Krabi Town

Backing tracking a couple of days, the 28th was spent exploring a bit of Krabi Town. Riding in the back of one of the local tiny pick up trucks for 50 baht each gets us into Krabi. It is a much bigger centre than we thought. A meandered into a travel agency on the corner to get a map of the town. Within we met a fellow from the US that moved to Thailand in the 70's. Tom was a welcome sight for sure and it was reassuring to have someone fluent in English to talk to. While most of the Thai's tried to be helpful the language was always a barrier further complicated by the fact they would always smile, nod and say "yes" whether they understood us or not.
Tom told us a bout Krabi and about Koh Lanta, even suggested places to stay and sights to see. We told him we had to leave to try for a Visa that flying was too expensive. He disagreed and told us getting to the border, across and back was complicated, time consuming and stressful. He did a quick check and located a flight to KL, out and back the same day for around $200. Doing the math and considering the time savings we booked the flight. We followed his other suggestions, booked a hotel in Krabi went for a bite and a quick walk along the river. We actually spent several hours getting information and booked our 2 hour boat ride to Koh Lanta. I had thought of taking the bus but Tom explained it wasn't very reliable, and we may end up waiting t the ferry crossings for the tide to be high enough for the boat to run.
Although the day seemed uneventful, we accomplished a lot and still managed to see a bit of the town. We will be back in Krabi for a few days later in the month and will explore more of the area. Krabi town has some interesting figures on the traffic lights and lamp posts. Not sure of the history but will let you know as we get the intel.
The Tatoo shop was our fav for Cappuccinos and good wifi connections.

Kayaking tour

Time for a change of pace, kayaking. We were rounded up with eighteen other tourists and herded into the back of two pick-up trucks known as "songthaews". Our guide, Loi, introduced himself and forty five minutes later we were at our destination, Ao Thalane. Instructions and formalities out of the way, everyone clambered into their kayaks and "a paddling we went".
Bobbing about on the sea was more than exhilarating, with amazing backgrounds of the gigantic limestone formations. We paddle around the rocks to a cave that Loi claimed was a site where the gypsies would leave their dead. Loi scaled the rock to the cave, disappeared, returning with some bones. Apparently, a time ago, the cave held a lot of bones, but now most are in a museum of history of the region.
Next stop was at a tiny beach surrounded by the rock. We had to wait to access the beach as there was a bit of a traffic jam with the group in font of us. While waiting, a young Asian couple managed to capsize. Both ended up in water, fortunately it was only shoulder deep.
The rocks around the beach and trees above were home to a tribe of Macaques. One guy came down to greet us. LOL. Actually, I think he knew he was about to get a handout. This is where our guides served up fresh fruit snacks. We were then given the peel of the pineapple to feed the Macaques. It was fun. I held a piece out for one and he was quick to grab it and run. Others, more used to tourists, would take it gently.
We paddled our way around the rock and down a channel with more rock on either side ariving in an area of mangroves. The forest above and around was alive with the sound of a mass of insects. We surmised the insects flourish because of the lack of any signs of birds. There all seems to be a lack of visible signs of fish. Monkeys and bugs were the most visible. We paddled into a cave known as crocodile cave. According to Loi, many fisherman had been lost to the crocodiles over the years so eventually the crocs were exterminated from Thailand altogether to eliminate any threat to the fisherman and the cave is now called mosquito cave! It was a worthwhile trip though!

Noppharat Beach

Time for another, not so early, beach stroll. Today we decided to walk over to the not so great divide, a small sand bar enabling us to walk on water.
Noppharat, no idea how to pronounce it, beach is the quiet one as I mentioned previously. This morning was no different, only a few people around. We virtually had the mile of beach to ourselves. The sand was quite compact and easy to walk upon. We scoured the continuous line of shells laying at the end of the waves reach. Most were small and uninteresting, however, Marie was able to spot a few that were unique. Picking shells is very soothing for the mind.
There are hundreds of little sand crabs creating miniature burrows in the sand. The debris they remove as they make their way into the sand, is scattered about in tiny mud balls as the sand is so very fine. The result is a magnificent work of art with the beach as the canvas. Each mud ball appears as though it were intricately placed as part of a masterpiece. Obviously that could not possibly be true as they are only crabs looking for a place to survive, or? LOL.
The length of the beach was decorated with beautiful trees offering shade for the beach goers. A park setting with a winding concrete path for pedestrians
We etched the end of the beach where a channel allowed the tour boats to gain access to the public. Most were just docked on the sand. A sand bar outlined the channel and allowed people to walk to a small island. Not much there but as we are adventurous we had to go to the other side.
Back on the beach we came across a lot of young people belonging to a group called "Projects Abroad" working at cleaning up the beach. They come out every Monday and Friday morning to pick up garbage. What a great bunch of kids and great organization! They explained to us what a problem Thailand has with garbage, not only at the local level but at the government level as the country is not able to handle all of the waste.
On the way back we stopped in at the "Coffee in Love" shack for breakfast. Fried eggs and bacon for Moi, Marie with a healthier choice of yogurt and cornflakes. As we were sitting chatting to an interesting fellow from Sweden ( turns out he is married to the owner, a delightful Thai woman) a small gecko launched a sneak attack on my plate. At least he thought he was being sneaky, so funny. He crept along the table top to the edge of my plate and then bent his body around the rim, grabbed a mouthful of the remaining egg yolk, and ran. We tried to get a picture but I think he was on to us.
The fellow from Sweden told us he lived in the hills with his lady and her family. He said it was not very safe to live there since he was white (whites are thought of as having money) and therefore a target to be robbed and even killed. His wife's father told him that for his safety he was not allowed to go out and smoke in the evenings and the old man would walk the perimeter of the property looking for intruders. Apparently a land/home owner can legally kill an intruder. Yikes, what goes on up in them thar hills? On top of that he claims there are a lot of poisonous snakes lurking about in the jungle.
Swede was very interesting. He said his lady had had enough of him and wanted him to go back to Sweden for a break. Made us laugh. He told us that after the tsunami hit Phuket most of the businesses were wiped out and most did not have insurance. This opened the door for foreigners, namely the Russians to invest. According to Swede a lot of corruption ensued with a lot of prostitution and the likes. Everything is very expensive, a lot of clubs and a lot of girlie bars. Other people have also told us they hated Phuket because it was so busy with a lot of girlie bars and prostitution and vendors in every tourist's face trying to sell something.
A little lizard with a red back caught our attention so Marie snapped a photo. On the way back Marie almost stepped on another lizard sunning himself on the path. After bolting just before Marie's foot was about to crush him he stopped to pose for a photo. Show off!
The rest of the day was a designated lay and relax by the pool day.

Saturday around town.

Breakfast on the top floor terrace of our hotel is about as good as it gets for an ideal setting. We sat at one of the small tables by the rail, a perfect panoramic view of the sea, trees and town. The buffet was a magnificent spread of literally, as the expression goes, everything from fruits to nuts. Dried fruits, fresh fruits, nuts, cereals, yogurts, breads, croissants, cheese, olives, cold cut meats, juices, eggs any style cooked fresh, pancakes, bacon, chicken sausages, fried potatoes, soup and on and on. On top of that there were a variety of Asian dishes. NO we didn't sample everything, almost though! LOL. It really was grand to enjoy a breakfast and coffee on the terrace. We even had a visitor, feathery little guy, stop by to enjoy a few crumbs from my croissant. Must be French. LOL
Our journey, to date, has landed us in 13 different hotels/locations. Having lugged her pack around equally as many times, and with a future of six or so more stops, Marie decided it was time to lighten the load. I get to stay but 8 kilos of stuff, some brought from home and some newly acquired, suddenly was marked as "not required". We loaded up and took our haul to the local post office. Now Marie carries an empty backpack while mine gained weight. What's up with that?
I/we, so very unfortunately, did not acquire visas for Thailand while we were in Kuala Lumper. That would have been too easy and would have allowed us to stay for up to 60 days. I was under the impression we could get a "quick visa" on arrival at the airport. Wrong, so very wrong. When arriving in Thailand by air you are allowed to stay for 30 days without a visa. Arriving by land gives you 15 days. Your passport is stamped with the date when you must leave. If you stay past the date you will be charged a penalty for everyday you stay. Immigration can give an extension but only for seven to ten days. One solution is to go to leave Thailand, then return and have your passport stamped under the same conditions previously mentioned. Since our passports only bear a stamp until Feb 17th we have a dilemma logistically and financially. Leaving and flying back, while giving us the 30 days we require, is too expensive and complicated to get to the destination we desire, Hua Hin. Leaving and returning by land, also complicated destination wise, only gives us 15 days, leaving us ten days short for our return flight to Canada. After several hours of searching the web our solution is to make a "visa run" to Penang, Malaysia. It is the least expensive option; an 8 hour minivan ride to Penang, three nights in Georgetown waiting for our visa application to be processed at the Thai Embassy, a minivan ride back to Hat Yai and an overnight train to Hua Hin. I'm still not believing this even as I write it now. Logistically, the problem is our location; we are in Krabi Town and flights connecting to other countries usually require connections via Bangkok.
On the positive side we get to visit Georgetown, Penang Island Malaysia.

On the Beach at Railay and Phranang

Our destination today is Railay Beach. This morning we were up by 7 and out the door by 7:30 as we wanted to start the day with a walk on the beach. There is only one way to town, a 400 meter hike to the Main Street and two hundred more to the beach. Seems every morning we have the typical coastal skyline, somewhat greyish and clearing by around 10 AM. When we reached the beach there were a few joggers, some walkers and locals picking shells, probably ( we surmised ) to make jewelry to sell.
A quick pace down the beach and then it was time to find a place to satisfy our hunger pangs, especially Marie, that girl is always hungry! LOL. When it comes to choices for breakfast there are the big buffets from $250 baht and up or smaller local cafes serving ala carte items like muesli with yogurt and fruit for $120 baht plus a coffee for around $70; translation a somewhat lighter and healthy breakfast for roughly $6.35 CA. Our pick was the lighter fare as we found a nice street side spot with wifi, so it is breakfast and the news via Internet and of course email. Our hotel has free wifi in he lobby but charges to have it in the rooms. Weird!
After breakfast we had to return to the hotel, another km to equip ourselves for Railay beach, basically towels, water and books. Then, one more time walking the same km to get back to the ticket booth for the long boats. Get the picture? That's already 3 km, but it is so much fun!
Minus 200 baht (each) for a return trip we marched across the walkway where the dispatcher took our tickets and assigned us to a boat with 6 other people (they need 8 to go). All aboard and off we go, in a long tail, an interesting wooden boat powered by a motor on a pivot to steer, with a long driveshaft and a propeller on the end. Noisy but interesting! Our boat carved a shallow path across the calm seas, the deep V of the bow hurling a salty spray into the boat. Only slightly damp we first arrived at a very inviting sandy beach, Phranang. Everyone bailed, leaving Marie and I to continue on to Railay. Railay was equally as beautiful. Our longtail beached along side 20 or so other longtails. Barefoot across the white sand we went on a mission to explore the beach. We had hoped to find affordable accommodations on the beach, but who were we kidding? A paved path with shops and restaurants on either side led us away from the beach. We followed it through a treed area, with some very "rustic" eateries and eventually came out at another beach, although not a pretty sight. Railay is divided into East and West beach, the east showing low tide exposing a rather murky muck amongst the mangroves. The path fronted by hotel resorts followed the edge of the sea. We could only think how disappointing it would be to book an expensive luxury beach front resort only to find out the beach was just a mud pit with a foul fishy septic smell and laden with garbage. Even at high tide it was not a place where you would want to swim. Of course this is only my opinion.
I read there was a scenic view point to which one could climb and we could see the cliff in the not too far distance. There were climbers (this area attracts a lot of rock climbers) scaling the side of the cliff and others suspended by ropes. The path to the viewpoint veered away from the climbers. Shortly we came to the site where we would have to scale the steep rocks to access the viewpoint. Seeing the ropes hanging from the near vertical cliff side, Marie opted to sit out. I abandoned my sandals and started a barefoot ascent up the rock face. Some were sharp and hard on the feet and others very slippery. A latched onto the rope and pulled myself upwards. Suddenly it occurred to me, perhaps this isn't such a good idea, especially not barefoot. I abandoned my efforts after a mere 30 feet and upon trying to descend was met by a line of other climbers. From the bottom we watched ten or so tourists all eagerly making their way up the steep cliff hanging on to the rope. My only thought was; "I wonder if this rope is ever tested"?
Several young sweaty foreigners descended and told us of the spectacular panorama from above.
Along the way the cliffs hovered over the path, stalactites hanging precariously above us as we made our way. At the end of the path was the Phranang beach we originally stopped at, as was a couple from Denmark with whom we shared the boat ride. After socializing for a bit our foursome headed towards the cliffs and rocks cascading into the sea. We scrambled over, under and around the boulders to see where they would lead. Dead end! We retreated to explore the other end of the beach. More longtail boats run onto the beach, however this time there were several with sandwich board signs advertising food and drink. Having walked for the better part of two hours we very suddenly became hungry. LOL. With a small BBQ on board and a wok or two, the vendors were cooking up a storm. We chose the chicken in a pita (first we ever saw in Asia) and yummy, it was extra delicious. Chased by by a cold fresh pineapple juice and "Bob's your Uncle"!
Back to the west side where it is less crowded we lay out our beach towels and set up beach camp. Into the water we went, crystal clear and warm like a bath. Heavenly, for sure!
Two hours of reading, baking in the sun then splashing about to cool off was enough. No sooner had we packed up than a cloud floated over letting loose with a warm shower.
Dinner was at a local restaurant which, as we quickly found out, was home to several vendors trying to pedal their wares to the diners. They were actually quite respectful and did not bother anyone when they were eating. I took some interest in a Thai hat and soon was trying it on. First price was $250 baht, I countered with $100. The lowest she would go was $150 baht. Then the guy came by and we started again, same scenario, however this time we made a deal at $120 baht, which at 30 baht to the dollar means "good price"! A couple from Denmark we met the night before were sitting a few tables away and enjoyed the entertainment we provided, so much we got the thumbs up for my ever so stylish hat! I tried to convince Marie to get one as well but without success.