KL-Hatyai-Krabi 10 October 2008 – 14 October 2008
By Linda
3 months ago, we started planning for our year end holiday trip. After 2 years in a row going to Indonesia (Bali and Bandung), my dear hubby suggested that we go to Thailand (obviously I wanted a repeat visit to Bandung – my shopping appetite was not fully appeased eheheh). The places on our list were Bangkok, Chiangmai/Chiangrai and Phuket. But after surfing the net and seeing the pictures posted on the net, we decided Krabi is definitely the place to spend our holiday.
Krabi is often mistaken as an island, it is actually located on the mainland - west coast of southern Thailand at the mouth of Krabi River into Andaman Sea. Since this place is accessible via road, my dear hubby preferred travelling by road than air, since we would be able to spend our time at our own pace. As from November onwards, it is considered to be high season, we decided to bring forward our year end holiday to mid October which is still within the Green Season (rainy season) whereby most of the hotels have good promotional rates for this duration as the weather during this time is a bit unpredictable.
Finally the much awaited date arrived – on 10/10/08 morning, we left our home heading upnorth. The journey to Bkt Kayu Hitam border took us 5 hours, 1 more hour of driving to get us to Hat Yai where we stayed a night before continuing to Krabi the next day, which is another 3 hours driving. For those who are thinking to drive into Thailand, if you are using Bkt Kayu Hitam as exit point, you will enter via Sadao Immigration Checkpoint, but before proceeding to the border, it is best to stop at one of the coffeeshops in Changloon to complete all the immigration documentation – filling up embarkation cards, obtain thai vehicle insurance disc (car registration document is compulsory) and to change currency (we got a better rate here than in Kuala Lumpur). That process didn’t take that long and we continued our journey. At Sadao Immigration Centre, we parked our car at the parking area next to the Immigration Complex and everyone had to alight and queue with the passports to get it stamped and picture taken at the respective counters, and to get the insurance document to be stamped. This process didn’t take too much time as there were not many people around. We continued our journey via Highway 4 bypassing Dannok, a town immediately after the border. We wanted to have our lunch at a popular Muslim restaurant located in an area called Ban Prik – Thai-Malaysia Muslim Restaurant – unfortunately it was closed, may be because it was Friday. So we had no choice but to continue and have our late lunch in Hat Yai. We arrived in Hat Yai around 3 pm, parked our car at the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel, flagged down a tuktuk (easiest way to go around town) headed to the tour agent, Lovely Tours to get our hotel vouchers (we got a much lower rates than booking direct at the hotel), then got back on the tuktuk and went to Salma Restaurant for our really late lunch. The food was great and not that expensive. After our lunch, we checked into the hotel for the night. Around 8 pm, we went out to the Night Market @ Bazaar for some window shopping and simple dinner at one of the many muslim hawker stalls in the Night Market.
We started our next day bright and early hoping to leave Hat Yai and arriving Krabi earlier, but after breakfast at Hamid Restaurant (walking distance from the hotel), we decided to take another tuktuk trip down to the local market for some souvenirs and local snacks hunting. We ended up exiting Hat Yai near to 2 pm. To get to Krabi, we have to take the Highway 4 (Hat Yai – Patthallung – Trang – Krabi). When we were approaching Trang, the weather took a bad turn, it rained heavily and we had to slow down. I started to get worried that the weather would be this bad throughout our trip, if that happens, the whole trip would be such a waste. Alhamdulillah, upon arriving Krabi, the sky brightened up and no dark clouds could be seen. Again, we had a very late lunch today. After asking around, we had our lunch cum dinner at one of the muslim hawker stalls at the Night Market. Although it was a simple hawker stall, all the dishes that we selected were great and of course great on our pocket too!
After filling our tummies, we headed to a coastal town called AoNang where our hotel, Duang Jai Resort is located. Duang Jai Resort is a boutique hotel which has 20 comfortable and spacious rooms, swimming pool for both adults and children and a massage hut. We were very pleased with our choice of accommodation. After a short break, we ventured into AoNang town for some sightseeing. There are a lot of restaurants, bars, diving centres, express tailors – something quite close to Kuta in Bali but in a smaller scale I think. Along the beachside, you can see there are a lot of tsunami warning tower with evacuation route signs. We had a taste of the famous Krabi pancakes (cam roti canai tipis dengan segala macam toppings – pisang, madu, coklat, badam, kismis, susu – pilih saja, harga dalam 20 bath sekeping, tapi for sure sekeping tak cukup). By then we were getting very tired and we flagged down a tuktuk to get back to the hotel for a good night sleep before an exciting day tomorrow.
We got up and readied ourselves early, went for our breakfast (although the food served here is not totally halal, they can prepare Halal food – different set of cooking utensils used), but for both mornings, we opted only eggs and toast, fruits and drink.
As promised the agent (See Tho Travel) arrived around 8.30 to pick us up for our 4 I sland tour. The tour fee includes lunch, snorkeling gear and freeflow drinking water, a souvenir, sponge cake and for non muslim, wine at the end of the trip. We boarded the speedboat at Haad Noppharat Thara pier. Our tour leader is a young tomboyish girl – Poo. All three tour staff that attended us throughout the trip were very helpful, pleasant and put safety first always. The first destination is Tham Phra Nang, or Princess Cave (Fertility Goddess) at Railay Beach – nothing much here, just for swimming and visiting the cave fillled with phallic images adorned with garlands and incense offerings in the hope of increased sexual potency, prosperity and good fortune. Then we were back on the boat, heading to Tub Island, Chicken Head Island and Poda Island for more snorkeling and swimming. The water is crystal clear and a lot of fishes, especially when you toss bread into the water. When the tide is low, there is a sand bank connects these three islands which allows you to walk to these islands. Simple lunch of fried rice and fruits served and enjoyed here. This tour ended around 2 pm. Went back to the hotel for some freshwater swimming in the hotel pool. Around 6 pm, after cleaning ourselves, we headed into town for our dinner. We had fresh seafood dinner at Aonang Seafood Centre overlooking the AoNang beach enjoying beautiful sunset. After dinner, we had a relaxing stroll along the rows of shops windowshopping. Went back to hotel for another goodnight slumber. Tomorrow, another great snorkeling day awaits…
Like yesterday, the agent arrived to pick us up around the same time, but this time we boarded the speedboat (slightly bigger boat than yesterday) at AoNang pier. Today, we had the pleasure of having a “drop dead gorgeous” tour leader by the name of LaLa and another 2 guys.. For this trip, we went to PhiPhi Ley, passing by an area called Bilik Lagoon, Viking Cave (where swallow bird nest is harvested here), Bamboo Island, Maya Bay (where Leonardo DiCaprio filmed “The Beach” movie), PhiPhi Don – as you know, this island was one of places which had high casualties during the Tsunami a few years back, so along the shore, there were a lot of tsunami warning tower with evacuation route signs and they are still redeveloping the areas, a lot of constructions going on. We had our lunch at the local restaurant on this island. After spending around 1 hour here, we got back on the boat and headed to Monkey beach (stopped here for feeding the local monkeys only – we didn’t even got off from the boat – kat Malaysia pun banyak monyet). There is an orangputih guy who was holding a bottle of Pepsi, this monkey came to him and snatched the bottle and with flair drank the Pepsi, after taking his fill, he left the bottle on the beach. Before heading back to the pier, we were very lucky as the weather was great and there was no/very little wind, so we had the pleasure of experiencing open sea snorkeling – here there are more fishes and corals. Although it is a bit frightening floating in a middle of open seas (terbayang bayang cerita Jaws), but we still enjoyed it very much. Then we were back to Haad Noppharat Thara pier, then back to the hotel.
After 30 mins of relaxing on the room balcony overlooking the swimming pool, the masseurs came for a 1 hour session of Aromatic Oil Massage for me, hubby and mom – we had the massage at the massage hut, while my mom in her room. It was oh so relaxing (tak ler sakit cam aku urut bersalin ari tuh!)
After showering, we went out to Krabi town to find “LeSportSac” handbag for my elder daughter and backpack for my elder son. For dinner, with help of one of my forummates who came here in August (thank you Duyong!), we managed to find the hawker stalls selling local laksa and other local food. Another session of good food and great on pocket.
Today is our last day here, we checked out from the hotel fairly early – around 9 am, went out to have our breakfast – another hawker stall just infront of the stall we had dinner the night before. Luckily we were slightly early, as the food left was quite limited – nak tambah ayam pun tak dapat huhu… On the way back to Hat Yai, we passed by Outlet Village where they sell branded items with all year round discount, better still this time, they were having a Sale. But when we arrived there, it was still closed, another 30 mins to spare, so my hubby decided to just drive around there hoping to find money changer. Instead of finding a money changer, I saw a shop selling wood panels for railings and roof trimmings.. so we ended up spending 30 mins there. The prices of the wood items there (including wooden French doors with tempered glass) were so so cheap. Next time datang sure borong benda nih pulak lah.. After that, we went back to the Outlet Village, initially no real shopping was intended, but at the end we spent nearly 2 hours there alone… things there are cheap, not dirt cheap, but still relatively cheaper than in Kuala Lumpur.
We headed back to Hat Yai for another late lunch at the same restaurant (sebab dah tau sedap dan bersih). When tummies all filled up, we headed back to Kuala Lumpur. Alhamdulillah arrived home safely around 1.15 am.
Despite some setbacks, we had a wonderful holiday, every each of us enjoyed it tremendously. The sights were breathtaking, the weather was great, all the limestone cliffs and caves, crystal clear water and colourful fishes and corals. But I have to say, our Redang Marine Park has a more diverse variety of marine life than here. But, overall, this trip was fabulous, definitely a trip worth revisiting.