Ao Nang Krabi Thailand
We came for 2 nights and stayed for 4 nights.
The first day we arrived it was late afternoon. We didn't do much besides take a taxi from the krabi ferry terminal to Ao Nang. We found the Slumber Party hostel which was only a 10 to 15min walk from the beach. Surprisingly this hostel was recommended by a taxi driver who had no connections with the place. Usually taxi's or people working in this travel industry are getting something in return if they can get tourists into a business, hotel or whatever.
Off the ferry. Our welcoming sign.
The staff at the hostel was very welcoming and gave us great recommendations on places to eat and things to see and do. Anything we needed they helped us with.
A good family friend, Joe, used to live here in Ao Nang. It has been really fun exploring this place knowing someone that used to reside here. It's changed a lot since he was here, the town has basically built over itself from what he remembers. It's more touristy now then it once was and he's moved on, living in Northern Thailand now close to the Laos boarder.
I explored the beach town on foot and Shelly (a girl I met from Australia) and I ventured out on my last day, to a few new beaches. Shasta was sick again so she stayed back at the hostel.
Shelley and I walked to the beach and paid $100 baht (that's about $3 USD) to take a long tail boat to Ton Sai beach.
Ton Sai is a very underdeveloped town that has no electricity from 6am to 6pm. We hung out there for a little bit and saw some of the worlds best rock climbing spots.
After awhile we hiked up into the trees which was really nice to be shaded but the heat was still there. We walked a path that took us from Ton Sai to Riley beach which was even more beautiful then Ton Sai but I had heard food and accommodations were more expensive in this area.
I found a rock that was perfect for putting my bag on and headed into the clean ocean waters. The surrounding view from this spot was finally making me feel more like being in Thailand. The beautiful rock formations in the water, the Thai long tail boats, the friendly people, it was a good feeling. I met a Canadian couple in the water near Shelly and I. We visited with them for an hour or 2 talking about Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, & Vietnam as they had just finished and Shelly and I were just getting started.
The Canadians gave us some pointers and in that conversation the Vietnam visa came up. It takes Americans longer to get approval for one then (pretty much) the rest of the world. Apparently in all the Vietnam war museums and monuments "the enemy" is also mentioned a lot. The enemy being, the Americans. I also found out that we (Americans) have been and still are paying the Vietnam government. I didn't know this was going on but the Canadians told me they are pretty much pocketing the money instead of putting it to good use. I guess they aren't huge fans of Americans there either but they like Obama because he gave them a formal apology and none of the presidents had done that yet.
Shelly thought all this was quite funny how it was harder for me to do things then her as an Aussie. It got better when the Canadians brought up a recent trip they took to Cuba and I made some comment that told Shelly I wasn't allowed there. So the Canadians and I explained that to her. Oh, she was in tears with laughter! I couldn't help but smile at this crazy girl. I think she said something like, "nobody likes you!?" In between laughs.
When the 4 of us noticed are skin starting to wrinkle we got out and walked into the little town. It was a dirt road with garbage spread amongst the ground and a variety of places to eat.
I saw Georgia, a girl that I had met at the hostel on my first day in town. She had been sitting with another lady at our hostel bar and they both were very interested in my story. When they discovered that I'm an artist they had all sorts of info for me.
Georgia and her husband own a restaurant in Riley called Utopia and she offered me wall space to hang art if I was interested in shipping my work to her or if I wanted to come back and just paint directly onto her wall. The other lady with Georgia gave me contact info for a company who's got the art contract to the majority of cruise ships and a lot of North American hotels. Score!
So back to my point about walking thru Riley town... I saw Georgia and she talked to us for a few minutes, giving us directions to the best beach. She then left to go to the ocean, herself with her little boy.
The Canadians were ready to head back to Ao Nang but Shelly and I were interested in this other beach so we set off on the 15min walk.
We passed thru some back alley way, Thai style industrial area. Then to a bay were we saw a resort, passed a monkey sitting on a fence by himself, and then some stunning caves! We explored a few of them before we turned a corner to see the trees open up to the beautiful beach we has heard of. Thailand style and gorgeous!
I'm not sure the name of this beach but I think it's called Phanang only because the cave area is called,
Phanang cave.
Shelly and I took pictures of the many shrines to the male penis and explored the waster and a hidden area in the ocean that was kind of like a secret spot to swim into and make your own.
The last boat taxi to Ao Nang departed at 6pm before the price increased. So with 6 fast approaching we hurried down this side of the land asking if we could get a water taxi. They let us which was a relief! Otherwise we would have been running back to the other side.
Back on the boat.
When I returned to the hostel I had tickets to Koh Tao. This meant
Shasta and I had a 6am departure time in the morning. So our night wasn't to eventful. She actually went to bed after we had diner at Leo's. I stayed down stairs and participated in a cash buy in Ping pong tournament. I lost horribly in this tournament but they enjoyed my entertaining chatter about being a rookie ping ponger!
Then it was off to bed with an early morning just around the bend.