Krabi- Kayaking, Krabs and …Kockroaches?!

While staying in Ko Lipe we decided to visit Krabi next. Mainly because it was one of the cheapest tickets offered out of Lipe. It was a comfortable 5-hour journey. Initially we had planned on staying on Railay beach but when the bus dropped us off in Ao-Nang we decided to base ourselves here instead (because it is cheaper and has more options)

We found ourselves a guesthouse and got settled in. One of the things I was most looking forward to about leaving Lipe was a bathroom! Our bathroom in Lipe was very basic, we had a toilet but it had no flusher so you had to use a bucket and pour water down when finished, lets just say that this led to quite a few blockages and if myself and Jason didn’t know each other well enough then…we do now!

The bathroom in Lipe was also a bit open and many bugs got in, so I spent the whole time while using it just looking around, fearful of what might peak up behind me.

While unpacking in our new guesthouse in Ao-nang, I got the fright of my life. I opened my bag and there sitting on top of my clothes was a cockroach!! He must have snuck into my bag in Lipe and travelled up with us. Another reason that I feel so lucky to be travelling with Jason is because my approach to a cockroach in my bag is to dart out of the room and stand in the hallway. Luckily Jasons approach is far more productive, he just got it out of my bag and out of the room as quick as he could. With that sorted, we decided to take a look around the town.

Jason on the long tail boat

Ao-nang is a very tourist beach town. It is a great base for people that only have a short time in Thailand because it has many islands and beaches nearby that you can go to on day trips, many trekking options, waterfalls and lots of other tourist traps. Once again we were in shock with how touristy it was. Again there were many Europeans here and plenty of British holidaymakers too. I forgot to mention in my Lipe blog that because there are so many Europeans around, Jason had his first chance to see people sunbathing topless. I think he was quite embarrassed at first but I’m sure he’s enjoying it ;)

On our first day in Ao-nang we decided to get a long tail boat over to Railay beach. Railay beach is a beach on the mainland but can only be accessed by boat. I had been here four years ago with my friend Lousie while on our round the world trip. This was our favourite place in Thailand and one of our favourite destinations of the whole trip. Because I had loved it so much back then I was a little apprehensive about going back…and I was right!

When the long tail boat pulled in to the beach it was unrecognizable, four years ago Railay was very chill, but now there were resorts all over the beach front and there was a walking street going through from West to East Railay. This walking street had cafes, bars and restaurants. It was much more built up than last time. We ventured over to East Railay where Lou and myself had stayed last time and found that that too had changed. The bamboo tattoo place where we got our tattoos is gone, the bar where we met some amazing lifelong friends was gone, it had all changed. I should have known better than to go back to one of my favourite places and I think this has taught me a lesson. But regardless of all of the change that has happened on Railay, the beach is still as beautiful as ever!

Railey Beach

Jason still loved Railey beach!

The funny thing id that I have been recommending Railay beach to everyone for the last four years! Oops.

We spent a bit of time swimming and sunbathing and then decided to take a kayak out for the day. I think that was the single-most best decision we have made in the trip so far as it turned out to be an incredible experience.

Surprisingly we turned out to be a good kayak team. We kayaked around some of the wonderful rock formations jutting out of the sea that that Krabi region is famous for; we then found a wonderful beach to grab some lunch from one of the women cooking on the long tail boats and take some very cheesy photos!

We then continued kayaking, Jason bought a beer so we found a place in the sea that was covered by the shade and just floated while he drank his beer. It was so relaxing, the water was so clear and we could see all of the fish below us perfectly. We also saw some of the craziest looking crabs I’ve ever seen! They were bright purple and green, I was a little creeped out because once we saw one, we looked around and saw that they were everywhere on these cliffs! We also got to kayak into a little tunnel in one of these cliffs. We would have stayed out there all day if we weren’t getting sunburned so we brought the kayaks back and headed back to Ao-nang. We had such a fun time and would definitely recommend kayaking to anyone planning on going to the Krabi province.

Us on the beach :)

The purple and green crabs

We were too nervous to take photos while kayaking, so this is the only one!

The next day we had a bus booked to Bangkok for 3pm, we wanted to check out the weekend market before we left but realized that it is more of an evening market so we just spent the day relaxing and getting a couple of massages before the 13 hour bus journey. The journey was actually a lot better than we thought, the only downside was arriving in Bangkok at 4:20am Luckily after some searching we found a guesthouse that would allow us to check in and not charge us for two nights. I’m now sitting in said guesthouse after a couple of hours sleep. We are going to stay here for a couple of days so that we can get our Bangkok to Siem Reap journey planned. I think we are both really excited about going to Cambodia…but more on that next time J

Basic information:

Where we stayed: The Aonang Grand Inn, double fan room 500baht, shared bathroom with one other room, which was unoccupied for our entire stay.

Ferry and bus from Koh Lipe to Aonang: 1,000 baht  

VIP bus from Aonang to Bangkok: 900 baht

Thai massage: 200 baht/hour

Us messing about on a beach in Krabi

Jason tried to find the cheesiest pose...I think this was the winner!