A Weekend in Krabi!

I am staying in a small village near Don Sak town in the South of Thailand, which is 40 mins from Surat Thani city.  It is a very rural area which normally only sees tourists and backpackers pass through on their way to the islands.  The red star is my teaching location; Teacher Joy booked a van from our resort there to Surat Thani where we took a bus across country to Krabi town (blue star).

Our teaching week is from Monday to Thursday, leaving us with long weekends to travel and explore other areas; we decided on Krabi for last weekend since we are heading to Koh Samui and Koh Phangan this weekend for the Full Moon Party.  Much to our confusion Krabi town is about 40 mins away from Krabi (Ao Nang beach) - this lead to a comedy sketch escape plan from thee worst hotel ever (think dungeon- esque!) launching our bags, quickly followed by ourselves over a side wall to avoid the 800 THB cancellation fee!  Krabi town itself wasn't much better; I felt it was a dark, dingy and depressing town on the banks of a pretty murky river.  [where was this in the guide books!?!].  So we hopped on the first shuttle bus and headed straight to Ao Nang and it was the best decision we made - our weekend in Ao Nang was incredible! 

We went from one extreme to the other and ended up in a fabulous hostel, nicer than many hotels I've stayed in.  'I Krabi Hostel' in Ao Nang was so comfortable and for a hostel it really did have the wow factor! Check out our room below:

There were three of us in a room, and it cost 330 THB/ night/person which is approx £6.60!  If your travelling budget can stretch to that then I 100% recommend I Krabi Hostel.  

The highlight of my stay in Krabi was without doubt a day trip around the islands.  On our first night we were lucky enough to meet two people living and working in Krabi: Ellie, a local and Alejandro -originally from Venezuela.  They arranged for us to go on the boat trip with them the next morning and at a discounted price (bonus!) We left at 1pm and arrived back at 9pm; in total, including bottled water, sunset dinner on Railay beach and snorkeling for the small boat day trip it cost 900 THB (normal price 1000).  So that'd be £20, which in my opinion is well worth the money. 

First Night Out at Reggae Bar

Krabi Ao Nang Beach

On the Boat

The Islands

Chicken Island!

Railay Beach

Our Boat

So there it is - my islands boat trip from Krabi.  It was an incredible day; chillin' on the bow of the boat, snorkeling for the first time and getting to see hundreds of tropical fish, seeing the beautiful islands with white sand, swimming off the boat in open sea, (watching) cliff diving, having a BBQ dinner on Railay beach as the sun went down, wading back out to the boat after dinner, lying on the bow of the boat stargazing as we sailed away, seeing fluorescent plankton at night; all of this with new friends and Ellie our new local friend who knew everyone running the tour and gave us VIP treatment!! Hands down one of the best days of my life! 

Top Tips

--> Island tours are 100% worth the money! (go for one that includes snorkeling and dinner)

--> Don't stay in Krabi town - instead book to stay in Ao Nang!!

Angkor What?!

So what's all the hype surrounding Angkor Wat? Why do thousands of people flock there all year round? Why is it a UNESCO World Heritage site?  

Well, earlier this month I joined the masses and headed to Angkor Wat to see first hand what all the fuss is about! 

I was staying at The Siem Reap Hostel and added my name to their group notice board to find other solo travelers looking to join a group and head to the temples.  There are lots of different tours available to see Angkor Wat, so it is well worth taking the time to figure out which is the best option for you.  I added my name to the list looking to go on a sunrise tour with a guide on the small circuit.  In the morning when I came downstairs at 4am (YES friends & family who know me... 4AM!!!) there were lots of people all sitting, waiting to find out who was in their group - so in my zombie like state I joined them and waited to meet the other three people who had put their names up next to mine.  

Pov, one of the hostel's bar men and tuk tuk driver who picked me up from the airport he day before, came to say hello and asked if I knew who was in my group - he called out their names (which I had no idea how to pronounce) and I found we were a group of four ladies!  We all introduced ourselves: there was Masha; originally from Russia, but moved to New York, Virginie from Paris and Wieke from the Netherlands; so including me from Scotland and Pov (who was going to be my driver again) from Cambodia we were quite an international little group! 

So the good news was we seemed to have a great group and a fab tuk tuk driver! The bad news was although we had signed up for a tour guide there was no-one available - all four of us were disappointed by this and decided we would try and find a tour guide when we got to Angkor Wat.  This proved to be a surprisingly difficult task - there weren't many guides around and those who were there were only available for guided tours of Angkor Wat Temple and not any of the other temples or areas in Angkor City.  Eventually however, with some perseverance we found an English speaking tour guide willing to come with us for the day; his name was (pronounced) 'Tear' and he spoke excellent English and knew Angkor inside out! 


Sunrise + small circuit tour, tuk tuk driver hire: $15
1 day entry pass (inclusive of photo) to Angkor Wat: $20
Tour Guide: $40


The Tour Guide

For me, I knew straight away that I would like a tour guide for Angkor Wat.  I knew a lot about Cambodia's history with the Khmer Rouge, but little of Angkor's history and as a naturally inquisitive person I knew I would have a lot of questions going round the temples.  Angkor Wat was the main reason I chose to spend time in Siem Reap, so I figured I should do it properly.  Initially $40 may seem expensive for a tour guide, but bear in mind this price was split between four of us so it was only $10 each and we had the guides undivided attention for the whole tour.  Tear joined us in our tuk tuk from after sunrise until 2pm when our tour ended.  He explained all about the history of Angkor; including the Cambodian folklore tale about the royal family and how the marriage between an Indian prince and Indochina Naga princess gave rise to the Khmer people.  He told us all about the temples and their carvings and answered our endless questions, taking the time to make sure we understood.  He also advised us to do the circuit back to front and walk round Angkor Wat temple last - this way we missed most of the crowds.  He also took us to the best areas and knew all the best spots for taking pictures.  I feel that without Tear we would have missed so much and it would have simply been a case of wandering round old temple ruins taking pictures here and there, without much real meaning.  Tear brought Angkor alive for us; telling us the history and tales of its past, stories of the King and his dancing girls and the Queen and her ladies, all about the conservation and future plans for this UNESCO site.  It was a surprise for me how spread out the Angkor temples are, but Tear knew the best way round them so we saw the most we could and our time was spent effectively.  So my advice, find a tour guide! Club together with other travelers if you're alone and share the cost.  Also, by having a guide we all felt that one day at Angkor was perfect - there was no need for us to buy a $40 3 day pass, so the extra $10 for a tour guide actually saved us money in the long run.  Unless you are a complete history or archaeology buff a one day pass with a tour guide at Angkor is just enough! 


Sunrise

Is the early start worth it to see Angkor at sunrise? In a word, yes.  It's inevitable that it will be busy at sunrise, with everyone pitching up at the same spot behind the lily pond.  It is a good place to stand because for all the photography buffs out there: you can capture the reflection of the iconic temple in the water.  I personally liked the spot in the photo below, you can capture a really good image of Angkor without any annoying heads of people caught in the photo and you still get a reflection in the water.  I'm no photographer, but my advice: stand here!..

We didn't get the orangey blazing sunrise; instead we had a hazy backdrop, I wasn't disappointed though, it was beautiful and almost mystical watching how the light changed over Angkor.

Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm is the temple made famous by the Lara Croft Tomb Raider films and it's hard to believe it wasn't created especially for a film set and instead these ancient temple ruins have naturally been claimed by the jungle over thousands of years to create this now mystical land.  Ta Prohm was incredible and I was truly amazed and captivated by it perhaps (controversially) even more so than Angkor Wat!  It had a mythical feel to it that can't possibly be captured in a photograph and thanks to Tear, our guide, we got to walk round it on our own with no-one else there, which in all  likelihood added to its enchanted air. 

Gateway

All the Buddha's heads were chopped off by the Khmer Rouge. 

Elephant Terrace, used as the Royal Reception Pavilion by the King

The King's Swimming Pool (which is bigger than the Olympic pool today!)

Bayon Temple

The first carving of a dinosaur according to Tear! (2nd one down).

Inside Angkor Wat

Aspara

The only carving in the temples where the woman shows teeth when smiling.

The Pool at the top of Angkor for the King

The (dancing) Ladies for the King!!!

This square tile is in the centre of Angkor Wat, when we placed an i phone compass on it we could see that it did point True North.  This proved what Taer told us: that most of the temples in Angkor, including Angkor Wat are perfectly aligned to solar East-West and True North. 

Angkor Wat from the back