Ao Nang and Krabi

Ao Nang Port

Sitting in the shade at the last fisherman restaurant on incredibly beautiful Ao Nang beach listening to the constant hum of longtail boats shuttling people back and forth to Railey island, a place with cliffs, caves and a favorite among rock climbers.  There is a photo attached and, if you photo shop the guy with the tats and the green plastic glove on his head, you have paradise!  You can pretty much buy anything from delicious barbecued corn on the cob to beach toys, flutes, sarongs, cold drinks and I even saw someone selling Japanese kimonos!  No one pressures - they just seem to be there if you require a Japanese kimono.  I believe Lonely Planet says, "You're not breaking any ground here."  All these tourists are here for a reason.  It's gotta be one of the most beautiful beaches around.  As Robert and Annette McPherson, some new friends from Quebec said, "It's great people watching."  It is also great ocean, scenery and monkey watching!

So, backtracking a bit to Koh Yao Noi departure.  Three of us left on the speedboat to Ao Nang at the same time.  The other two were Nina and Dagmar from the black forest in Germany - don't recall the name of the town.  Through conversation we discovered that we are leaving for our respective homes on the same day and staying at the same hotel the night before our departures.  We're planning to meet for breakfast and share a taxi to the airport.
                                                                    KRABI WALKING STREET 

Yesterday was my first experience with a sorng-taa-ou in this area.  I was going to Krabi to the weekend walking street which is a market that happens on weekends.  A sorng-taa-ou is a small pickup truck with a semi covered bed and a bench seat on each side facing each other.  Since they charge very little, they really pack you in, with people hanging off the back sometimes (usually locals).  The market was fun with lots of music and Thai dancing girls and good food and people, people, people. So today - Some of you already know about my toe, but for those who don't, I was bitten or pricked (no jokes) by something on Koh Surin while walking barefoot.  After ten days I went to Dr. Somboon Polyclinic and while I could go on and on about how fascinating it was, suffice to say he gave me antibiotics, needles for when whatever is in there decides to work its way out and then we talked about getting old and marriage and charged me about $20 for everything.  He was a very interesting man who said I had no limitations and could do what I wanted so I took another sorng-taa-ou to Krabi, paid a little extra and they dropped me at the tiger cave temple (Wat Tham Seua) which I'm so glad I did.  It's a truly magical and sacred place that takes 1,237 stairs to get to.  These aren't regular even stairs either.  Some aren't bad but many are a foot or more high and very narrow.  Nevertheless, I did it and it was so worth it.  I was more than a little scared/nervous having read about these bands of marauding monkeys that attack people and steal things - in some cases hurting them in the process.  While I did see monkeys, I kept my pace and did NOT stop to take any pictures.  Scary!  When I got to the top, I lit incense in front of the giant Buddha and, since I had matches and none of the lighters supplied were working, I ended up helping 3 young guys from Japan to light their incense.  It was very beautiful up there, but I had told Likai, the motorcycle driver, that I'd return by six.  I have never sweated going DOWN stairs before, but this is the exception.  However, when I got to the bottom, there was Likai with a bottle of cold water calling my name.  So, I hopped on the back of his motorcycle, put on a rather poorly fitting helmet and held on for dear life!  The sun was setting and the sky turned orange while Likai and I, along with hundreds of other motorcycles wove in and out of traffic until he safely dropped me off to catch the song-taa-ou back to Ao Nang.  Tomorrow is a four island snorkeling trip with lunch, fruit and water for under $15.  Then heading North to Vietnam and excited but sorry to leave Thailand.  I really like it here. 

The corn vendor - yummy!

Views from the Top

Some shots of Ao Nang Beach