4 days 3 nights in Krabi

Our initial plan was to go to Koh Samui. As usual we always booked at the very last minute and the flights were fully booked. We were deciding between Tioman or Krabi, in the end decided on Krabi as those who been there told me its a great place to chill out. We took up the 3 days 2 nights package and extended 1 more day. 

Interesting traffic lights at Krabi Town

Our Resort: Krabi La Playa ( 3 stars )  

Pool access from the balcony

Day 1 : It's our first trip flying by Tiger air. Before that we heard lots of horror stories about tiger's poor service. The night before we flew off, tiger received another complaint from the passengers and it appeared on the news. Thanks to the complaint, the service from Tigerair was good, in fact the plane condition ( aircon, cleanliness etc ) and pilot's skills at taking off and landing were better than Jetstar! Complaints help to improve service quality ! After 1.5 hr flight , we reached Krabi airport ( much better than Redang airport, comparable to Bali ). Our package includes a free half day city tour plus lunch and a full day 4 islands hopping tour by long tail boat. Once we had landed , the local guide brought the whole group ( 15 of us ) for lunch. If not for the rain, we would be visiting tiger cave. We had duck noodle at their local makan place. The duck noodle or hor fun tasted good. After that we went to Krabi town 's only departmental store to shop, followed by a souvenir shop before we were sent to the resort. Things in Krabi town are cheaper than Ao Nang ( mainly for tourists ) , according to the guide the night market is the main attraction, operates on Fri to Sun night, from 6pm to 9 pm. Our resort, Krabi La Playa is located in Ao Nang. we booked a pool access room because of the convenience. It's quite cool to jump into the pool directly from our balcony. Though there were many tourists sun-tanning but few swam, so most of the times we had the entire pool to ourselves. Ao Nang reminds us of Bali or rather a more peaceful and less crowded Bali. There are mainly 4 types of business in Ao Nang, restaurants, souvenir shop, day tour cum transport service and massage cum spa. Massage is very cheap in Krabi, charges varies between 300 baht to 500 baht per hour ( about SGD12 to $20 )We spent the rest of day 1 walking around Ao Nang, there were lots of restaurants,mainly selling seafood, Thai and Italian food. After taking a stroll, we finally decided to have dinner at a seafood restaurant along the beach. It was supposed to be a romantic seaside dinner but it turned out to be an unpleasant experience. Firstly the beach was quite dirty, secondly there were many insects , thirdly there were 2 cats walking around, 1 even jumped up the table, lastly it was very hot. We headed back to the resort after dinner.

Top Left: watermelon and banana milkshake
Top Right:  Free dinner Thai set meal
Bottom Left: room service ( Pizza, noodle and chicken soup )
Bottom Right : Duck Noodle

The lady in grey is 7 month pregnant

Elephant Ride

Photo taking with Baby Elephant

Day 2, we booked an elephant ride in the morning followed by a body scrub at the resort. Resort gave us an option of free massage or set dinner, we chose the dinner for day 2. Elephant ride at the jungle lasted for an hour, it's our first time riding on the elephant, initially it's quite scary especially when the elephant was walking down a steep slope and on muddy ground, no safety precaution, we just had to hold tight to the handle at the side.we went there with another 2 couples, one of them was a pregnant woman, 7 months already and she still signed up for elephant ride. She must be an animal lover ! She enjoyed patting on the elephant head and trunk, was busy taking pictures along the ride. The jungle track was very narrow, at 1 point my hat dropped, I thought there goes my new hat. The elephant trainer with us did not understand English so I did not bother to tell him. To my surprise, he jumped down and picked up my hat for me. The elephants were not very obedient, as we were riding, they chose to go by another route, refused to listen to the trainer. Sometimes they played with the leaves and branches, the trainer had to use various methods to control them. I saw the trainer with the pregnant woman pinching the elephant's ear whenever he misbehaved. Our trainer used a stick to control the elephant. After the ride, we fed the elephant with bananas, took pictures with the baby elephant and had fruits before we returned to the resort. The interaction with elephant lasted for 2 hours. Cost : 500 baht, about SGD20. 

Speed boat and long tail boat

Phi Phi island

Day 3 : we decided to give the 4 islands hopping a miss and topped up money to go to Phi phi island. Phi phi island is a great place for snorkeling. The trip started from 8.30am to 4.30 pm, cost is 1100 baht , inclusive of lunch. Well, we had high expectations of Phi Phi island after reading all the reviews and reports online. We were disappointed with the day trip. Firstly the speed boat was small but guide got about 30 people to go on board. It was very very cramp. Secondly, safety measures were not taken. There were life jackets on board but we were not told to wear. The sea was rough and it started to rain as we headed back. We were totally drenched. In my mind, I was thinking the boat might capsize anytime due to the overcapacity and stormy sea. We were the only singaporeans on board. The ride in the speed boat was extremely unpleasant. Due to the high tides, we can't go to Maya Bay where the famous show " The Beach " was filmed. Our first stop was Bamboo island, it's just a beach where many China Nationals were busy posing for photo shots. After which we visited the limestone caves and Monkey Bay. We stopped at 3 different spots for snorkeling, the only part of the trip that I enjoyed. Phi Phi island was where we had our buffet lunch. This little town was flooded with tourists, quite a number of resorts, restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops. 

Day 4: We checked out after breakfast and flew back to Singapore. We did not get a chance to suntan and only swam once, sigh......perhaps this was not the best time( June ) to visit Krabi, it had been raining for the past few days, especially during the afternoons.