Krabi - it's never too late to change your destination
We're clearly becoming practiced travellers as we are now changing our plans at the last minute without a second thought. This time we were sitting in the departure lounge at Chiang Mai airport, ready for our flight to Phuket. As we sat we became increasingly aware of the number of really unappealing European tourists around us, mostly British and German, who wouldn't have been out of place on the beaches of Spain. Having only left two months ago we were surprised that we reacted so negatively to them, but both began to feel that spending several days surrounded by them in Phuket would definitely make it an experience we'd want to forget. So we got out our trusted Lonely Planet on the flight and decided that we would instead try and get a bus to the small town of Krabi, on the southwest coast of mainland Thailand.So our quick journey to Phuket became a full day of travelling. This was partly due to a misunderstanding at the airport, which saw us boarding a bus to Phuket town rather than the nearby airport bus station. However we managed to get the Krabi bus out of Phuket town, back through the bus station and onward with only an hour added to the journey. We arrived at Krabi (pronounced 'gra-bee') at around 7pm and found a nice place for the night. We also indulged our new habit of eating at streetside night markets, where you can eat really cheaply and get to see all sorts of wildlife such as cats, rats and cockroaches (which are really huge out here!).
The following morning we caught a 'bus' (more of an open-backed truck with a canopy roof) to Ao Nang on the coast, and from there caught a boat to Tonsai beach were we had booked a room. The high season has just started so we had to pay double what we'd been paying elsewhere, but this was still only $15/night so not too bad (particularly compared to what we would have been paying in Phuket). The only downside of our resort was that a truly terrible, extremely loud band was playing the first night of our stay, which even with ear plugs in managed to keep us awake from 3-4.30am. Thankfully this was a one-night event.
Tonsai and neighbouring Ra Lei are on the mainland but can only be reached by boat as the beaches are pressed back against huge limestone mountains, and so feel like islands. These mountains also mean that the area is extremely popular with climbers, and more backpackers come here as there are plenty of things to do other than lie on the beach. Tonsai is the smallest of the resorts in the area and cheapest, being populated with bamboo cabins rather than smart hotels.
Having settled into our cabin (very exciting but unfortunately not bamboo) we decided to explore the area and walked round to West Ra Lei, a more expensive but very beautiful beach popular with honeymooners. At low tied you can walk around the rocks from Tonsai, but at high tied there is a steep, invisible path over the rock which (we discovered) is impossible to find unless someone shows you. The other option is to take the boat. On our walk we met Adam, a chartered surveyor from Hull, who had the advantage over us in that he had a map. So we joined forces and walked round some of the peninsular, found some caves and attempted to find a lagoon which remained elusive.
Eventually we left Adam and went to lie in the sun. The sea was beautiful and warm but unfortunately seemed to be full of invisible biting creatures (possibly baby jellyfish) which seemed to only sting certain people (us). This prevented us from swimming (it really was very painful!) and made it a very hot afternoon. Luckily there were less stinging things next time we wanted to swim.
Other than lazing in the sun and hiding from the rain which came every afternoon, we decided to take advantage of being in a more active area. One evening we rented a sea kayak and paddled along the coast admiring the huge stalactites formed around the coast line, and on the small islands of rock just off shore. Despite the clouds left by the rain there was still a beautiful sunset.
We also felt we should see what all the fuss was about and try climbing, which was awesome. We did a beginners climb and then were sent up a cliff which seemed to be pretty much open level and was quite a challenge. We still did pretty well and felt smug when a number of big guys who were much fitter than us fell or froze or broke out in major sweats doing the same rock face we'd just conquered. We also met some characters such as 'Tree Nick', a middle aged climbing fanatic who was jumping about with excitement; he climbs anything at home including trees and is, appropriately, a tree surgeon.
Due to a shortage of time we stayed only two nights in Tonsai and headed back to Krabi town on the evening of the final day, having to wade out to our boat with all our bags as it was low tide. Tonsai and Ra Lei seemed to us to be as close to paradise as can be found on Thai beaches these days, and stories from other travellers have confirmed that avoiding Phuket was a good plan.
Emily
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