Travel: Sunset at Aonang Beach, Krabi (Thailand)

Hello month October! I think this is a long over due post which it won't do justice by just sharing with you all the photos in just one post. So I might break it down for you.

I was fortunate recently to be able to step away from the office for a short beach vacation. A much needed vacation that is. All I was dreaming of was the sun, sea, sand and spa. So we headed off to our neighbouring country, Thailand and visited the beautiful untouched Krabi. I have to say most of Thailand is heavily commercialised, and sometimes that causes a reverse effect on nature. When I was 15 years old, stop [counting my age :P].. and now yonks ago, I visited Krabi together with my family during my dad's company trip. Then Krabi was still quite isolated, however it did have all the fabulous resorts.

Now all grown up, returning to Krabi had left a complete different feeling in me once more. It's still beautiful, full of lush green forests, crystal clear blue sea and perfect soft white sand. Just the way I remember it. Can you imagine yourself sinking your toes into the white soft sand right now?

A sneak peak of Sheraton Krabi, where we stayed during our 4 days 3 nights holiday. This hotel is so beautiful. The moment you arrive, you are greeted by the spacious lobby. Immediately you know you're in vacation land. It has the most beautiful view over looking lush green gardens, then the beach and ocean. Lots of structured pillars, and wood structure. Interior ambient is influenced by a little Balinese decor but still Thai in every way. During check in, you will be greeted with complimentary cold drink and a cold towel sprayed with refreshing lemon grass scent. This immediately awakes your senses and you will be fresh all over.

For dinner, we head over to Aonang Beach, where it is at a different area and to enjoy the sunset. The hotel provides shuttle for about THB 200, return for approximately MYR 20.00. To us it's convenient plus drop off and pick up schedule is punctual. The drive to Aonang from Sheraton Hotel is about 20-30 minutes.

Didn't manage to take the others, as we were too busy enjoying our meal ;).

Of course, I will not leave you without any photos of food. Hey, I'm a foodie myself.. hehehe.. We had Thai Chinese seafood for our dinner at Wangsai Seafood Restaurant. My honest opinion, the food is not too bad. Not great [no haters here, a matter of personal preference or taste] but with the breath taking view and spectacular sunset, this makes my dinner to my first day in Krabi complete. Also don't forget to try out the street food while you're at Aonang. Have a tangerine shake (basically just fresh tangerine juice blended with ice, hint of salt to balance the sourness and sweetness), a MUST cold drink to have, to cool off and have some banana nutella or honey & lemon pancake. It's not your regular pancake. So do give it a go, and I am sure you'll be asking for more.

xx

Part 2: Trang, Krabi, Thailand (Dec 1995)

Hooray, TL has gone home for the day. Yippie will continue my story telling. Not to worry, I will not neglect my work. Just gotta Alt+Tab in between screens. Lol..

The same day, as I thought that would be the end of going into caves, the next place in our ‘to do’ list was to visit Tham Kao kob (Kao Kob Cave) or Tham Le (Sea Cave). After my minor gift from Santa, I was not sure if I enjoyed seeing another cave. This time it was supposed to be different as I was assured by Aunt Judy.

Tham Kao Kob is said to be the longest sea under the mountain.
**Best time to visit Tham Kao Kob will be in summer but not during rainy season because it will be difficult to get in there.

Kao Kob Cave is located in Kao Kob Mountain surrounded by rubber trees and rice fields. Around the mountain are the canals; the first one goes left, the second one goes right and the last one go directly into the mountain. Guess what! We were told to keep our hands in the boat, duct and bow down when instructed by the guide. Hmmm.. that got me thinking of what could be lurking under us. Crocodiles? Okay, I still have my 10 precious fingers to type. So I shall stop being overly dramatic. =.=’’

Krabi is indeed a gem having the Andaman Sea surrounding it. How we got there? An hour plus tour bus ride. Then we were walking on the soft sandy beach. There waiting for us were some speedboats or sampan as it's known here. Sadly there is no steps for us to step foot on to get into the ‘sampan’. The way to do it was to seat our ass at the side of the boat, using our body weight to push it down a little, and then seat ourselves in. Go figure.
We made several stops as we were brought to visit a couple of islands. The very next day or was it the same day.. can’t recall much now, we chartered a ferry. Then we were taken quite far out of the Andaman Sea for some serene snorkeling.

Gosh I tell you, the corals were so beautiful, and the water so clear. Of course being me, a little paranoid with sharks, I totally forgotten about it. Hmm, anyhow I’m aware that the only sharks I could possibly see would be coral reef sharks and that I’ll have to dive in order to see them.

Anyway, back to snorkeling. Out of the blue, an idiotic friend of mine decided to throw a couple bread slices as to where I was swimming. What happen next? All the tiny fishes were going mad on a feeding frenzy that some mistaken my little pinky as food when they tried to nibble on my finger. Lol…

At another dive site, I could even recall that the wave current was so strong, and we had to hang onto the rope so that we don’t get push out further into the sea. Here, we thought we saw a plastic bag floating towards us. We were wrong. It was a giant jelly fish heading towards our direction. It’s not as cute as the ones shown in Finding Nemo. All I heard next from the tour guide was “little girl, let go of the rope and swim towards the boat!” That’s when I knew the jelly fish was heading my direction. I was swimming like a mad person to just be out of the way so I don’t get sting.

Did I tell you that the Thai tour guide accidentally stepped onto a sea urchin aka sea rambutan?? It’s no joke people. We can die from it as their thorns are poisonous. This is as far I recall having watched National Geographic. Luckily, for him, he is familiar with the types of sea urchin. Apparently his is not poisonous at all. But those 5 tiny holes on his ball of his heel were turning blue. Yucks. Let me be more specific. The holes were black in colour, and around the rims of the holes were a hint of blue.

For lunch, we were brought to this one particular island near Krabi. To my surprise this island allows people to be nude or shall I say topless. It sure got most horny old man excited but for us kids, we felt embarrassed and was just disgusted with the sight. Can you imagine so many dangling papayas around your face? Thank god NO man went bottomless. I suppose they wouldn’t since other man would be able to check out their ‘ego’ tool. Lol.. And we were supposed to be relaxing, and having our lunch?? It sure made me “relax” alright. Lol..

One last place in Krabi we visited is a hidden island situated inside a Sea Cave. Yup, you read it right. It’s the MOST BEAUTIFUL Sea Cave I’ve ever seen, well since it’s my very first ^.^ .

Hidden in this Sea Cave, there lies a beautiful white soft sandy beach. To get to this place, we must first observe the tide of the ocean. When it’s low tide, there’ll be an opening for us to cross over into the other side of the cave. Naturally we swam across, but for non-swimmers, not to worry as we are all required to strap on a safety life jacket. If you observe, the water is so clear that you could see the bottom of the ocean floor as it’s not very deep. The colour was light turquoise.
Don’t you wish you could go there?

These hidden gems are our part of our Earth Treasures. I sure hope this place is still as serene, clean and clear like how it’s plastered in my mind till this very day.


xx

Hmm..in my teens..

During my teens, I was fortunate to have seen some part of Thailand. First Thai trip ever was dad’s company trip on 25 Dec, 1995. The itinerary would be Kuala Lumpur > Perlis >Trang > Krabi > Hatyai > Kuala Lumpur.

We flew via MAS to Perlis. During the flight we were all given a box of truffles. Not local chocolates mind you. The choco was so good. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. It melted in my mouth and it was just so smooth. Yum yummm.

Back to Thailand: When we arrived, we cross over the Thai border, and got onto a tour bus.

And the adventure begins from there. We arrived at a little town called Trang. The very first day, Aunt Judy (dad’s old company secretary-may she rest in peace) brought all of us to ThamChangHai Tham Kao Changhai (Lost Elephant Cave) in Trang.

Here I am, clad in white East India tee, paired with bermudas and sandals; all set and ready for my first adventure. All I was told that there were lots of stalactites and stalagmites.

Never knew that we had to go through tight small spaces and require crawling to avoid what seem to be harmless fresh limestone rocks. It came to a part where we all had to crawl with our knees flat to the ground, only using our elbows to support our body and pull ourselves through that tiny gap. Thank god I was tinier then. Lol…

Phew, first obstacle done. Checked and made sure there were no stalactites above me. Coast is clear, then BAM! All I could remember was a loud knock on my head, and the next moment I was seated on the grown seeing stars. Few seconds later, blood was rolling down my face and onto my white tee. Can you imagine the agony of having to wash a white tee stained by blood? Hmm.. okay of course my head’s more important at that point. I was in shocked that I needed guidance to get out. My mom said “Can you be anymore clumsy?” Can you believe it? At that point of time, injured and being nagged. “Mothers, can never understand them at times”.

Well, of course she was concern, but then my mom’s a highly trained staff nurse. There’s nothing she couldn’t handle. Everybody thought I needed stitches since I bled so much, thinking I may have cracked my skull. Luckily it was a deep scalp tissue scratched. Apparently if our skull cracked open, it wouldn’t bleed as much compare to a tissue scratch.

That was sure a big pressie from Santa. Lol.. To be continued.. Time to rest my brain now .

xx