KRABI – FINALLY, FOR SOME BEACH TIME

ARRIVAL IN KRABI – THREE DAYS IN AO NANG

I landed at Krabi airport in the evening and jumped in a cab to take me to my hostel – Glur Hostel.

This place was lovely. A pool, a large open space common area, with free coffee, tea and snacks; a tv and extensive range of DVDs to choose from and hammocks to relax in.

The rooms, although dorms, had a great sense of privacy, with fully enclosed bed areas, with lots of room for baggage and each having its own window.

AO NANG BEACH:

I’d been spoilt by the weather in Pai and knew that the weather down on the islands wasn’t the best, so I expected some thunderstorms. On my first full day here there were sporadic thunderstorms, so I spent a fair amount of time at the hostel, waiting for breaks in the weather, so that I could go and check out the beach.

When the rain finally stopped for a bit I went out to see the first beach I’d visited on my travels so far. About time!

A gorgeous start to beach life in Krabi. The beach was lined with dozens of boats which would take passengers to nearby Railay beach, which I would be calling upon in a couple of days.

HIKING IN THE RAIN:

My friend Johan had arrived in Krabi and we decided to go for a bit of a hike around and see what we could find in Ao Nang.

We walked down to the beach initially and then North a few hundred metres until we found a route that appeared to lead up into the hills. The sky looked ominous and it seemed like further rain was on the horizon.

We walked through some small residential areas, populated by locals, which was an interesting contrast of the far more westernised beach area.

We hiked up and up, but the path didn’t really seem to be leading anywhere in particular. We were able to take in this view of the surrounding bay though.

Moments after this picture was taken, the heavens opened. We trekked back down, retracing our steps, with our tales between our legs.

The rain was quite refreshing though, given the heat and humidity.

That evening, we headed out for drinks at a bar just up from the beach, that one of Johan’s friends had recommended. There was a cover band playing in the bar and we hung out there, listening to them and sinking a few Changs and G&Ts.

Not wanting to call it a night just yet, we headed onto some other bars for a few more drinks and saw some of the revellers from nearby hostels getting smashed and engaging in the regrettable tradition of getting tattoos whilst drunk.

RAILAY BEACH

During my time in Krabi, I spent 3 nights in Ao Nang. It was great to have spent some time on and near a beach, but the town itself felt a bit too Western for my tastes and we headed off to Railay beach the next day.

To get to Railay beach, we jumped on one of the boats which lined Ao Nang’s beach. The cost to get there was 100 Bhat per person (approx. £2) and we bought a ticket from one of the tourism offices just opposite the shore.

The boat ride took around 15 minutes and took us past some incredible rock formations and over beautiful blue waters.

Upon arrival in Railay beach I instantly felt like this was going to be a cooler place to hang out for a couple of days and we checked into our hotel – Anyavee Railay Resort, which was situated right on the beach front.

That first night, the sky opened up again and there was torrential rain for a few hours. We hid out in a bar and had a few drinks and some food while we waited for it to pass.

The next day, the weather was beautiful. I hung out in the pool at the hotel for the morning and Johan went to do some rock climbing.

I wandered over to meet up with him for lunch and took in the sights of the rock formations lining the beach, where climbers flocked to.

Johan smashing it at Railay beach

Johan and I, along with a couple of girls he’d met during his morning’s rock climbing, grabbed some lunch at the beach and decided to head over to Tonsai beach later that afternoon to check out the sights there.

TONSAI BEACH – HIPPY VIBES

We precariously hiked out over some rocks on Railay beach to get to Tonsai.

This place had a much more hippy feel to it, than that of Railay or Ao Nang and I instantly liked it.

The hostels had a really chilled feel to them and if I could have stayed a little longer here, I would have liked to have spent a night or two in Tonsai.

Tonsai Beach hostel

There was some interesting street art along a walkway in Tonsai, which reinforced the hippy feel of the place.

Nice words – if only it was that easy….

CHILLING AT THE BEACH

We wandered along Tonsai beach, stopping to play a bit of volleyball with some guys we bumped into and then headed to a bar along the beachfront.

The bar had great views of cliffs, overlooking the beach, which were frequented by more rock climbers, including this seasoned pro!

The views of the beach here were breathtaking, so we stayed here for a few drinks and to watch the sunset.

Sun setting at Tonsai beach

MORE RAIN…

After sunset, the storms showed their faces again, with torrential rain and lightning.

We hid out under the cover of the bar, played some pool and drank for a few hours. We weren’t going to be able to hike back the way we came, as it was too dark, too wet and the tide was in and concealed the route we had taken.

I walked down to the beach and bartered with a local guy who could take us back to Railay beach on his boat. We agreed on a price of 500 Bhat for the 4 of us and we headed back to Railay.

Johan and I headed to a bar, near to our hotel to watch the football and have a few more drinks. While there, we met a group of American girls who were travelling together and while discussing dice travel, they agreed to put their next destination to the dice. That, and more is featured in the video below:

TO KOH PHA NGAN!

The next morning we were leaving Krabi for Koh Pha Ngan to experience the famous full moon party of Haad Rin beach, as the dice had decided.

I’d had a great time in Krabi over these 5 days, despite some of the poor weather and was ready to experience another of Thailands islands.

Stick with me for the next chapter….