Krabi (20.04.22 - 24.04.22)
Wednesday 20th April 2022
I am loving Krabi and I’ve only walked along the Thara River, through the street night restaurant, to the night market and bought dinner. I got 2 chicken tandoori sticks, a pork stick, a sausage on a stick, sticky rice and mango and sweet rice for pud and all for 75 baht, I was spending over double that on a meal on Phi Phi. I also bought a bottle of Samsong and an orange juice which came to the same price as just one drink on Phi Phi. On the way back along the river I stopped at a park bench and demolished the main meal, saving the pud for later. I was enjoying the stroll back so much that I overshot the hostel by 10 minutes – lol. I love Thailand, but hopefully will never go to Phi Phi again, it really was horrendous, beautiful but ruin by drunk young people and extortionate prices, a true Benidorm in SE Asia – yuk.
My Thai accent is now so good, although I can still only say hello and thank you, that I said hello to a lady at a stall and another started to chat to me in Thai, she had hysterics when I said to her that I can only say two words – I must learn some more. On the way to the market I also came across a couple of second hand clothes shops, bloody awesome. I saw some lovely stuff on Phi Phi but it was all so expensive, I thought I’d wait until Trang but I’m going rummaging tomorrow – I am so in need of one or two new items, so so bored of wearing the same outfits for the last 5 months, just a new top, bottoms and perhaps a dress would be fantastic.
Thursday 21st April 2022
I’ve had such a lovely morning. I went for a long stroll along the water front to the Krabi Urban Forest and on route had a Thai breakfast – chicken noodle souple and a bottle of water all for a mere 50 baht. The forest was a little spooky, it was actually a mangrove forest full of poisonous trees, but it had a very safe walkway running through it, so the only really spooky thing was that I was on my own. According to google maps at the end of the trail you should be able to cross over to Khao Khanab Nam cave, but yet again covid has struck and the boat pier was in ruins. So I double backed and had to pay 500 baht for a long boat to the cave. The cave was not very big but awesome, full of stalagmites and stalactites and a fair few bones and skeletons. Surprisingly Krabi was once known for its’ giants, and there was a giant human looking skeleton in the cave, which is quite something considering how short the Thai people are and it is believed that cavemen once occupied these particular caves. Being me, I decided to tell the long boat driver that I thought he had over charged me even though he had to wait to bring me back, then this other long boat guy, rather handsome and in a pirates hat, intervened but laughed when I said I can go to Phi Phi for 400 baht. Anyway, I actually thought that I was going to be taken straight back to the pier but I was wrong and we went for a ride along the Thara River, between the two Khoa Khanab Nam mountains and then back again – legend has it that if you sail between the mountains you will one day return to Krabi! We then went to a part of the Thara where people have built houses / shacks on floating rafters, which looked quite precarious, and then back to the pier. So, I suppose I did kinda get my moneys’ worth, although I still think it was a little pricey, but I enjoyed every minute of it and that is all that really matters.
I am so glad I got out early this morning as thunder is rumbling away in the background and I think it may rain soon. I did want to go on a 7 Island boat tour with a sunset BBQ but rain is predicted for every afternoon while I’m here, so I think I opt for the 4 island tour which starts early and finishes mid afternoon – hopefully before it rains!
Friday 22nd April
Tuesday 24th April 2022
I’ve had such a lovely time in Krabi Town, it’s a really calm, relaxed beautiful little place with the Thara River running through it. A couple of days ago I met Brian, he is on the floor above me at the hostel – OMG – he must be the biggest bigot I’ve come across since I’ve been here. In less than an hour he condemned the Jews, Muslims, Germans, French, Swedish, Norwegians, Danish and Americans. And then he praised Boris Johnson for doing such a marvellous job over Brexit, stating that he has such an amazing personality that he managed to get a great deal for the UK and that he is being witch hunted for attending a party for 5 minutes during covid lockdown and people should just let him to get on with running the country. As you can image we almost got into a fair few arguments, especially considering he has not lived in the UK for over 15 years, most of his time he has been living in Germany and now he has retired (at the grand old age of 57!) to Thailand even though he does not have a nice word to say about the country or people. I’m going to say no more about the guy and the time I spent with him as it is making my blood boil.
The day before yesterday my homesickness came to the boil, it’s been simmering for a few days now but the day before all I wanted to do was cry and have a cuddle from someone who loves me. But I have some of the best friends in the world and the amount of love and support I got once I posted to Facebook was awesome and motivational and totally lifted my spirits. I even got a phone call from Danie and 2 voice messages from Paula. Danie was bloody awesome and we talked through how my dreams of my friends, family and work, my not enjoying Phi Phi and being ill on Phi Phi all accumulated to make me feel down and homesick – putting it into perspective like that really helped and I woke yesterday with my head in a far better place and a 4 island and snorkelling trip to look forward to. And what a fabulous trip that was, by longtail boat, we went to the 3 Tup Islets, Chicken Island and Krabi beach, which can only be reached by boat. Lunch was amazing, rice and chicken, i was expecting a sandwich, and best of all the sun shone hard all day so we even got a chance to sunbath on one of islands.
