19th - 23rd April 2022 - Ao Nang - Krabi

'Waadee Kharb from Ao Nang

We had a three hour private car from Phuket and the drive was pretty easy. We arrived in the beach side town of Ao Nang in the province of Krabi in the early afternoon. The first thing we noticed as we drove into town was the main street forms a big u-shape and the the road is fringed with palm trees and light poles complete with the town symbol of a marlin. The streets were in good condition and the number of tourists were at an acceptable level. The streets were clean and the footpaths were in great condition So far, so good!

We checked into the L Resort and the first thing that we noticed was the colour scheme. The hotel was white with purple accessories everywhere. The uniforms of the staff, the tiles, pillow cases, logo and even the concrete were various shades of purple! It looked pretty awesome if the truth be told. The centrepiece of the resort were the three landscaped pools and spa. The L Resort was very impressive and it looks like Ao Nang has bounced back a little quicker than Phuket.

Directly across the road from us was the beach and the whole place gave off a peaceful and safe vibe. If we were to bring the extended family over here, this is where we would stay!

We went for a walk to check out the town and we discovered the same mix of places that you find all over Thailand. Resorts, bars, restaurants, tour guides, massage places, tailors, etc.. We had an afternoon snack at the Reeve Beach Club, which was a very flash concrete, rope and glass structure with an extensive menu. I went for the fried rice with egg and Aussie rump (incredible) and Jen-Jen went for the cheese and meat tasting board. She wanted Aldi crackers with it, but never mind. We spent a nice hour looking at the beach and impressive sheer limestone rocks and cliffs. Ao Nang is cradled by these giants and the town is very dramatic looking - especially when the storm rolled in - which it did every afternoon.

Dinner was some Thai vegetables and a pizza at an Indian joint (totally multicultural) before whisky and wine back at the hotel. I'd actually found Jen's Jacob Creek Double Barrel at the 7/11 and my Glenlivet Founder's Reserve, so we were sorted for the moment.

Another strange observation was the amount of cannabis advertising around. Apparently it is kind of legal now, but only if the THC content is below 0.2% That means the buds are illegal but there are many products that feature the CBD oil. Therefore you get the medical benefits without the high... interesting.

On the Wednesday, we didn't begin with our Thai buffet breakfast as usual as we had a full day tour booked and we got picked up at 7am. The resort organised us breakfast boxes of coffee cans, bananas, fried rice and juice. Great hosts. Anyway we jumped in the van and made our way the hour into the hills to see the world famous Emerald Pool. This natural inland pool is situated in a National Park and we had to wait about 10 minutes until it opened at 8am. We trekked through the bush on a well-built raised walkway and arrived at the top to see this spectacular sight. It reminded us of Plitvice Lakes in Croatia, but you were actually allowed to swim in this one. (Coincidentally, on or Facebook memories, it came up that 7 years ago we were actually at Plitvice!! Serendipitous,) The Emerald Pool gets it colour from the minerals in the surrounding stone and the spring water that feeds it. An army of rangers keep it pristine and it was a show-stopper. See for yourself!

We had the pool to ourselves for the next 30 minutes and it was pure bliss. People started arriving from about 8.30am, at which time it was nearly 40 degrees anyway. We the trekked 15 minutes to the Blue Pool, which was the other tourist attraction in this area but there was no swimming in there. This pool was 3 to 4 metres deep and was a light blue colour. Pretty cool, but not worth the trek in the heat. See the pics below.

An early lunch of rice, green chicken curry, sweet and sour chicken, stir fried veg and watermelon was washed down with coffee before we were back in the van to the next stop - Hot Springs Waterfall.

Another national park - the temperature in mid 40's by now, but we got there and jumped in the hot springs for 20 minutes. Real jungle around, real adventuring, real fuckin' hot in the water - avg yearly temp of 42 degrees. We felt pretty amazing when we jumped out but man it was hot! As we left the storm clouds were gathering and a transformer blew on a the power pole near the van. Scary shit to hear the thunder and see the sparks. Old mate fishtailed it our of there and we went to the Tiger Cave.

The Tiger Cave was a temple on top of one of those sheer cliffs that I was talking about before. 100 minute round trip walking on tiny stairs on the side of a cliff? Was I in? You bet I fuckin' wasn't!! Did I mention it was 40+ degrees with about 98% humidity?? Anyway, we went to Krabi Town (Krappi Town) for coffee in a nice bookshop before we headed back to Ao Nang.

The touts - by the way - are everywhere. You cannot walk 5 metres without the call of "Taxi, taxi," "Massage," or "Hey buddy, I make you suit!" Anyway - enough digressing.

The water activities today were second to none and hats off again must go the the Research Queen - great day babe!

We had hot curry in the Indian restaurant next door - garlic and peshwari naan, lamb bhuna and chicken tikka marsala with Leo beer and soda water. Check the pics below of the restaurant and the view of Ao Nang beach from the rooftop. The was followed by foot massages and then whiskey back in the room.

Huge day, great day.

The Thursday was what I jokingly referred to as a rest day. Yeah right. We smashed our buffet and then got a longtail taxi boat - we had to wait for 8 people - over to the nearby beach of Railay. This was s picture postcard stunner of a beach and we tried out our new goggles in shallow water. The day was a scorcher again so we went for a walk through the cool little town. Lots of weed places, mushroom shakes etc... The beach has a real hippie vibe but there were also families of monkeys patrolling and eating all of the scraps... trippy. Jen dined out on her new obsession of mango sticky rice (at the time of writing I think she's had more of this dish than massages) - before we went back to the resort for lunch and a swim. I walked to another beach in the evening to watch the footy at an Aussie bar called Risky Business, before Jen met me and we checked out the Landmark Food Markets - right next to the Muay Thai stadium. We spent a while grazing on fried chicken, pork belly with sauce and mango sticky rice before we walked home past the seafood restaurants on the beach. The below pics and video are of Railay Beach.

The next day - Friday - saw us have our buffet, before we were again collected to do our snorkelling trip of Phi Phi and surrounds. Now readers, you should all know by know that Phi-Phi holds the most sacred place in our hearts as it is our honeymoon island and we were keen to see how it had changed in 7 years. We jumped on a speedboat full of people - we were the only Aussies - and we hightailed it to the rear of Maya Bay. The infrastructure has improved since we've started coming here as the floating jetty and gangplank were brand new. We were also very impressed with the raised walkway made from recycled plastic that covers all of the tourist areas. Well we walked over to Maya Bay and she did not disappoint. There are no boats allowed in or any swimming in the national park. You are allowed in up to your knees and enough time to snap a selfie, but that's it. The water was spectacular and it felt good to come back to this amazing place for the third time. We will always love Maya Bay and we were super chuffed with the conservation of the place. A quick swim in Pileh Bay, before we drove past the Viking Cave and Monkey Bay saw us pulling into Tonsai Pier on Phi Phi Don. We'd never been this far north on the island before and we were served a very ordinary lunch in a vast mess hall... pretty crap tour company. We then walked over to another new beach - Coco Beach with the most amazing villa full of tropical plants and bamboo bungalows. Paradise.

After coffee, we snorkelled for 30 minutes in between Tonsai and our favourite Long Beach. We were about 200 metres off shore and snorkelling in 4 - 5 metres of the perfect vis water. We saw all of our old mates - Moorish Idols, Clown Fish, Wrasses, etc... perfect.

An afternoon rest at Bamboo Island saw most of us have a quick kip under the casuarinas before they took us back home.

Was it a good snorkelling trip? Nuh - only 30 minutes, but it was a beautiful day and was great to walk on our beloved Don and Lay Koh's again.

We then decided on a alcohol free night as we were flying tomorrow and Jen-Jen has developed some reaction/bite on her face. We got some anti-histamines and a cortisone cream from a pharmacist before we got a tuk-tuk to one of the seafood restaurants from the night before. We didn't want to chance our luck with seafood - as we have not gotten sick so far - so we went with noodle soup, rice, satay and spring rolls - the old favourites. We then went to a coffee shop next door and guess what the Research Queen had for dessert? MSR (Mango Sticky Rice.) We saw a cracking sunset though and the pics below can attest to that.

Crashed early, bus to airport to fly to Bangkok.

Ao Nang and Krabi province was beautiful. We left feeling rested, but happy. We think we'd like to take the family there one day, as it is perfect for kids of all ages - even big ones.