The surrounding areas of Krabi offer a lot to
see. This is where you find beautiful coasts lined with white limestone cliffs,
tiny little islands with the whitest sand and the clearest water in the world.
It is a place of Buddhist temples and monkeys who eat your snacks, and it´s a
place full of natural beauty and mangrove forests. Talk about paradise…
Obviously, during one week you can´t really see it all. But here´s a look at
what you can fit into a tight schedule while staying in Ao-Nang.
In my itinerary I had a few ideas when it comes
to trips and tours. I knew I wanted to spend some time with the elephants, I
chose two destinations for organized tours and I had some extra ideas in head
just in case we actually have time for more. So, eventually, we managed to
participate in two one-day tours (James Bond Island and Four Islands), visit an
elephant sanctuary and rent motorbikes for a day to explore the area on our
own.
Check out my previous post full of tips on how
to book a tour, where to get accommodation and what to do in Ao Nang.
James Bond Island
The van picked us up at the hotel in the
morning. It was a boat trip, but we kind of had to get to the harbour first.
The destination of this tour was a famous island which you might know from the
James Bond film Man with the Golden Gun. But there were few other stops along
the way.
First of them was Monkey Cave Temple, which is a temple (shocking) made inside a cave
(even more shocking) and surrounded by semi-wild monkeys (who would have
guessed?!). There is a small open-air market next to the parking spot, where
you can buy some snacks for the monkeys. I call them semi-wild, because even
though they are not domesticated and they live freely, they are so used to
tourists feeding them they can behave like pets sometimes. But don´t get too
comfortable, because (as our tour guide put it): monkey steal, monkey bite. The
temple, for some reason, felt like it was lacking something. I just couldn´t
get the right feeling from it, even though I love temples and have enjoyed all
the other ones during our vacation.
Our tour guide had a gorgeous purple hat,
fashionable matching pants with a blouse and called himself Cindy. He took care
of us for the entire day, explaining everything with funny broken English –
it´s nice how little is enough to communicate properly. We continued with the
van for a while until we reached a small harbour. The lagoon is surrounded by
mangrove forests and we were ready to get on a boat.
Another stop was a floating village, where local fishermen live. They are a small and very traditional Muslim community, but I think they make more money from tourism than from fishing. The village is framed with restaurants where tourists on organized tours stop for lunch.
After filling our bellies, we
continued to enjoy a short kayak ride.
Each kayak had its own “driver”, who took us along the beautiful cliffs and
through a natural tunnel in the rocks. It started to rain a bit, and the sky
became dark, so the pictures from this place didn´t turn out so great, but it
was beautiful. Our driver asked us where we are from – I thought “what I nice
man, taking an interest in the tourists.” Well, turns out he only asked to
estimate how much money he can ask for taking a picture of us. He did not have
much luck, because we left our wallet with most of the money on the boat. At
first, he wanted 100 THB, but we were only able to collect 30 THB. After that
he stopped being so friendly. And the pictures suck, too.
But after this, we finally made our way to our destination. James Bond Island is actually called Khao Phing Kan, but you probably won´t ever hear this name. It is easier for tourists to pronounce James Bond and the Thais are flexible. We spent like hour and a half on this island, which was simply too short. Maybe it was enough for some of the other tourists, but we are not the kind of people to just come, snap a picture, buy a souvenir and leave. We prefer discovering places in our own speed and taking in the atmosphere. But that´s the deal with organized tours.
4 Island Tour
The second day was again spent on sea. The 4
Island Tour must be one of the most incredible things I have ever seen in my
life. But don´t be fooled by the name, technically you only visit one
peninsula, two islands, and swim by the third one. The tour will – in no
particular order- take you to four different places just off the coast of Krabi
and Ao Nang. Because it is one of the most popular tours in the region, it is
crowded with tourists. But somehow, we were still able to steal a piece of this
paradise just for ourselves.
In the morning we were again waiting for our
ride to the harbour. After a while of nervous waiting we realized they forgot
about us. Our receptionist called the agency and after a few minutes a pick-up
came for us. At the harbour we found out we need to pay a national park
entrance fee, which is 400 THB per person. We didn´t know about it, but it
appears it´s usually NOT included in the price. We didn´t have that much money
with us, but the agency agreed to cover it for now if we pay them as soon as we
get back (they had a booth just in front of our hotel). But this was the only
issue of the entire day, so after this, we could enjoy our trip.
The long-tail boat took us to Railay peninsula, which is separated
form the mainland by tall cliffs and only accessible by boat. On Railay there
are more beaches and also some hotels, so if you fancy, you can go here for a
full day or even stay here for a couple of nights. You can even try rock
climbing here. In the short visit, you can see one of the beaches, take a quick
swim in the incredibly blue water and get a sneak of Phra Nang Cave, also known
as Princess Cave. For some reason, it is dedicated to male´s genitals. And when
I say dedicated, I mean hard-core dedicated (penises everywhere!).
The second stop was actually two islands in
one. Thale Weak is two small islands
connected by a narrow strip of sand, so during low tide you can walk from one
to the other with dry feet. When we arrived, the water was just beginning to
lower, so in the deepest place we had water almost to our waist. Bust still it
was so beautiful. I thought Railay had the most amazing colour scheme in the
world, but this place really took my breath away. I have never seen anything
like this before. I am going to stop talking for now, the photos speak for
themselves.
Next, we stopped by the Chicken Island, which (surprise, surprise) looks like a chicken from one
angle. You won´t enter the island, but the boats stop just next to it for
swimming and snorkelling. For me it was my first experience with snorkelling,
and I fell in love instantly. So many colourful fishes! And I had no
idea what beauty I will see on Ko Phi Phi.
The last island is Koh Poda, where we had quick and light lunch and spent the rest of the trip either on the beach, swimming in the sea or just hanging around this beautiful island. We chose to snorkel some more, but there was not much to see. We admired the sceneries a bit more, because you can never have enough of blue sky, white sand, green palm trees and turquoise water. I might be repeating myself, but this is the most incredible tour I have ever taken, so make sure you don´t skip it if you go to Krabi.
Let´s meet the elephants!
From the moment I booked my tickets to
Thailand, I knew I wanted to meet elephants. Quickly I learned, that riding
them is not the way to interact and I have discovered elephants sanctuaries,
where old elephants are being rescued and given a new home. Sure, the elephants
are still making money in tourism, but in much more ethical way. And since they
couldn´t survive in the wild anyway, so the other options are either keep
carrying tourists on their backs and being mistreated, or dying of hunger
because no one can actually afford to feed an elephant. In sanctuaries, they
are relatively free to roam, there are no chains, no cages. It´s not a circus,
it´s more of a ZOO where the well-being of animals is the top priority (and it
doesn´t hurt, if it makes you money in the process). It´s hard to say if this
nice treatment continues even after the last tourist leaves, but I choose to
believe it does.
Around Krabi, there are two different
sanctuaries – Krabi Elephant Santuacy and Krabi Elephant HOUSE Sanctuary. Don´t
mistake these two. The Krabi Elephant HOUSE Sanctuary is offered by most
agencies in the town and you can book it after you arrive to Krabi or Ao Nang.
But it has some conflicting review online (just check TripAdvisor). The other
one – Krabi Elephant Sanctuary – has much better reviews and you need to book
it a few weeks in advance to make sure they have a spot for you at your chosen
day and time.
I can´t recommend Krabi Elephant Sanctuary
enough. We booked a morning visit and were picked up at 7 A.M. at the hotel.
The group constisting of around 12 people was greeted by the guide, who talked
to us about their missions and about the lives of elephants in Thailand. At the
time (Autumn 2019) there were three elephants in the Sanctuary. After the
morning talk we got to feed the elephants with sugar canes and vitamin balls,
which we made from banana and some pre-made mixture and we put those balls
right into their mouths. We walked with them around the sanctuary and during
this time, the elephants were allowed to do what they wanted. Sometimes, they
disappeared into the bushes for a while, only to appear again eating a tree or
something. After the walk, we took them to the pond where each of us got a
small bucket and a brush and we gave the elephants a proper bath. That was the
highlight of the visit.
Sometimes, I get too cought up in the moment, that I forget to take pictures. If this happens to you, too, you will be pleased to hear that the sanctuary has a photographer, who takes pictures during the day. You can find all the photos online on their facebook page the following day. They have very nice pictures, so you can just relax and enjoy and let the pros deal with the camera.
Spending half a day with the elephants was more
expensive than paying for the hotel for a week. The ticket costs 2500 THB, but
it´s well worth it and I don´t regret spending this money. It was a once in a
lifetime opportunity to get close to the gentle giants and really get in touch
with them. Also, we learned quite a lot and left the place smarter, more
conscious about the wildlife and with new respect for nature.
Because our visit was booked for the morning, we had a free afternoon and decided to spend it on the beach. Our hotel had a private beach outside of Ao Nang, so we took a complimentary shuttle there. On the beach, we found an oasis of peace, with only three other people there walking in the sand or laying in hammocks. After recharging our batteries and enjoying this amazing spot, we decided to take a shuttle back to our hotel. But it was not as easy as it might seem because: a) the beach was used by more hotels, and b) all the Thai people look the same to me, and all the tuk-tuks look the same to me. So obviously, we jumped on the wrong tuk-tuk and without realizing it the driver took us to another hotel, which was on the opposite side of town. Walking back to the hotel in the afternoon heat, salty from the sea and in flip flops, almost ruined the day for me, but I got a fresh smoothie on the way so it all got better at the end.
Fast and Furious on two wheels
And yeah, we rented motorbikes. For a day, one
bike each. None of us has ever tried driving it. And even though I have my
driving licence for a car, I don´t like driving that either. And I haven´t even
been on a bicycle for like a year. Can you imagine better conditions for
navigating the chaotic Asian traffic on a scooter? I have read some articles on
the internet saying that it is not a good idea to sit on a scooter for the first
time in your life in Asia, because you will basically die the minute you leave your
hotel. But let me tell you – If I did it (and survived), you can do it too. If you wanna know
how to rent a bike in Asia, how to drive it and other tips, you can find it in
one of my next articles – stay tuned, it´s coming soon.
Orginally we hoped to reach Emerald Lake and
Hot Springs, which are located 70 km away from Krabi, but my superspeed got in
the way of this plan. I was so scared, I don´t think I was faster than 20 miles
per hour/30 km per hour. So we drove only to the Tiger Cave Temple, which is like 29 km away from Ao Nang.
The temple is located on a steep hill, so you
need to climb over 1200 steps to get there, but the views are worth the climb.
There are plenty of monkeys, so watch your stuff. After you enjoy the views and
decide to come back to the ground, you can enjoy a nice walk through the jungle
and see some of the monks´ houses. Pay a short visit to the tiger cave as well.
We found it a bit strange, to be honest.
On our way back we stopped in Krabi to see
Susan Hoi, a shell cemetery where you can find plenty fossilized seashells. There are only three places like this on earth, so
this area is very special if you are interested in geology, history and nature.
I don´t have any geology knowledge whatsoever, so I wasn´t able to fully
appreciate this place, but it was lovely anyway. Thai people claim the fossils
were created over 75 million years ago, but academics worldwide think it´s
actually much younger – only around 25 million years.
Strong rain chased us away from the coast into
the shops that are at the parking lot. We bought some little souvenirs for our
families (little thing like bookmarks and fridge magnets). After the rain
stopped, we continued fast and furious (read: slow and careful) on our journey
back to Ao Nang. I wanted to return the bikes before sunset, but we decided
to drive through Ao Nang and along the coast a little, and it was already dark
when we were returning the scooters.
After this, we enjoyed some good food, had a
wonderful Thai massage and before going to bed, we booked boat tickets
towards our next adventure – the Phi Phi Islands.
The advice you never
asked for:
- There are plenty different
James Bond Island tours. Each have different stops along the way. Choose
the one with the best itinerary for you.
- The price for the Four Island tour
usually doesn´t include entrance fee to the national park, which is 400
THB. Bring this money with you on the day of your trip.
- If you don´t have a waterproof
camera, don´t bring it to Four Islands at all – most of the trip is spent
in water and the last thing you want to do is worry about a camera. Just
put your phones into waterproof cases and you´re good to go.
- Snorkelling is a part of Four
Island tour. If you don´t have your own equipment, you cant borrow it on
the boat
- If you want to visit an
elephant sanctuary (anywhere in Thailand), check the reviews online and
book your visit in advance. The good ones get sold out.
- When renting a scooter, never give
your passport as a deposit, always insist on financial deposit. And take
pictures of your scooter from all angles.
The cost of things (Autumn 2019)
- James Bond Island + 4 Islands:
2.800 THB for 2 people (80 EUR / 90 USD)
- National park entrance fee
(Four Island tour): 400 THB (11,3 EUR / 12,8 USD)
- Elephant sanctuary: 2.500 THB (70
EUR / 80 USD), you pay something in advance via PayPal, and the rest in
cash
- Scooter rental: 250 THB per day
(7 EUR / 8USD)
- Deposit for scooter: 3.000 THB
(84 EUR / 96 USD)
- Susan Hoi Entrance: 200 RHB
(5,6 EUR / 6,4 USD)
- Thai Massage: 200 THB (5,6 EUR
/ 6,4 USD)
Where to next:
Link for accommodation: AliSea Boutique Hotel
Book your visit to elephant sanctuary - Krabi Elephant Sanctuary
Previous part: Ao Nang – a beginner´s guide
Next Part: Ko Phi Phi - a complete guide
Bonus article: Everything you need to know
about renting a scooter in Thailand (in
progress)
Do you like the pictures? You can find even more on my Instagram – follow for more travel inspiration and stay tuned for new blog posts.
Comments
Post a Comment