A short bus ride to Krabi and we walked into Grandmom Place to see Joanna waiting for us! She had arrived a couple of hours earlier from Sydney and is to spend the next 8 days with us.
Too early to check in, we went on a longtail boat trip to see the two twin rocks Khao Kanab Nam, gateway to Krabi …
… then spooky looking mangroves and a cave …
… and onto Ko Klang for lunch at a floating fish restaurant.
Later, a wander round town taking in the Krabi crabby and Krabi Wat and several sundowners at the Old West Bar saw an end to the day, ready for an early start for a boat trip in the bay next day.
We had chosen to go by longtail boat in a group of 20, a little slower but with more chance to look around, but realised we had been upgraded to a 40 seater speedboat instead! Chris and Joanna just said to roll with it … and we did … roll, bump and thump into every wave so thank goodness the trip took half the time! It was quite blowy and the sea a bit rough, so we didn’t get to snorkel at our first stop and continued to Pakbia Island where we swam, sat in the sun and had an early lunch … along with quite a few other people!
We continued a short way to Hong Island which was billed as a sheltered bay with white sand, calm water with good visibility for snorkelling and lots of colourful fish. Well we arrived at the floating pier, and took our lives in our hands negotiating the pier as it rippled and buckled underfoot with every wave. Safely on land, we were able to admire the beautiful view, then see how many people were crammed onto a narrow strip of beach. We tried snorkelling but we couldn’t see our hand in front of faces for sand in the water … and didn’t see a single fish!
The evening was spent at the night food market for dinner then on to the walking street to check our souvenirs before a nightcap at the Old West Bar.
Joanna was keen to have a trip in a tuk-tuk, so we took one to Khao Phanom Bencha National Park to see a waterfall with 7 cascades of water. We saw lizards on the way and reached the largest pool of the falls where we had a paddle … only to find ourselves in our very own fish spa, with tiny fish nibbling our feet!
We have noticed some strange chaps hanging around town, which is to recognise the discovery of various skeletons in the area over 30 million years old, of human ancestors in the primate chain, and they are very proud of it here … although they look a bit scary!
Our last night in Krabi and we ate again at the night market and finished with a couple of Krabi Lemonades at the Old West while playing jenga and connect four.
Tomorrow we take the ferry to Ko Lanta.
Off Travelling Together 