We reached the sayat sayat checkpoint at 355 am. =) 1.2 more km to go…yay! However, the wind became stronger and breathing became harder. Every step I took became a challenge, at one point, me and Sandra were just sitting at one of the rocks until Patrick, the mountain guide came to us and dragged us up, all the way until summit! At 530 am, I have conquered the summit of MOUNT KINABALU! I had to thank Patrick personally for his motivation throughout the way, I was very cranky along the way and was yapping nonsense the whole time to distract myself from the muscle fatigue. Being up at the peak of South East Asia tallest mountain is a crazy emotional feeling! It was bizarre, just like a dream. The view was mesmerizing, there is no other way I could describe the scenic atmosphere and scenery. Let the photographs say it all. And, I also managed to see the sun rise, and all the other peaks around us. Wooooohoooo!

730 am: Yep, I am back at the pendant hut, recalling all the wild experience up there while packing my belongings to prepare for departure back to the lowland at 9am via Timpohon trail. Muscle starting to sore and so is my knee, I hope the 4 hour journey down by foot will be a smooth journey.

130 pm: I have finally reached Timpohon gate and I just killed my knee. The last 3km I was walking solely relying on the walking stick. My left knee just died on me and luckily there was JD who helped me to carry my bag. It was one of the most horrendous walk so far, I hope the knees will be well soon but for now, I had to walk on a sore knee. Grrrr, hate it.

We had buffet in Balsam Restaurant for lunch, yummy and rejuvenating! Then we headed to our hotel at Mount Kinabalu Heritage Hotel and got ourselves a chalet. It was a long walk and a few steep stairs climbing from the hotel block, torturing.

Oh and we were presented with our certificate from kinabalu park for achieving the summit during dinner! All with smiley faces. =)

16^th July 2010

We checked out of hotel and went to poring hotspring for a relaxing dip into the hot spring. Then we head to catch a glimpse of the Rafflesia which was a disappointing view as the flower was not as huge as expected and it costed us RM 15 just for a glance from far!

After that we were brought to the Kinabalu Park Gallery for a visit before heading back to Marina Court.

Since Nathan and Primila’s birthday is tomorrow, we had a surprise party for them both at KBox which is located just nearby Marina Court. Flour and eggs, they were soon clad in white as we sang happy birthday to the celebrated ones.

After the celebration, we had some drinks with our STH friends who will be leaving tomorrow.

17^th July 2010

We went to Sabah Museum this morning which gave me a better understanding on the Sandakan-Ranau Death Marchers in 1945. This was related to the war memorial we visited in Kundasang not long ago. It was a great experience to know about the history and the vibrant culture of sabah.

The evening was spent with some of the ICM-ers in the karaoke centre, singing our lungs out. =)

Then at night, we managed to convince our tour guide to fetch us out for some city tour in KK.

18^th July 2010

This morning, we were brought to the Sunday market at Gaya Street. It was an amazing place with various ordinary and bizarre items being sold at reasonable price. It is really odd to have pets and budding trees of durians and other tropical fruits being sold in the market. But it was a fun-filled shopping for souvenirs with cheap and affordable handicrafts. Another fantastic shopping spree and a burn in the pocket!

Our flight is scheduled at 530pm. As I was packing my luggage, there were many thoughts running wild. The 9 days spent in Sabah has been the most eventful time I had in this whole program. The experiences were priceless, the people that I met along the journey were wonderful, and now everything had just been like a dream. It is tough to bid farewell to the land below the sea, but someday I will be back again and explore other places around the state for there are still many places to be discovered. Toodles Sabah, and here I come again, KUALA LUMPUR!

cheers. ♥