I shall end of my series on Krabi by introducing a video to you. It summarises all the places to visit and things to know about Krabi. This video is a must for anyone planing a trip to Krabi. It gives you a good introduction to the beaches, the limestones, the caves and the diving sites within Krabi.
The Wat Tham Suea is a Buddhist temple situated in the midst of limestone hills and heavy greenery. The temple houses numerous Buddha statues and a footprint of Buddha inside a cave guarded by tigers.
the entrance to the Buddha footprint shrine
Buddha's footprint
There is a golden pagoda on top of the hill and visitors have to climb 1272 steps to top of the hill to pay respect to Buddha.
Starting the climb
1237 steps to go.
more steps
and more
and many more
The huge Buddha statue on top of the hill
some nice Buddha statues on display
The top point of the hill is also a beautiful viewpoint with stunning views of Krabi.
Ao Nang is the centre of tourism in Krabi. You can buy almost anything and eat almost everything at this beach front. There are hundreds of shops selling tour packages, airline tickets, suits, souvenirs etc. Name it, you can buy it here !
But what i liked about Ao Nang is how organised the beach is. Unlike Patong in Phuket, which is a chaos. Ao Nang even have benches along the sidewalk for people to sit down and just enjoy the atmosphere. Unlike Patong, the vendors dont harass the tourists. A couple of time, i purposely browsed through the contents in a shop and they did not at any time force me to buy anything.
The best thing i liked about Ao Nang is the parking system. Unlike Patong in Phuket, they dont allow cars to park on either side of the road. There are no tuktuk's lines up along the street. Very organised and i think Patong should take a trip to Ao Nang to learn from small sister. Overall i liked Ao Nang very much.
The beach is quite clean and seemed very popular during the day. Again, there is nobody selling the tourists tanning decks or disturbing them with products. I should say, my view about Krabi changed, just by comparing Ao Nang with Patong. No wonder more and more tourists are switching to Krabi instead of Phuket.
Ao Nang is also the best place to go island hopping around the Andaman sea. It is well positioned to cover all the major islands.
Few kilometers away from Ao Nang beach is the Noppharat Thara Beach, which is very long. The sand though is not as nice as Ao Nang.
This area is believed to have been a large freshwater swamp home to marine species especially snails. MIllions of years later, the remains of these snails have turn to a fossil state, forming great concrete sheets on the seashore. According to guidebooks, there are only three places in the world where this geological miracle occurs, the other two being California & Japan and this one in Krabi is the only seaside spot among the three.
The area around the fossil shell beach is quite scenic and if you like a quite afternoon with your favorite book or your lover, this is the best place to be in Krabi.
As you approach Krabi city, you will see the Krabi river by the right and there are two huge limestone hills hovering over the river in front of the city. This is the Khao Khanap Nam, also the symbol of Krabi province. An apt symbol given that Krabi is popularly known as the limestone heaven.
Inside this limestone hills are caves with stalactites and stalagmites and surrounding the hills are huge mangrove forests, home to many species of birds and many other forms of wildlife.
The Klong Tom hot spring is situated not far away from the Emerald Pool and is about 57km from downtown Krabi. It consists of 3 springs streaming down rocks forming a three tiered cascade. Each tier has about five meter deep limestoon basin. The temperature of the hot spring is about 40 degree celcius and it is belived to be good for health and a lot of locals and tourists flock the hot spring for a dip. The surroundings are refreshingly warm if you enjoy nature.
About 30km away from the Trang - Krabi highway is Khao Pra-Bang Khram Wildlife sanctuary and inside there is the the Emerald Pool or Sra Morakot. Visitors can choose to walk about 1.4km through a nature trail or a 1km elephant trail to reach the pool. The nature trail is very enjoyable with the sound of water creeks on your left and the chirping of birds and insects on the other side.
Hot springs from the underground are sedimented with layers of alkaline limestone resulting in a crystal clear pool surrounded by nature in its best with green trees, plants and all sorts of wildlife. Another spot for tourists and locals alike to take a dip on a hot day.
What's a vacation without a good spa treatment ? We happened to pick up a brochure of a spa, that featured many spa packages, not too pricey and from the many brochures we picked up, this one seemed decent and with attractive pictures.
So we set off searching for Dreamy Spa, yes very wierd name though. However the experience at the spa was fantastic.
Signboard at the entrance
A collection of experience and qualification certificates of the owner is proudly displayed on the wall
The reception area
The foot massage and manicure / pedicure treatment area
The massage treatment area
Tor enjoying a body scrub
I picked up a 3 hour package costing THB 1700 which consists of 1 hour Balinese full body massage, a vanilla body scrub, facial treatment, manicure and pedicure. The therapist started with massage, followed by facial, manicure and pedicure and a foot treatment with electric pulses. It was only 2 hours and 30 minutes.
I was wondering what happened to my body scrub and thought I got confused. So i got dressed up and went to the waiting area. The owner looked at her watch and gave a funny look and went inside. She came and informed me, without any prompting from me, that the therapist missed out the body scrub and apologized and asked me to proceed to the treatment area again. Now, that is what i call honesty.
But overall, the treatment was fantastic and throughout the 3 hours, we got to know the owner and the therapists better. They are from the north eastern province of Udon Thani and came out to seek a better life for themselves. They could have choose to be like many other girls from their province who end up as prostitutes in Bangkok, Phuket or Samui. Instead they choose to do something that they can be proud of. Hats off to these girls !
So if you are in Koh Lanta Yai and seeking the perfect spa treatment, forget that fancy boutique spa, go to Dreamy Spa. They are located at the main road along Long Beach and open from 10am to 09pm.
We were driving along Klong Noi beach from Rawi Warin Resort towards Pimalai Resort. There were lots of restaurants, spa's, resorts etc along the beachfront. However we noticed one restaurant (Kook Kai Restaurant) that looked very elegant and warmingly attractive. We also noticed that there are lots of people at this restaurant compared to the rest. So on our way back from Pimalai, we decided to have our dinner there.
We were in for a surprise and we ended up having our dinner there for all 3 nights. The restaurant is run by a family of four brothers and Kai is the name of the cook and thus the name Kook Kai Restaurant.
So if you happen to be in Ko Lanta Yai and need a decent place to dine & wine, Kook Kai Restaurant is the place you cannot miss. You will not regret your decision.
the view of the restaurant from the road
all guests must take off their shoes before entering. a good sign of cleanliness.
the entire restaurant, the tables to chairs and the decorations are handmade by the family themselves
fried morning glory in oyster sauce
this is called jungle curry, basically taste like tom yum with bamboo and lots of herbs. spicy like hell !
roast beef salad, the most delicious beef dish i ever tasted in my life !
the family that runs the restaurant.
For more information, visit http://www.kook-kai.com
Koh Lanta Yai is home to "Chao Le" or sea gypsies who continue to maintain their traditional lifestyle and beliefs, such as setting a boat a drift to drive out evil and bring good luck, which is practiced during the full moon in June and November. The gypsies continue to live at the southern tip of the island and they have a gypsy village there. Some gypsies were sighted living their normal life, but out of respect, i did not snap their pics. We also saw gypsies riding motorcycles and trucks, some attending to their fishing nets and some repairing their boats.
an original gypsy home
a modern gypsy home built by the goverment to rehabilitate gypsies
a model gypsy home & boat on display at the gypsy village for tourists
this beach is not popular at all because it is filled with rocks and stones. however this is one of the best viewpoints in whole of Koh Lanta Yai to enjoy the sunset
got upgraded to a seaview villa
the villa comes with a balcony overlooking the beach. this is the view
the hotel has an unique ocean pool
as well as 4 other swimming pools
the hotel is situated on the Klong Nin beach
the mainroad from North to South pass by a hill at the top of the hill we came across a restaurant called Viewpoint Restaurant. Stopped by to have lunch and enjoy the view
the food here was not great, but the view was fantastic. from the restaurant, we can see Ko Kam Yai, Ko Bubu & Ko Po which has about 5000 people living there
waiting for the ferry to Koh Lanta Noi at Hua Hin Car Ferry
all the vehicles on board the ferry (26 cars, 10 motorcycles, 2 lorries
the ferry carries passengers too, mostly local residents returning home from the mainland
ferry captain's chambers
waiting for next ferry
view from the ferry
another ferry passing by opposite direction
approaching Lanta Noi ferry
that's yours truly
on the road from Phuket to Krabi
I'am on a road trip from Phuket to various parts of Krabi province. Will write more once i reach my first stop, Koh Lanta Yai.
