Krabi

Finally, my long awaited beach hol finally materialized last week.

Was thinking of going back to Phuket, then decided to go to Krabi instead since we've not been there.

Took the noon flight to Krabi on Friday...
Reached the hotel just in time for lunch. The entire design of the hotel is nice. But the same can't be said of the service of the staff...

After lunch, we walked out to Aonang. The beach was abt 2km away from the hotel and the first half km of the walk was through a pretty quiet road. The entire place was rather empty and quiet. Hmmm... Not happening at all. And we were both quite taken aback by the quietness of the entire area. There seemed nothing much to do there. Shops were mainly selling art pieces and the usual touristy stuff. Gawd, it's gonna be a boring 4 days here!

After speaking to a lady from a tourist information centre, we went for a massage. This massage place was pretty decent. Reasonably priced and clean. Massage was good. We went for 2 hours body massage and 1 hour foot massage. Totally relaxed after that.

After our massage, we wanted to eat. But *horrors*, most restaurants were closed. Goodness! It was only slightly after 10pm and everything was closed. In the end, we ate at a mamak kinda place coz we had no where else to go for food. Then, the walk back to the hotel was quite scary coz the streetlights were not on and it was pitch dark. The walk was long and it freaked us out a little. Sigh... I was begining to regret coming to Krabi.

The following day, we were up bright and early for our island excursion.

The islands were not as beautiful as those that we went to during our Phuket trip. The waters were not so clear and the beach not so soft and nice.

1st stop was at Hong Island Lagoon where we stayed in the boat and just snapped pics.

2nd stop was at Pakbia Island. Had no idea why the guide wanted to stay here for 45 min coz there was nothing here. Only a pathetic patch of sand. No even considered a beach.

3rd stop was at Lading Island. The island had birds in cages and a couple of huts that looked like something outta 'Survivor'. The main highlight was the fishes that'd swim real close around us. We stayed about an hour and a half, snorkelling then had lunch which the guide packed from Krabi. Lunch was not so great, rice with vegetables and chicken that were already cold. Hmmph!

Final stop was at Hong Island Bay, where we stayed for a couple of hours. Just sat on the beach and chit-chatted with Yaacob. Then a couple from Finland joined us and we talked til it was time to go.

I was pretty tired after a long day out island hopping. On our way back, the waves were really strong and at one point, I thought the boat would capsize. A strong current rocked the boat to one side and the Thai kid that came with the guide fell off the boat into the sea. I was panic-stricken!! But the guide was real calm. Like it was nothing. I looked around and finally saw the kid about a metre away from the boat. Only his head was visible, bobbing on the surface of the water. Goodness! I would be screaming my lungs out for help if I were him. This kid just smiled and swam back to the boat. Okaaay.... Must not be a first time for him to fall off the boat, I think. Hmmm...

After we got back to the hotel, we lazed around the pool til evening. Then, showered and watched Transformers on TV before heading out for lunch. I can never tire of Transformers. Can just watch it over and over again. Such a cool movie!!

We had dinner at this place called Blue Mango. I realised that in Krabi, the Thai food really sucks. The tomyam was not strong and tasty enough. The curry was watery and diluted. Thai food in KL taste much better. After 2 disappointing Thai meals, we decided to forget about it and eat western food for the rest of our stay.

Walked along Aonang after dinner. Yaacob bought me a nice seashell hairclip. Had nothing to do, went back to the hotel to watch TV and drank beer. This is the most boring hol we've ever had. The place really had nothing to do. Sigh... Really shoulda went to Phuket.

The next day, after breakfast, did a bit of sun-tanning.

After that, decided to head out for lunch. Snapped some pics at the hotel before going out.

As I said, the design of the hotel was really nice. But the service was bad. The staff was not friendly and didn't look like they want to assist/serve us at all. When we spoke to them, they'd just look blankly at us most of the time, no smiles, nothing, like they're reluctant to serve us. The reception was not 24 hours, the restaurant closes at 9.30pm and room service was only til 11pm. Our bed comforter stank, but they didn't change it even though we requested for clean one. The towels had little black dirt balls on it and we hadta ask for fresh clean ones. Really, don't be fooled by nice pics of hotels in their websites. Hafta do more research before actually booking into one.

Had lunch then shopped the afternoon away. Ended the day with a 3 hour massage then dinner. When we got back to the hotel, it was time to pack.

Left Krabi at noon on Monday. Couldn't wait to get home. I've decided to really do more research on the places and hotels for my future holidays. Krabi certainly was not my cup of tea. Guess I'm really a city girl at heart and am used to crowds and more fast-paced places ;)

Had a really bad allergy attack when I got back. Entire face was swollen, red and itchy. Entire upper body had rashes and was itchy. Definitely not the food coz I didn't have seafood in Krabi. Dunno whether it's the water that's not clean or the hotel room. Suffer... Especially my face!! Arrgghhh!!