Krabi and Koh Phi Phi

Krabi

After the hustle and bustle of Bangkok it was time to head south to some of Thailand’s famous postcard beaches. We arbitrarily decided on ten nights as the right amount of time to check out the area (which ended up being perfect). We booked four nights in Ao Nang, three nights on Koh Phi Phi (pronounced pee-pee (hee-hee!)), and three nights in Klong Muang. We covered a lot of ground, so this post will be a little longer than normal.

Ao Nang

We arrived at Krabi Airport, and instead of grabbing a cab we grabbed a Krabi Grab (say that 5 times fast!). As we drove into town it quickly became dark and then it started teeming rain. Our driver seemed a bit uneasy and was following too closely to the car ahead. They looked down to their phone (which made no sense since there was only one road into town) and as they looked up, they jammed on the brakes narrowly avoiding an accident (notice my use of “they” – keeping it gender neutral as this has absolutely no bearing on the story).

We were pleasantly surprised by our hotel, “COSI”. It was brand new, very comfortable, well located, and reasonably priced. That evening we eventually ventured out after the rain subsided. Ao Nang is a very touristy town chock full of restaurants, bars, massage parlours, and tour operators. We settled on an Indian food place (it had a 4.8/5.0 rating) and we were looking for something other than Thai food. The food was top notch – honestly might have been the best Indian food I have ever had.

The next day we just chilled at the beach – a pristine white sand beach with warm, turquoise water, amongst towering limestone rock faces. Truly the stuff of brochures. We were approached by a nice lady who got us set up with a boat tour for our last day in Ao Nang to visit some of the local islands.

The next morning, I walked down the road to see if we could book rock climbing for a ½ day session at Railay Beach. I managed to get this booked as well as all our travel to and from Phi Phi Island in the coming days. We had a couple of hours to kill in the morning before climbing, so we walked down to the Monkey Trail which is this little boardwalk that connects two of the beaches. As you walk along, monkeys are flying around overhead and walking along the handrails. It was interesting to see the monkeys, but to be honest, it is a little unnerving being so close to the monkeys. Their behaviour can be very unpredictable, and they can become aggressive sometimes. They didn’t do anything to us, but one of them started hissing at one of the tourists in front of us. On the other side of the boardwalk was a beautiful, secluded beach. We had looked at staying there earlier, but glad that we didn’t as it was far away from everything else. There was this long floating dock comprised of closely connect plastic floats making it fun to walk across.

After lunch we were picked up at the hotel and taken to the beach where a long boat was waiting for us to take us over to Railay Beach. We got fitted for our climbing gear and walked along the shore towards a cliff face right on the beach. This was all our first time doing real rock climbing outside of an indoor gym (we really haven’t even done much indoor climbing). There were several other climbers, all with varying levels of skills. It was a nice community of people, all supporting each other. We started out on an easier route and then worked our way up to more challenging routes. It was so awesome to see Mac and Liam climbing up routes that some of the other adults were struggling with. Mac even did the highest route – 100 ft up – without falling. It is such an adrenaline rush climbing outdoors (totally different feel from indoors). I did the same route as Mac (made it with 3 feet of top before I fell off). As I was at the top the climbing instructor was yelling up to me. I couldn’t understand what he was saying (I was used to commands such as – “move your right foot up”, “reach your left hand there”, etc.). I finally figured out he was saying “look at the view behind you”. I turned around and instantly got goosebumps. Here I am, glued 100 feet up a sheer limestone cliff, adrenaline pumping, with the most magnificent view overlooking the bay - it was truly an amazing experience!

The next day we were picked up from the hotel to do our 4-island boat tour. The long boat tour lasts about five hours and makes stops at Phra Nang Cave Beach (Railay Beach), Poda Island, Chicken Island, and Tup Island. The first stop was back at the beach near where we had done the rock climbing the day before. We were totally okay with this since, we were only able to visit the Phra Nang Caves for 15 minutes after our climbing session which wasn’t nearly long enough to enjoy this paradise! We spent about 45 minutes swimming and exploring the caves. Incredible.

Next stop was at Poda. We ate a mediocre lunch and went for a swim there. Nothing remarkable. Afterwards we went to Chicken Island, named for a funny rock structure that pokes out of the island that resembles a chicken head. Our driver pulled over to a more secluded area away from other tourists and we did some snorkeling. As we snorkeled, he was preparing a pineapple for us. He would toss little pieces of pineapple in the water which attracted a mass of colourful fish - very entertaining! Last stop was Tup Island. This was a tiny little island that had a sand bar bridge that connected with Chicken Island. We walked barefoot along the sand bar in about six inches of water to the other side, stepping uncomfortably on rocks and coral along the way, probably not worth it in hindsight. We swam for another thirty minutes or so before we made our way back to Ao Nang.

Phi Phi Island

We got up early the next day and had breakfast in the reception of the hotel while we waiting to be picked up for the ferry to take us to Phi Phi Island (about 1.5-to-2-hour ride). We were told to be there between 8:15 and 8:30. We waited…8:15, 8:30, 8:45… I called up the agency that sold us the ticket and they confirmed that someone would be there to pick us up. 8:55, 9:00, 9:10… I call back again with some urgency, and she assures me that someone will be there. I remind her that the ferry leaves at 9:30 and it is a 10 to 15 minute ride there. Finally, at 9:20, someone shows up. We race down, picking up a few others on the way, all with same stressed out looking face that I had. We get to the ferry, and it is absolutely jammed with tourists. We carve out a small nook at the front of the boat atop some boat lines. We set out, but before going to the island, we make another stop at Railay Beach (getting familiar now!) to pick up another swath of tourists. Where are these people going to fit on the boat, I thought to myself! We arrived at Phi Phi and are herded through throngs of tourists to an awaiting long boat that would bring us to our hotel. There are basically no roads on Phi Phi and no cars, so all transport is by wheel cart and/or long boat. We were absolutely thrilled with our hotel choice of Paradise Pearl Bungalows. Located right on the beach, on the best beach on the island (Long Beach), we were in for a treat for the next few days. There was a restaurant and minimarket at the resort. The restaurant was very reasonably priced and had very good food – we ate almost all our meals there with the exception of one (we looked at some other options nearby but ours looked a lot better).

On the second day we walked along the beach and decided to see if we could book a boat ride over to see Maya Bay. This is the famous site where the movie The Beach was filmed. We found a guy that could take us for a three-hour trip which included a stop at Monkey Bay (a bay on one of the islands where monkeys come down into the water to be fed by tourist – we did a very short stop here). Next we checked out this massive cave, followed by some snorkeling. We saw tonnes of fish and several little reef sharks which was very cool! (very small – not scary). Next, we stopped at Maya Bay. This place was absolutely jam packed with tourists. The actual bay itself was spectacular and very picturesque (would be even more so without all the tourists!). Afterwards our boat driver took us to another spot for us to do some more snorkeling which was amazing – I think this was the largest variety of fish that we had seen, and I spotted a small octopus hidden in a rock. Overall, a great little tour of the islands.

The next day we decided to take a walk into town to grab lunch. It is a 30-minute walk to town along a path that goes through the jungle and along the beaches. We grabbed pizza for lunch (our first real “western” meal) at a little place along the shore. We walked around the town a little bit and then made our way back

This is where things went off the rail.

Liam and I are racing along the path, and we come across a couple of monkeys in the middle blocking the way. The monkeys start hissing aggressively at us and I tried to scare them off by yelling at them, but this doesn’t work. This only makes them angrier. I told Liam to return down the path toward Mel and Mac. I stepped back a little bit and grabbed a stick to intensify my approach to scaring the monkeys. As I approached them again, more monkeys join in and at this point there were approximately 8 to 10 of them that start to move towards me. They were 100% ready to attack. At this point there are about 20 feet separating us and I scream at them waving my stick (which was half rotten and would not actually help me defend myself in any real way). One monkey would lunge forward, and I would stamp my foot and yell to scare him back. This went on for about 30 seconds or so (I actually don’t know) and they began to move me further back down the path. It was clear at this point that I was not going to be the winner in this stand-off. I started screaming madly for help to anyone that might hear me. About 15 to 20 seconds later a couple of Thai guys come running down from some buildings and they begin to throw bricks and rocks at the monkeys which disbands the group entirely. Crisis averted.

This was the single most terrifying experience of my entire life. We were so fortunate to have escaped unscathed, but I can’t help thinking about what could have happened if we didn’t receive help in time. I’ve played it over and over in my head again a hundred times. I clearly took the wrong initial approach, but once I was committed, there was no turning back.

We got back to the hotel, and I immediately jumped in the ocean. I was absolutely drenched in sweat from the encounter. We grabbed a nice dinner and some drinks and tried to forget about the whole incident.

The next day we got packed up and took the ferry back to the mainland.

Klong Muang

We arrived at the hotel just in time to catch a nice sunset. We stayed at Anyavee Krabi Resort which were these cool little bamboo cabins. In the evening we grabbed food at the local restaurant. We were the only ones there and they had a guy playing guitar. It was nice, but we sort of felt bad that they weren’t getting more business.

The next morning, I started my Thai Weight Loss Program. All of us have been fine with the food for the past two weeks, but something we ate did not sit well with me. Mel was off a little bit, but the kids were fine. As I write this (2 days later) I am starting to feel better. Fortunately, we were planning to just chill for a couple of days at the hotel, so it worked out fine. We spent our time swimming in the pool and ocean, walking along the beach, playing a little soccer, and doing lots of trip planning! We grabbed a plane and made our way back to Bangkok for a couple of nights before we venture northbound.