Month: December 2016

Day 254: Chiang Rai

While there is probably A LOT to see and do in Chiang Rai, we had to limit ourselves to just the truly unique – and we found it with the White Temple! Wat Rong Khun – or as it is more commonly known, The White Temple – is a modern-day interpretation of a Thai Buddhist temple, designed by artist Ajarn Chalermchai Kositpipat. From a distance, the complex appeared to be a stunningly beautiful, glittering white palace. As we entered, however, the serenity was broken by scary monsters, haunting hands, and bizarre Hollywood movie characters. The temple is totally freaky, but it works! Fun visit.

 

The White Temple – while it maintains a lot of the fancy, pointy roofs and bling we have come to associate with Thai architecture, there are a lot of pop-culture and “modern art” elements throughout the complex

 

Lindsay walks over the “Bridge of Rebirth” to enter the main temple

 

Underneath the bridge is a writhing sea of outstretched hands and demonic faces, representing worldly greed. The idea is that you have pass over temptations in order to reach heaven

 

The “guardians of heaven” glare at the visitors entering the temple

 

Walking around the White Temple

 

A mix of conventional and nonconventional depictions of Buddhist ideology – cartoonish murals illustrating the evils of the modern world morph into more traditional images of serene, meditating Buddhas as visitors progress from the “real world” to the metaphorical “heaven”

 

Hundreds thousands of leaf-shaped pendants hang from the walls, walkways, and decorate tiered holders throughout the complex – each one contains a message or wish from a visitor (only 30 Bhat!)

 

We forgo the lucky leaves and toss coins in the lotus well instead – since your wish only comes true if you land your coin in the center lotus, we lose a good 30 Bhat regardless since we have terrible aim

 

Pop culture meets Buddhism: figurines from Disney & Marvel comics can be found all around the temple, along with a bottle of demon whiskey

 

Two huge Lost & Found cabinets sit within the Dhamma Hall – not sure if this is a genuine claim center or if it’s part of the art installation…I mean, the thing is full of iPhones, car keys and even bank cards (which the temple has kindly left the numbers and expiration date visible!)

About 26km down the road is the Baan Dam Museum (AKA – Black House), another arty, temple-like compound. If the White Temple is supposed to be “heaven,” then Black House is “Hell.” Designed by another Thai artist, Thawan Duchanee, the place is a creepy, gothic playland, with “temples” full of animal skulls, skins and furs. We wander around the complex for a little while, but the “message” here (if there even is one) wasn’t as engaging as the more optimistic White Temple (at least there seemed to be a path of redemption there!), but it was on the way to our hotel so, why not stop for a visit?

WARNING: one of the pictures below is NSFW!

 

Visiting the Black House – Baan Dam

 

THE ANGST. With his long hair and ponytail, Igor can totally pull off the tortured artist look!

 

The “Sanctuary Hall” of the Baan Dam Temple – with all the snake skins and bull horns, the place looks like Satan’s dining room

 

Well, that’s a big, black penis.

 

While the majority of Baan Dam is either frightening or intentionally grotesque, many of the chapels have gorgeous naga (snake) wood carvings – all made at the onsite studio. They are so intricately detailed, they actually remind us of the Maori carvings we saw in New Zealand

 

Since we are self-driving, we can access more remote hotels, hidden in the mountains of Chiang Rai. We end up with a GINORMOUS suite in a near-deserted resort. Seriously, the bathrooms in Thailand just keep getting bigger…

 

Enjoying the sunset from our balcony

 

Oh course, that great view comes with a price: our room is a good 15min uphill walk through the empty, dark resort to reach the restaurant. When we finally arrive, we perk up when we see it decked out for the holidays (they even have a wood-burning fireplace!)

 

Another problem with this resort is that you are a truly *cap* audience. Since we are a good 10KM down a one-lane mountain road away from the main street, going off site for dinner is not an option. We have our most expensive meal in Thailand to date: USD $50 – ouch!

Day 253: Chiang Dao

We had to backtrack through Chiang Mai as we continued our road trip up north, so we left the hotel early in order to make it to Chiang Dao by midday. While Chiang Dao is also a mountainous area, we were blessed with sunshine and nice weather instead of fog and clouds. The main draw in this area is the eponymous cave temple – a maze of stuffy, dark tunnels that meander through the mountain, filled with Buddha statues and small shrines. We had plenty of time to leisurely explore the Chiang Dao Cave, as well as a few other pretty mountain temples during the afternoon.

While our trip to Chiang Dao was a bit of a fly-by on our way north, we discovered that we would be missing out on a couple other cool attractions: sadly, we were a day late for the Tuesday Market, when the hill-tribe villagers come to town and sell produce and local handicrafts; there’s also a two-day trek to the summit of Doi Chiang Do. Oh well, next time!

 

We arrive in Chiang Dao right before noon, so we register at our hotel (where we get a generous plate of welcome fruit – yum!) before heading off to the temples

 

The entrance to Wat Tham Chiang Dao – a Buddhist cave-temple

 

Buddha statues fill the chambers of the cave temple. Certain rocks inside the cave are also wrapped with cloth and have offerings left nearby – locals believe spirits live there (an element the leftover Thai Animism religion – similar to the “spirit houses” that Thais build outside their homes)

 

The best part of the temple is the interior section of caves. Tourists are not allowed to explore this section solo – we had to hire a local guide for about USD $6 who carried a gas lantern to light to way. We felt very Indiana Jones, as there are many narrow tunnels where you have to crawl thorough on your hands and knees to pass into the next chamber!

 

Lindsay admires the odd and beautiful cave formations in Chiang Dao

 

After the guided section, we are allowed to walk ourselves into the colorfully lit cave of Tham Phra Non

 

At the very end of the Tham Phra Non cave is a reclining Buddha statue – unlike most we have seen up until now (where the Buddha is laying on his side, facing visiting devotees), this Buddha is lying flat on his back, facing the ceiling

 

Back outside in the sunshine, we see HUGE catfish swimming in the pond below – the temple sells fish food so visitors can feed the fish for good luck – as well as some colorful goldfish in the potted fountains

 

As we walk along the mountainside, we see lots of Buddha statues – some covered in gold, some covered in moss – hidden in the trees

 

The Chiang Dao Mountain has several gorgeous temples in the area

 

Before we left the hotel we asked for sight-seeing recommendations – Wat Tham Pha Plong is a quiet temple at the top of a steep 500-step staircase (which explains the lack of visitors!)

 

We were entertained by Buddhist quips during our climb up to the temple – some were motivational, some were more somber – kinda reminded us of the cynical “Commuter’s Lament” verses in the tunnel between Port Authority and Times Square

 

The scenic temple of Wat Tham Pha Plong, in Chiang Dao

 

The monks living in the temple follow a strict schedule set up by Pha Plong’s Late founder, renowned Thai monk Luang Pu Sim, including a 3AM daily wake-up call! No wonder the place is so quiet – people must be exhausted…

 

Igor admiring the scerey at Wat Tham Pha Plong

 

Our hotel is run by a German guy who married a Thai woman, so the menu has a few Western options, including a really tasty fish mousse. As we were chatting with the owner, we found out that his wife will give free “mini cooking lessons” to interested guests – all you have to do is come to dinner early and she’ll teach you how to cook whatever you ordered for dinner! What a shame we are only staying one night – Lindsay would have loved to take a Thai cooking class

Day 252: Doi Inthanon National Park

We decided to rent a car and self-drive our way around Northern Thailand, giving us way more freedom than day-trip options from Chiang Mai and tour buses, and the opportunity to see more of the countryside. We headed to the airport and picked up a car first thing in the morning and drove west toward Doi Inthanon, “The Roof of Thailand”.

While Doi Inthanon was puny in comparison to the mountains of Tibet and Nepal (even though it’s Thailand’s highest peak, it’s only 2,565m – Lhasa was 3,500), we did experience a big change in climate. While Chiang Mai was sunny and a bit steamy by mid-day, the top of Doi In was covered in a cold, foggy cloud (which kinda sucked as there was no view). We walked around the top as much as the poor weather would allow, then headed down below the clouds where it got significantly warmer for a few more short hikes, before driving off to our quirky accommodations for the night.

 

Igor walks around & inspects our rental car taking pictures of every scratch and ding before hopping in the front seat

 

Rolling up to Doi Inthanon National Park

 

Sirithan Waterfall – one of the misty mountain’s many waterfalls

 

The twin chedis atop Doi Inthanon – Naphamethanidon & Naphapholphumisiri were dedicated to the the King & Queen (respectively) on their 60^th birthdays

 

Each of the chedis have Buddha statues inside – white “good luck” strings are tied around the wrists of the Buddhas

 

Riding the escalators up to the chedi…getting major China flashbacks…

 

Brrr! It’s 14⁰C and Lindsay’s wearing sandals – it’s cold!

 

Too bad we left our couple of boots in Bangkok – there’s a 3KM nature trail through the cloud forest but we have to pass since we are not dressed appropriately

 

The Ang Ka boardwalk trail is more our speed for today – it’s a little 10min loop that is better protected from the wind, so not as chilly

 

Not sure if it’s the moss, the mist or the monk, but the cloud forest of Doi Inthanon feels a bit magical

 

Making an obligatory stop at the “highest point in Thailand” – since the mountain is almost constantly covered in clouds, the park set-up an indoor sun lamp with a faux view so visitors can still leave with a sunny picture – LOL!

 

Taking pictures at Huai Sai Lueang Waterfall

 

As we head back down the mountain, we pass a large farmer’s market and pull over to check out the tasty (and colorful!) selection

 

Fresh strawberries, a variety of pumpkins, and even Thai wine! (from mulberries tho, not grapes)

 

We skipped lunch, so we’re a little peckish (and still a little cold, too) – we never would thought a baked yam was snack food, but it totally hit the spot!

 

Igor buys a bags of clementines and just INHALES them

 

Lindsay braves a cold shower for a photo op at the next waterfall

 

We spot some baby ferns and a wicked looking beetle at the Siribhume Waterfall & Royal Garden

 

Our digs for the night: a USD $30 “Swiss Chalet”

 

The décor at the Touch Star Resort charmingly tacky

 

It’s our lucky night – a large group was having a celebration at the hotel restaurant and hired a musician, so we had some live music to go with our (huge!) meal

Day 251: Chiang Mai – Day 2

Surprisingly, we covered a lot of ground yesterday, so we only had one more must-see temple to visit. Wat Phra Singh is Chiang Mai’s most revered temple – a 14th century complex that is home to the “Lion Buddha” and a beautiful, gold-covered stupa. Afterwards, we didn’t have much on our itinerary, so we walked through town to the Suan Buak Hat public park and back to our hotel. Once again, the highlight of our day was food-related – we skipped lunch and went all out at a fantastic vegetarian-friendly restaurant for dinner. Hey Mama…WE GOT OUR GREENS!

 

Early morning visit to the Wat Phra Singh

 

Thai tourists make offerings and pray at the temple – then turn around and take a selfie in front of the Buddha! Interesting how Buddhist temple etiquette differs from Nepal to Thailand…

 

Gold, gold, gold! Shiny, gold stupa!

 

Quiet contemplation in front of the “Lion Buddha” at Wat Phra Singh

 

Are you talking to me?

 

Once again, THESE ARE NOT REAL MONKS – these wax figures are so realistic, it’s scary!

  

Suan Buak Hat – the only public park in Chiang Mai

 

Lindsay works off her evening Pad Thai on the park’s gym equipment

 

Hidden gems walking through the inner streets back to our hotel

 

Hiding from the afternoon heat in our cool hotel room

 

Venturing out at night for more of Chiang Mai’s culinary delights!

 

Veggie spring rolls, a potato salad-stuffed cucumber, and tofu stir fry with the most perfectly cooked egg EVER

Day 250: Chiang Mai – Day 1

Since we were only 10min away from the airport this morning, we were able to enjoy a leisurely morning before our flight to Chiang Mai – the capital of Northern Thailand. It’s a short flight, so we have plenty of time after we arrive to walk around the city and explore a few temples.

We absolutely LOVED Chiang Mai. We were staying in the “Old City” neighborhood of Chiang Mai, which had a great vibe – while the main drag was full of tourist-friendly restaurant and sparkling temples, the narrow inner streets were quiet and mellow.

The thing that really made us fall in love with Chiang Mai was the Sunday Night Market. Normally we aren’t that excited about markets (especially on this year long trip, since we can’t really buy any souvenirs and carry them with us for the next few months), and we would never had gone out of our way to visit this one. However, we got lucky and we just happened to arrive on a Sunday – what a happy accident! Easily the best street fair we’ve ever been to (so much better than the traffic-congesting crap we have in Manhattan!) – and THE FOOD. Seriously, Chiang Mai is worth its own trip simply for the DELICIOUS street food!

 

Our last moments at the beach before flying to Northern Thailand

 

Chillin’ at the Koh Samui Airport Lounge before take-off

 

Temple Time! Exploring Wat Chedi Luang where Igor contributes to the temple’s fund for dogs

 

As with other temples in Thailand, we must make sure we are dressed appropriately (Lindsay brought her own wrap this time!) – in addition to scantily clad tourists, looks like the temples are also experiencing a nuisance of wedding photoshoots

 

The Lak Meuang or “City Pillar” – raised by the first king in the 1200’s. Igor had to take pictures for Lindsay as women aren’t allowed in the shrine

 

Chicks are permitted in the main assembly hall tho, so Lindsay sits her butt down and takes her sweet time admiring Phra Chao Attarot (the giant golden Buddha), and all the bling decorating the room

 

Colorful “good luck” ribbons and crystal chandeliers make the Chedi Luang temple very pretty!

 

Twin dragons guard the main assembly hall

 

The ancient Lanna-style chedi of Wat Chedi Luang – built in the 14^th century, the top of the ruins was destroyed in the 16^th century by an earthquake along with the elephant statues surrounding the base. Only one of the original elephants remains, recently joined by four replicas as part of a UNESCO restoration project

 

More restoration work – before and after on the naga (snake-monster) stairways at the base of the chedi

 

So several of the temples in Chiang Mai have wax statues of renowned monks sitting in the pray halls, which really freaked us out at first, as we thought they were real people. The calming sight of the fat Buddha (his belly is full of wisdom!) restores our nerves

 

Next door to Wat Chedi Luang, we visit the smaller Wat Phan Tao, where a beautiful Buddha sits inside a teak cathedral, with more good luck ribbons fluttering nearby

 

As we walk through town we spot a postal box – time to send our tropical Christmas cards!

 

Just by chance, we arrive in Chiang Mai on Sunday – the day of their famous Night Market! We head out into the street just as the sun begins to set

 

The market is packed with interesting souvenirs – some a bit odd (WHY would someone want plastic poo?!?), but most are beautiful! We watch a craftswoman hand-carve some decorative soap – it’s too pretty, I’d never want to use it!

 

Lovely homewares – utilitarian and decorative bowls

 

Awesome woodcarvings – those dragons are killer, and those haunting ashtrays are to die for!

 

So many colorful string lights and lanterns!

 

A BB gun shooting range adds to the carnival atmosphere – Lindsay stops to shoot off some steam

 

Igor and his bad-ass ponytail take up Lindsay’s shoot-off challenge!

 

As we walk through the streets we start to get hungry – little wonder as the place is packed with food stalls

 

Chiang Mai is particularly famous for its street food – LOOK AT ALL THE NOMS

 

Best fresh spring rolls I’ve ever had – SO GOOD

 

It’s literally a MOUNTAIN OF PAD THAI

 

Sorry Pam Real Thai – Igor has a new favorite pad thai chef!

 

A symphony under the crescent moon just outside the Thapae Gate

 

The Chiang Mai Sunday Night Market – best street fair ever!

Day 249: Journey to Koh Samui

Just as Lindsay was falling asleep the night before she could hear a wicked thunderstorm roll into Koh Tao. When we got up in the morning, the rain was still coming down pretty hard. Oh well! Now that we were done with our scuba course, we could just sit back and enjoy our room on our last day – in fact, Lindsay was secretly glad that the rain would prohibit us from going out and “doing stuff.” As she sipped her breakfast coffee she started perusing the vast list of pre-programed movies on the hotel hard drive to see what cinematic masterpieces we would watch from our king-sized bed.

Just after 8AM, we got a call from Be, one of the hotel managers, with *terrible* news: because of the storm, the 6AM ferry we were planning to take the next morning was cancelled! Since our fight out of Koh Samui was at 10AM, we would have to leave The Place today in order to make it to the airport in time. BOO!!!!!

Instead of lazing around in the lap of luxury, we spent the rest of our morning packing up our bags and trying to salvage the rest of the groceries we had picked up the day before (although Lindsay made a POINT to jump in our pool one last time!). We popped a few seasickness tablets before boarding the Lomprayah high-speed ferry boat (the waves were massive – even we were at risk blowing chunks on these waters). We stayed below deck near the center of the boat where the wasn’t too bad – *we* kept everything down during the journey, although once again we were surrounded by barfing travelers.

After leaving The Place so early, *any* hotel was bound to be a massive disappointment, so we booked the cheapest and closest resort near the ferry terminal. Not a bad place to stay at all, just a disappointing alternative to our original plans.

 

Making a half-dozen PB&J sandwiches and packing up all the leftover food we had bought for the next two days

 

We are so bummed that we have to leave our love nest a day early! We should be swimming naked in our private plunge pool, not sitting in a violently pitching ferry boat next to puking passengers

 

Well, it’s no “The Place,” but the Saboey Resort is a 5min walk from the Bangrak Pier so we quickly find shelter from the storm. Plus, welcome fruit is always nice!

 

A gourmet dinner of sandwiches, chips and chocolate chip cookies to pair with our last bottle of grocery-store wine

Days 247 – 248: Koh Tao

Koh Tao is one of the top diving destinations in Thailand – not just because of the variety of reefs near the island and abundant sea life (apparently whale sharks had been spotted in the area within the last week!), but also because it’s a great place to learn – there are tons of beginner-friendly and advanced challenges to cut your diving teeth on. Back in June, we were disappointed when our lack of advanced certification made us miss out on diving with eagle rays in Indonesia, so we decided to take the opportunity to get our credentials for deep diving before we headed to South America, where hopefully we’ll have a chance to explore the Galapagos!

Koh Tao has a 10-month high season without over 300 days of sunshine per year. Unfortunately for us, Oct/Nov is their rainy season so the water was choppy and visibility was utter crap. But we walked away with our SSI Advanced Adventure (equivalent to PADI AOW), so time well spent. When we weren’t in the water, we were lounging around in our awesome honeymoon suite!

 

We spend the next 2 days completing an SSI Advanced Adventurer course with Roctopus Dive – Snowy, one of the dive-shop dogs – greets us when we show up in the morning

 

After a briefing with our dive master we jump on the boat and head out into the choppy surf

 

Our forth dive site is a wreck: the HTMS Sattakut – a former US Navy ship that was sold to the Thais, and then purposefully sunk after it was decommissioned in 2011. At 30m, this is the deepest dive we’ve been on yet!

 

Sadly, we have pretty poor visibility during our wreck dive

 

Wreck diving in Koh Tao

 

We swim around and search of sealife, but don’t see much today except for a few small fish and some Christmas-tree worms

 

We clock in 30min @ 30m, then ascend to the surface (dutifully making our 3min safety stop at 5m, of course)

 

After our night-dive that evening, we are certified advanced divers!

 

Between our morning dives and our night dive, we have the afternoon free, so we enjoy some homemade tuna salad by the pool (did…did I mention it’s our own private pool?)

Day 246: Journey to Koh Tao

Our journey to the island of Koh Tao, in the Gulf of Thailand, required a taxi to Krabi Town, a 4hr. shuttle to Donsak on the gulf coast, and a 3hr. ferry – needless to say we had to get up at the butt-crack of dawn and spent the whole day travelling. The first leg of the journey quite pleasant – luckily for us only two other girls were travelling from Krabi to Donsak, so our transfer was via minivan rather than a bus. The ferry, however, was a bit of a disaster.

When we first boarded the ferry, we decided to sit up on the top deck – not only would we get a nicer view, but there were fewer people sitting up there. Now, we’ve been on boats before and are well aware that if one is prone to seasickness, the WORST place to be in on the top, where the side-to-side rocking will be the strongest. If one feels queasy, it is best to go to the lower, back deck where the boat is the most stable. Wish the dozen or so passengers puking their guts out all around us knew this little factoid. For the record, neither Lindsay nor Igor threw up on the Seatran.

 

We have to leave the resort in Krabi before the 7:30AM breakfast, so they pack us a to-go bag for our 4hr. shuttle ride from Ao Nang to Donsak

 

Boarding the ferry from Donsak to Koh Tao

 

We have pretty sturdy stomachs, so even though the waves are REALLY choppy we settle into a pair of seats on the top deck of the ferry boat – wish our fellow travelers would stay below if they are going to puke

However, once we docked at the Mae Head Pier in Koh Tao, our day took a turn for the better. Be and Rachael, two of the managers from our hotel, The Place, met us at the dock and escorted us to heaven on earth – seriously, I’m barely exaggerating. The Place is a boutique resort targeting honeymooners (not children under the age of 18 allowed in the rooms – NICE!) – normally way out of our price range, but they had one room available (potentially a last-minute cancellation). We checked TripAdvisor reviews, which recommended booking directly with the hotel rather than a third party like Expedia for last minute deals, so we decided to splurge a little.

Besides, can you really put a price on having YOUR OWN PRIVATE POOL?

 

The Place is our own private oasis – LITERALY! Those are *our* names on the door!

 

Our luxurious accommodations include a desktop computer, a TV pre-programmed with over 1,000 movies, and our own PRIVATE INFINITY POOL

 

Can we live here? This place has more square footage than our midtown apartment…and that BATHROOM – it’s like having the tranquility and atmosphere of an outdoor shower but without the bugs or loss of privacy!

 

Throughout our travels we’ve come to appreciate the small ways in which hotels try to reduce waste – like having refillable soap and shampoo dispensers. It’s a tiny gesture, but it really adds up

 

The Place take the whole “refillable containers” to the next level in the kitchenette – not only does the sink have a water filter to reduce plastic bottle use, but they even provide condiments like ketchup & mayonnaise in cute ceramic jars

 

So part of the reason we chose The Place was because it has a kitchenette and we wanted to both save a little money on meals and just control what we ate – we knew from TripAdvisor reviews that we could expect a welcome basket with some complimentary groceries to get us started (super generous – love it!). What we did *not* expect was a FREE bottle of Prosecco as a welcome gift! Turns out, the manager at The Place did a little snooping online and FOUND OUR BLOG and decided to give us some Prosecco because she read that we “like bubbles!” DO WE EVER!!!

 

Even though we had enough groceries for our first dinner, we decided to take the hotel’s bicycles into town to stock up for the next few days

 

Lindsay in the kitchen, whipping up some veggie pasta (topped with a healthy dose of cheese). We raise a glass to our wonderful hosts at The Place on the first night of our official “second honeymoon”

Day 245: Krabi

We only had one full day in Krabi, so we wanted to make it count! We left the hotel bright and early and got to the boat tour desk in town just before they opened at 8AM. Prices varied depending on how many islands we wanted to hit, and whether we wanted to share a boat or not. (One couple approached us and asked if we would be interested in splitting their 3-island tour for USD$ 30. Since they were planning to spend the majority of the day at the Tub Island sandbar waiting for the 2PM low tide, we decided to pass, but not a bad deal if we just wanted to sit on a beach all day!) We decided, “go big or go home,” so we booked the whopper 9-island all-day tour for USD$ 150, that way we would have no regrets that we missed anything in Krabi.

 

We leave the hotel early, before their 9AM shuttle into town. We were planning to walk the 20min to the beach, but the staff at the resort kindly offered to take us into town for free in their tuk-tuk!

 

In order to make the most of our one day in Krabi, we book an all-day tour to visit 9 islands in the Andaman Sea

 

Exploring the islands around Krabi in a private longboat

 

Our first of nine islands – four other longboats roll up to the beach with us (looks like we are on a standard tour route). Hoping the crowds will thin out the further we go, we hop back in the boat and move on to island #2

 

We beat the other longboats & speed boats to Pakbia Island by about 10min

 

For the short time we have it to ourselves, Pakbia seems like a nice, pretty beach – Lindsay jumps in the water to check out the snorkeling (just more black & yellow striped fish). Once the crowds roll in, we pick up our towels and head out

 

A quick drive-by into one of the island lagoons – some other longboats stopped to snorkel

 

Walking across the floating dock Hong Island Beach

 

Hong Island is a very pretty crescent-shaped white-sand beach, framed by huge limestone cliffs – unfortunately, the water is full of jellyfish, so we can’t swim for very long without getting stung

 

It takes us over an hour to cross the open water between Hong Island & Poda Island – the huge rollers dump buckets of water on us and we are completely drenched by the time we arrive at the beach

 

Playing on the beach on Chicken Island

 

Walking across the sandbar to Tub Island – it’s two hours until low tide, but it’s shallow enough that we can cross without getting our bag or towels wet

 

Tub Island is *packed* with day-tripping tourists – everyone wants to play on the sandbar that connects Tub Island with Chicken Island (which is only accessible during low tide) – really glad we didn’t spend the whole day here!

 

Poor puffer! He died. The Hermit Crab is OK, though.

 

Of all the beaches we visit during our longboat tour, Poda Island was our favorite – not only is it scenic, with clean white-sand beaches and clear, turquoise water, the beach is huge, so if you are willing to walk far enough, you can find a secluded stretch to swim and sunbathe in peace

 

Our final stop of the tour – Krabi’s famous Railay West! We arrive late in the afternoon, just as a light rain starts to come down, so the beach is a lot quieter than we expected. We wander down the Walking Street (full of restaurants, minimarts, ATMs – even barbers and tailors!) and start to make our way across the pennisula to Railay East, but turn around when the rain gets stronger – oh well, the west beach is supposed to be the nicer of the two anyways

Since our hotel is dry, we decided to stay in town and grab dinner before trekking back. We grabbed a beach-facing table at Jeanette’s Restaurant – despite the Western name and lackluster TripAdvisor reviews, decided to go for it as they had a Happy Hour special and a large vegetarian section in their menu. Service was slow, but the food was tasty (our waiter convinced Igor to change his order to a sizzler curry – great recommendation!) and the view was nice!

 

Lindsay savors her dinner cocktail (Happy Hour special on a Cosmo – hey, booze is booze), and Igor is pleased that his sanitized cutlery is protected by plastic wrap

 

Enjoying a cold Thai beer and a beautiful sunset over dinner – a sizzling plate of veggie Indian curry

 

Sunset at Ao Nang Beach

 

Beach goers enjoying the sunset at Ao Nang Beach

 

Once it gets dark, we make our way back to the Ban Sainai – about 20min walk away from the beach. On our way we pass a well-stocked 24-hr supermarket and pick up some supplies (read: wine) for our upcoming trip to Ko Tao the next day

 

Cashing in our free (non-alcoholic) drinks & fruit coupons at the hotel restaurant

Day 244: Ferry to Krabi

There is only one ferry from Phi Phi to Ao Nang Beach per day (at 3:30PM), so we had another lazy morning – sleeping in, pigging out at the breakfast buffet, swimming on the beach – before catching a longboat to the Tonsai Pier. The ferry ride took about 2 ½ hours (including a stop at the jaw-droppingly gorgeous Railay Beach).

 

Leaving Phi Phi from the Tonsai Pier

 

We had beautiful weather for our 2.5hr ferry ride to Ao Nang Beach in Krabi

 

Dramatic karst islands in the Andaman Sea

Drive-by of the Railay Penninsula – home to some of Thailand’s most popular beaches

 

Capturing some postcard-worthy pictures of Thailand’s islands during our ferry ride

 

We reach Ao Nang Beach right around sunset

Our ferry ticket included a transfer to our hotel, the Ban Sainai Resort – a really pretty, quiet hotel a good 15min drive outside the village. A bit inconvenient for dining outside, but when the manager gave us coupons for free drinks (good for *anything* on the menu this time!) and a free fruit platter, we decided to have dinner at the resort for once. As we walked across the grounds it was clear that the place was practically deserted – we wondered why?

When we sat down and looked at the menu, we discovered one feature of the hotel that might be a turn-off for Western guests: it was dry. Turns out Krabi has a large Muslim community and our hotel was close to a mosque (in fact, we could hear the evening call to prayer as we were checking in). Alcohol and pork were not served at the restaurant or pool bar (although we noticed wine glasses and a bottle opener in our room, so they didn’t seem to mind if anything was *brought in*). We were a little disappointed we couldn’t get a beer with dinner, but the food was still good.

 

The staff of the Ban Saiani welcome us with dark blue drinks and refreshing scented towels as we check in to our beautiful room

 

More welcome treats! We get TWO complimentary bags of banana chips – YUM! Perhaps they are hoping guests fill up on chips so they are too full to eat foul-smelling durians

 

Ordering a bruschetta appetizer – we skipped lunch so we are starving!

 

Pineapple fried rice that is almost too pretty to eat

 

The resort is set back from the village and the beach, right next to the towering limestone cliffs. The pool is deserted – since it’s open until 9PM, we jump in and enjoy the gorgeous scenery