Friday 10th November 2023 – Ao Nang (Krabi)
We explore the town and look at the boats trips and trips on offer.
We have heavy rain in the afternoon so we get back to the hotel.
Saturday 11th November 2023 – Ao Nang
We notice lots of group of motorcyclists with Malaysian number plates. It’s Diwali this Sunday, and although malaysia is a fairly conservative Muslim country, Diwali is a bank holiday there like in many south asian countries.
It seems all the motorcycle clubs from Malaysia are in Ao Nang, enjoying the food. They order astonishing amount of dishes and food in the restaurants.
It is good to see that, among all those bikers, a good half seem to be women, often in big scooters and sporting their motorcycle club’s T- shirts or affiliation to which brand they like ( BMW or Harley are popular brands).
Ao Nang is also mainly a Muslim town. It is quite a contrast to see the local women in conservative clothing and hijab while some tourists are walking around in the most skimpy bikini or outfit that, to be fair, even I would stare at, picking up my jaw from the ground at the same time!
By 2pm a huge storm was on us and it rained heavily until late. We took refuge in our poky hotel room. It was cheap but for a reason. The wifi dropped all day and came back at 10pm only.
I quickly booked the Ibis Style hotel nearby, with a swimming pool, busting our budget as it was 30 dollars a day! Still incredibly cheap compared to home.
Sunday 12th November 2023 – Ao Nang
We move hotel, explore further and enjoy the swimming pool ( and the wonderful working and fast wifi!). The weather improves and we book a day tour for the next day. The standard price in town is 1400 per person but we easily get it down to 700 with barely any effort!
Monday 13th November 2023 – Ao Nang
We leave the hotel at 9am to board our long boat. It is big enough as we are about 20 tourists there. The boat takes us to various beaches and islands, for swimming, and snorkelling. We stop an hour for lunch in one island and they give us the included lunch box: an excellent chicken red curry, salad noodles and rice.
The area is beautiful, and despite the weather being very cloudy we still managed to get sunburnt.
Tuesday 14th November 2023 – Ao Nang
Alistair went to rent a scooter and off we went to the Tiger Cave Temple.
The temple is on top of a 300m cliff. To get there it involves going over 1260 stairs. Not little stairs, most are very tall, a good foot tall, making the climb even harder. And then there is the heat and humidity. It takes us a good hour to climb to the top, with frequent short stops to catch our breath. We still manage to overtake younger fit people. I guess we still are fairly fit then!
The climb is tough enough that there is a health check up point, at the beginning, although empty when we pass.
The views up there are amazing.
Back down it’s starts raining and we decide to stop at one of the little cafes to have a late lunch and a smoothie. There are many monkeys around causing mischief. The males are large enough and with big teeth!
Back to the hotel, we relax by the pool with a nice swim. We even splash on a Happy Hour cocktail.