Krabi is a province in Southern Thailand, on the Andaman coast. Phuket is 3 hours away by car, but the tourists are flocking to Krabi as it is (not for long) less developed and commercial. We flew into Krabi airport on Tiger Airways, a budget flight from Singapore. The trip was unremarkable, just note that no outside food may be consumed on the plane, and you have to walk from the terminal to the plane which may be a problem if it rains.
We stayed the Central Krabi Bay Resort, it's located in Ao Nang province, a half hour ride from the airport and Krabi town. There are many resorts, restaurants and shops along the Ao Nang Beach area, but Central can only be accessed via a 10 min boat ride, or a 15 min walk across the limestone cliffs. The walk is steep, but if it's not raining or dark it's quite pleasant and pretty. This secluded location makes the stretch of beach in front of the hotel much quieter that Ao Nang beach. The hotels along Railay Beach (a famous place for rock-climbing) share this exclusivity, but may only be reached by sea which makes the seclusion quite inconvenient.
Our first day was perfect beach-holiday weather. Blue skies, bright sunshine, perfect for the day-tour to Phi-Phi island (where The Beach) was filmed that we had booked. We snorkled in Maya Bay, marveled at the sun-worshipping behaviour of angmoh tourists while hiding in the shade, and had lunch in the new hotel that has been rebuilt after the devastation of the 2004 Tsunami. Unfortunately we accidentally deleted all the photos taken on this day, and I also developed a very itchy rash from the sun (despite SPF 50 sunblock applied every 2 hours).
Since this holiday was meant for RELAXING, we left a free day in between each of our "adventure" days. So after our island-hopping tour, we took the next day easy, had a morning swim in the beautiful hotel pool, then walked over the "mountain" again and went off to the Shell Cemetery.
Day three was spent on a tour to the natural hot springs, crystal pool and elephant camp.
The hot springs originate deep underground in volcanic chambers, and naturally hollowed-out 'bathtubs' have formed in the stone as the water runs down to the stream, creating the perfect place to sit and chill out. Except that it was filled with people. But TS got some great shots of the local kids enjoying themselves.

Thankfully my rash didn't get any worse with that day out, and we didn't have any regrets at all.
Our flight only left at 7pm the next day, so we had massages by the beach (200 baht an hour!) and foot scrubs (they INSIST on showing you the muck they scrape off your foot, YUCK), then took our own cab to the airport instead of the hotel transfer (500 baht vs. 1200 baht!) and felt very pleased with ourselves (yes, typical Singaporeans).
All in all another great holiday. Oh yes, we ate at Sala Bua Restaurant on Ao Nang Beach 5 nights out of 6, and the only reason it wasn't 100% was that we couldn't get out of the hotel the night it rained. The food, both Thai and Italian, was very very good, and very very reasonable, please try it if you get to Krabi.
I've been thrown headfirst into work already (had a BAD first call), and TS starts tomorrow, already we're planning our next trip, can't wait.
1 comment:
The Crystal Pool is beautiful! Such a little miracle, a spot of clean water in the middle of the forest. I've really missed out on exploring South East Asia the past few years.
Alina, never knew you were so rash prone.
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