#73029 - 06/28/08 10:44 PM
Our drive to Krabi
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CathyP
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Registered: 11/15/04
Posts: 643
Loc: Australia
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Well after our drive to Kho Koh Khao Island and the muck up there (report in Phuket forum) we decided to drive to Krabi and stay a few days. It’s a lovely drive and this was the third time we have done it. The roads are good and there are plenty of garages along the way for toilet/drink stops etc.
I was getting pretty excited about going past Ban Klang (chicken town) again, just love the way the little rotisseries are set up near the road with the chickens turning around, especially the bare light bulbs hanging down, if the lights on then the chickens are cooked!!
We are going back to Krabi in a couple of weeks with the family and this time we will be stopping and having a nice freshly cooked chicken (minus the head & feet though)
We arrived in Krabi at about 6pm. It was such a long day of driving as we had left Phuket at 9.30am for KKK Island. We thought we may as well have a look at some cheaper hotels, we love the Golden Beach Resort but as we will need 3 rooms when we go back with the family, it would be to expensive.
So we pulled into Andaman Sunset Resort (Wannas Place) and asked to see their balcony rooms and bungalows. They were the same price 1250baht per night; there were cheaper pool view bungalows for 1150baht. There was also a special on stay 4 nights and only pay for 3.
The hotel is in a great location over the road from the beach, there is a family mart next door and an atm machine out the front. Everything you need.
What a surprise, we were not expecting much as it was so cheap but the rooms were good, nice and big with a comfy bed. We took a balcony room, the balcony is small and noisy due to the air conditioning unit which you could also hear in the room at night and every now and then if a bike roared past it was a bit noisy in the room. (Also is noisy in the morning about 7am when the long tail boats start going out) But for the price it was excellent. We paid 3750baht for 4 nights.
We will stay here again when we go back with the rellies but this time we will take the bungalow rooms, they are bigger with a better size bathroom and good size verandah.
None of the rooms have tea or coffee making facilities so if this is important take a jug with you lol.
The staff here are very friendly and full of advice. There is a small but very nice pool and hey its low season, there’s hardly anyone there so it’s perfect.
On Lost Farangs advice we had dinner at Krua Thara Seafood at Noppharat Beach. We did not realize until we arrived there that we had also eaten there last year, (we just didn’t know the name). The setting is perfect and the food is great here, there are photos of our meal on the link below.
We started with Tempura prawns and Tempura vegetables, Gary’s main was egg fried squid with garlic & pepper and I picked some great looking tiger prawns from the tanks and had them grilled with garlic & pepper. Absolutely delicious. We also had a large Heineken and a fruit shake. The total bill was 1015baht. We will definitely go back as the food is delicious!
Another night we were going to Bernies Place but they were closed so we thought we would try Tantas restaurant. I had not had a lobster meal yet so picked one out from the tanks, we had chicken satays, tempura vegetables, Gary had a mussaman curry and I had my lobster with garlic butter, the bill with a couple of alcohol drinks was 1870baht. Another very enjoyable meal.
We did no shopping at all in Krabi, maybe when we go back but I’m not in a hurry as we still have over 2 months of our holiday left ha-ha.
Drove out to the Emerald/Crystal Pool, it’s very beautiful and the water was a perfect color. We were told by a local tour guide that was there that low season is the best time as the color is the water is so much nicer, she said high season there are to many people in the pool churning up the sand etc so the colors are not as vibrant.
It’s a good drive to the Emerald Pool from Krabi just take Highway 4 to Khlong Thom district then turn left to Route 4038 to Lam Hap Sub-district. There are plenty of sign posts and the drive took us about an hour from Ao Nang.
We had to pay a 200baht entry fee for the National Park and a 20baht parking fee. There are toilets and little eating places near the car park then it is about an 800 meter walk to the pool. This was a funny walk as on the way there were lots of Burmese coming back, most of them had to shake my hand or touch my arms ha-ha, reminds me of our trip to Ranong last year.
We spent a couple of hours at the Emerald pool, there were hardly any people there so it was perfect, the water was luke warm, there’s plenty of shade and little seating areas, very peaceful.
Then its time to head off to the hot shower waterfall (Namtok Ron Khlong Thom) which is near the Emerald pool. Entry fee here is now 90baht. It’s only a 200metre walk along a boardwalk through the jungle, watch up for snakes, we came across one sun baking, of course there’s a photo in the Krabi folder lol.
The hot shower waterfall has a temperature of 40-50 degrees Celsius and the water falls down into the cool stream. Can be a bit tricky getting in here, so I just climbed over the little pontoon into the cool stream and swam over to the hot waterfall. It was lovely and we will go back again but no comparison to the hot springs at Ranong. Once again there are toilets and restaurants near the car parking area.
We only had one late night in Krabi, we watched a beautiful sunset from the Last Fisherman’s Bar, had dinner then ended up at Rocky Bar where they have live music. The live music is 2 guys who sing ok but cannot pronounce the words properly. You can also request songs from a book they have. This place was a lot of fun, no bar girls in there annoying people (like the bar we were in before).
So our trip was very relaxing, even had time to read a book. Only had one foot massage for 200 baht. We are so looking forward to going back in a couple of weeks as the area is so quiet (in low season) and pretty. Everything is very relaxed and the pace is slower. In 5 days we only had one tailor ask Gary if he wanted a suit, amazing. Only heard “you want massage” twice.
It’s the sort of place you can do as little or as much as you want. There’s still plenty of shopping, there are still girlie bars if that’s what your after, the jerk with the baby gibbons still makes an appearance and now and then there is a waft from the drains but absolutely nothing on the scale of Patong.
Here is a link to some of our Krabi photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/CathyandGary/Krabi2008
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#73045 - 06/29/08 04:44 AM
Re: Our drive to Krabi
[Re: CathyP]
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Adey68
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Registered: 02/05/08
Posts: 75
Loc: Queensland Australia
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Cathy,
Sounds really nice there and the photos look good. We are now reconsidering our trip next year and may ditch the 3-4 days we were going to do in BKK and go to krabi for that time instead. So it's about 3 hour drive from Patong to Krabi? (not including the overgrown roads lol)
Adrian
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