Krabi- Day 1

Day 1 – 15/10/09

We went during the Deepavali holiday, but a day before the eve, so the queue at the check in counter was surprisingly short, although the LCCT looked crowded (it’s always busy I suppose). We had lunch at the Kopitiam first, prior to boarding (plus one at McD’s, while another one couldn’t wait, already eaten on the bus, otw to LCCT lol!)

Lapar seh

Flight was smooth, a bit bumpy when we were arriving as we hit some heavy clouds. We reached around 2pm local time (+7 GMT). A little bit of drama when Liza couldn’t find her passport during immigration check, luckily the air steward found it, so she was back in line in no time ;-)

selamat :-)

We found a tour operator at the airport and immediately booked a full day tour to Phi Phi island + halal lunch for 900Baht/person (RM90) for Saturday. (We arrived on Thursday). We also booked a (spanking new/shiny) van for hotel transfer plus full day transportation for Friday. Hotel transfer costs 500 Baht for 7 persons (RM 7.10/person) for a half hour ride to our hotel in a comfy van. Not bad! Full day (9am – 8pm) transportation for the next day costs us 1120 Baht (or RM14/person). What a deal! Btw, there were 8 of us for Days 2 – 3 as Zairul’s husband, Amin joined us for the 2 days.

Spanking new van

After we settled in our hotel, we set out to the Ao Nang beach shopping stretch, just a 5 minute walking distance away. Well actually, the shopping stretch starts right smack in front of our hotel. Just window shopping on the first day for us, to survey the prices. My friend Miele was right, souvenirs are quite expensive here. Just bargain shamelessly, but do pick the local (Thai) shops, instead of the ones with foreign shopkeepers, they could be a little nasty (e.g. “I don’t make much profit, I’ll show you the receipt” and “I don’t need you, a lot of people come to my shop”, well not verbatim, but something along that line). The Thai ones were polite though.

Shops & souvenirs

Before sunset, we posed for pictures by the beach (more like cam-whoring) and of course, did our staple – jumping shots!! The farangs (mat sallehs) were pretty amused by our antics. Then we continued with a bit more window shopping, eating delicious, cheap pancakes in between. We found a Muslim stall (quite a big population of Muslims here, some can speak Kelantanese). Pancakes cost 20-30 Baht (RM2.50 – 3) for sweet flavours (mango, banana, banana chocolate, nutella etc) while savouries (egg & cheese, tuna, cheese etc) cost 30-35 Baht (RM 3-3.50)

Jump Day 1

Pancakes pancakes! We heart fat heheh..

Sunset

Not enough with the pancake treats, we had dinner later at (forgot name) halal restaurant, just beside our hotel. Food is cheap here. I had water melon juice, plain rice (yummy fragrant Thai rice!) with (super spicy hot) tom yam for only Baht140 (RM14). Nice!

But do be careful with the drinks though – they are extremely sweet! By the third day, we have learnt to ask for sugarless juice! (Quote from a waitress: “You are like European, don’t like too sweet!) I can picture Mas in her sunhat, shades & hotpants to perfectly fit the bill lol!

super spicy hot tom yam

really sweet watermelon juice

After a nice dinner, we went for spa treatment, just beside our hotel. It was the cheapest we could find, so it did look a bit seedy. Izwan, Razeif & Liza had foot massage; while Mas & Zairul had body massage (aromatherapy for Zairul). Foot massage cost 200 Baht, while aromatherapy full body massage cost 300 Baht. Zairul enjoyed her massage, despite the (ahem sleazy) façade. Myself and Zu, well, we did something, which was a wee bit painful, but very brief. It costs 350 Baht. Haha go figure ;-)

Massage

Next post: Day 2, Rainforest Tour

Note: Pix posted here are a mix from all the gang - Liza, Zu, Izwan, Mas, Razeif, Zairul & myself. Thanks y'all!