A Trip to Krabi

Krabi was in my travel plans for a long time, as one of my colleagues, Roger Ridsdill used to live and run a hotel there in Krabi. He once briefly told me stories about Krabi and his hotel, during one of the survey campaigns onboard MV Micylin Energy and I was fascinated by these tiny, beautiful islands, off Krabi, with white sandy beaches and turquoise waters.  Some of my thai friends also passed me their knowledge of Krabi’s islands and tips to travel around there. As I grew up and spend a lot of my evenings during those early years of my life on a beautiful beach in Varkala, beaches are always my weakness. I decided to fly there in May 2016, during the off season, to avoid the maddening crowd and find some solace in the solitude of these white sandy beaches and soak my soul in that turquoise waters. I took an evening flight from Bangkok to Krabi, by Thailion air.  One of the reasons why I like this budget airline is that they allow you to carry free 15kgs of check-in luggage compared to other budget airlines. (For international flights, it is 30Kg).

For those who don’t know, Krabi airport is approximately 9km from the Krabi town centre and 27km from the Ao Nang beach. The Ao Nang beach can be considered as a main tourist center for lodging, compared to the Krabi town center or other beaches like Nopparat Thara. So if you are aiming for the island hopping trips, better to stay either in the Ao Nang or Nopparat Thara beach areas, not the Krabi town. And, if you are traveler like me, without any tour packages, you need to get a transfer from the Krabi airport to the Ao Nang or Nopparat Thara beach areas. There is no public transport allowed inside the Krabi airport and that leaves you with following three choices at the Krabi airport,

1.   Car rentals – All the international firms such as Avis, Budget etc and also some thai firms have booths in the arrival hall of the airport terminal. If that is your choice, probably better to pre-book online for much better rates.

2.   Airport taxis – Taxis are pre-paid with a fixed rate.  You must buy the coupon from a booth inside the arrival hall, before leaving the terminal building and the driver will be waiting for you outside. Taxi fare to the Ao nang area is about 600baht, if you are in a group of 4 people, then this will be the best option.

3.   Airport bus – This was my choice, 150baht to Ao nang area. If you are heading to Krabi town, it will be 90 baht. Tickets can be bought in the arrival hall booths, similar to taxis. Only trouble is that the buses normally leave when there are enough passengers to fill them. They are available 5 times a day. Mostly a 10-15minutes wait, depends on the number of flights coming in.

The Airport bus ride was smooth. The driver asks your hotel (make sure he understands the correct name) and takes you to your hotel. So there will be some more delay depends on the location of your hotel.

Ao nang

Ao nang beach road is full of shops, agents selling island hopping tour packages, restaurants of various cuisines (there were a lot of Indian restaurants). One of the best thing i like is the small family marts and 7/11 shops, head to one of them for your water, coffee, fruits, even breakfast cereals.  there are a few medicine shops available as well.

Before buying the island trip package from those agents, check with a few of them before you settle with the one you prefers. You need to pay extra entrance fee to some of the islands (like Tup etc) as it falls under natural parks. Find out the amount clearly. However, at  some places they demand more money, go back to the boat driver or the guide and talk to them. In Tup island they demanded 400 baht instead of 200 baht mentioned by the tour agent and the boat driver stepped in and helped.

Things to carry if you are going for island hopping trips and snorkeling,

1.   A dry bag. If you forget to carry one, you can easily buy one from one of the street shops, do a good bargain. And, always remember the cheap ones are always of low quality.

2.    Most of the hotels will keep extra towels in the room, to carry when you go for island hopping trips and snorkeling, so make sure to carry them.

3.    A pair of slippers for the boat trips.

4.    An additional cloth to change after snorkeling or swimming.

5.    Sunblock and sunglasses

6.    Some cotton, betadiene (just in case). You can easily get it from one of the medicine shops along the beach road.

I would like to recommend the following Island trips and places to visit,

1.     Hong islands

2.     Phi Phi islands

3.     7 islands sunset tour

4.     Wat Tham Sua (Tiger temple)

5.     Shell Fossil beach

6.     Klong Thom Hot Springs

7.     Emerald pool (I wasn’t impressed much as it is a long drive from Krabi and not worth that time, unless you want to take a bath in the pool.)

You can easily rent a car (or a motorbike) and drive around Krabi and go to some of these places like tiger temple, Shell Fossil beach, Emerald pool, Klong Thom Hot Springs etc on the main land.

Details of my Island trips and other visits will be given in separate blogs.

An early morning walk along the Ao nang beach, during low tides.

Statue of the giant fish and the fishermen, Ao nang beach

Long tail boats resting on the shore during low tides, Ao nang beach

A panaroma shot of Nopparat Thara beach using the phone camera

Speedboats and long tails birthed in the Nopparat Thara pier

long tail boats birthed next to the Nopparat Thara pier

Ao nammao pier, Some of the tours starts from here.

Ao nammao pier, a view from the boat

A grounded long tail boat during low tides, a view from Ao nammao pier

Grounded long tail boats on the flat sea bottom during low tides, a view from Ao nammao pier

A word about Krabi’s Karst topography

Krabi’s beautiful land and seascapes are geologically called Karst topography.  These Karsts are limestone mountains that have been formed after the erosion of the softer rock around the limestone,  creating gigantic pillars of rock. Most of these karst topographies were formed 260 million years ago. Coral and shell deposits were buried deep under the earth, eventually forming limestone. These limestones were thrust up above the surface when the Indian plate collided with the  Asian plate some 30 million years ago. In the South of Thailand, many provinces have spectacular examples of this type of Karst topography.

The Karst topography exists throughout the world, and some of the famous cave systems are located in karsts. However, only three places show the karst hills and towers extending into the adjacent seas and Krabi is the only fully tropical location. The other locations are the Haolong Bay in Vietnam and Dalmatian Coast of Croatia.

Stunning examples of karst topography

Stunning examples of karst topography

Stunning examples of karst topography

Stunning examples of karst topography

Stunning examples of karst topography

Stunning examples of karst topography