Day 10-14 - Krabi, Thailand

Our chosen city after the cancelation of Philippines trip was Krabi, Thailand. I have done a quick research online about the not so busy parts of Thailand with great beaches and Krabi was the winner. This old fisherman's town became somewhat of a tourist spot in the last couple of decades but nothing as crowded as Phuket. It is two hours away from Phuket, second biggest city after Bangkok. 

After a layover in Bangkok we were in Krabi in the evening with thunderstorms. After checking into our hotel by the beach, we walked around the town of Ao Nang where we parked ourselves. After having some decent Thai food nearby, we ended up grabbing a drink at Moo 2 Cafe, where we listened live music sang by Bob Marley look-a-like singer. There was a great moment that wouldn't be erased from our memories forever… It started to pour down rain around midnight and everyone tried to find a spot at the cafe that won't get them wet. Our Marley had just started singing Redemption Song and everyone was singing along. It was an amazing scene and a good welcome to Thailand for us to the beach town Krabi.

Next day we enjoyed the beach and relaxing with the environment. Our hotel had its own beach access and we hung out there. At night they had fish tasting at the hotel around the sunset. It was nice to taste fresh snapper and barracuda. On our next couple of days we booked excursions to famous sites in this area: James Bond Island, and Kho Phi Phi. 

Love these fuzzy guys

James Bond Island tour started in the morning with a drive to nearby port. The island is called James Bond because of the Bond movie from 40 years back that was shot here. There is a famous iconic rock formation that stands alone by the island. We weren't particularly excited about the Bond Island as it was super commercialized and there wasn't any moment to relax on the island. They also took us to a little canoeing excursion around the caves. In the afternoon there was a visit to a temple cave with Buddha figures all around the cave, which made the trip a lot more interesting. We were also able to feed monkeys bananas outside of this temple. They are too smart with the way they grab and eat their food. Super fuzzy creatures… Next stop: 7 story Waterfall. Didn't have too much time here to enjoy all the waterfalls but we made the most of it at one of them. The freshest water and the jungle like atmosphere reminded me of Hana in Maui, HI. 

James Bond Island

Our third day started early as well. It was a beautiful day and we were heading to Phi Phi Island as we stopped a few islands on the way. The speed boat that we were in was super fast one and didn't have too many people on it as some of the other tours do. Very first stop was Bamboo island, a true paradise island that takes your breath away. We had over an hour here but it surely wasn't enough. Turquoise color water, super white sand beach and palm trees on the island. If we can remove the people out of the way then I can assure that we really wouldn't have left the island :) Later on. we anchored to a very small cove with amazing water and swam right in there with the amazing fishes.  Third and the most popular stop was Maya Bay where the movie 'The Beach' was shot with DiCaprio. Wow it was indeed THE beach. Not many words can describe this place I don't think. We are so renting the movie and watching it again!! 

Maya Bay - THE Beach

In the afternoon we had couple of spots for snorkeling and they were quite nice spots for watching the fishes. The tour guide was feeding them with watermelon and piece of bread to attract the fishes and it was fun watching them close up. On our last day in Thailand we wanted to relax by the Railay Beach, which you can only get there by a long tail boat. The Railay area had great beaches better than Ao Nang, where we were staying. The weather was easily in the 90 degrees and we arrived to the back side of the beach, Pranang, where practically everyone on the island was laying down on the beach. We forgot to take enough money with us so we had to work our last day with a small amount of cash. That made the day a bit interesting actually in a good way, we just relaxed and didn't spend money on much stuff and used it all up for two can of Singha beer to enjoy the sunset.

The best moment of the day (maybe this trip!!) happened on our way back. T-storms started to hit back to back as we took the last boat out of Railay heading back to where our hotel is. The true down pour happened and I took my tshirt off and took it all in. Splashes from the sea mixed with rain water created a salty& acidy taste. Just a perfect way to cap the beach part of the honeymoon. When we came back to the hotel we just dried up by the lobby as we already checked out. I booked a good deal to have a driver take us to the Phuket airport in the middle of the night. We had couple hours to kill at night. With some good music, drinks and Thai massage (not having one again :) ) we were ready to leave the beautiful Krabi. Got to say goodbye to our Thai Bob Marley on the last day as he played Hotel California for us. Back to civilization on a red eye flight! Hong Kong here we come!