The plan was to leave Bangkok and head to Krabi town for a
couple of days. I pictured breezy beaches, palm trees, and long stretches of
sand.
When I landed I was ushered by a small mob of people to a
taxicab company. The women at the booth informed me that I would need to take a
taxi because it was about a 20 minute ride into town. Not really feeling much
like doing any of the leg work to figure out whether or not this was true, I
paid the lady her money and got sent down to the exit where I was greeted by a
group of drivers.
The man who was in first in line for the next fare was
wearing an Old Trafford shirt. Wow, a
little piece of Manchester all the way in Krabi, I thought. I decided it
was a good sign. That is, until the minute I got into the cab. As we pulled out
of the terminal the driver pointed at a bus, “Why didn’t you take that bus into
Krabi?” he asked, sounding annoyed.
Oh, they didn’t tell
me there was a bus.
“You have eyes,
no?” I knew this was a rhetorical question so I laughed. He continued on. “If
you didn’t see the sign then you have no eyes.”
Okay. I said,
trying my best to sound neither sarcastic nor confrontational. Then it was his
turn to laugh as he told me that the room I’d booked was probably cheaper than
the taxi ride.
Probably. I agreed
through a smile. I was thinking, Look dude-face—I am not a 19 year old broke
ass backpacker anymore (even if I still like to use similar vernacular). If I
want to “waste” my own money on a little bit of comfort here and there then I
will, thank you very much. I also shelled out a little extra for a room with
air-con the other day, do you want to talk about that as well?
Mr. Old Trafford took a look at the receipt the women who’d
sold me the ticket had written out. “Where is this?” he asked me, referring to
the address of where I was staying.
I’m not sure. I’ve
never been here before.
“Well, I don’t know where that is. I might not be able to
find it.”
That will be an interesting
adventure I replied.
I got the sense that Mr. Old Trafford did not want to be
there. I started thinking, well—maybe I was his last fare of the day and he’d
hoped to get off easily by dropping me off 5 minutes away.
As I continued wondering what his deal was he pulled into a
petrol station. Apparently he’d just really needed to pee? He ran into the
toilets, came out about 20 seconds later and was a brand new person! All
smiles, laughs, tour-guide style tips about the area.
I had planned to spend 2 nights in Krabi town before moving
on to the islands. However, after unloading my things at my guesthouse (which
was found effortlessly) and walking around for 10 minutes I decided that the
next day I’d head out to one town over called Ao Nang. The only thing that I
found really worth seeing in Krabi town was the weekend night markets. They
were packed with Thai and foreigners side by side—with vendors selling
clothing, street food, alcohol, desserts, art, along with musicians, magicians,
and dancers working hard for their tips.
The guesthouse I stayed in was nice, but very quiet and I
knew it would be impossible to meet anyone there. I booked a “bus” (which was
actually more like the Central American style pick up trucks that transport
people around in the back) to Ao Nang, and that’s when I really felt the beach
part of my holiday had started.
Ao Nang itself does not have the postcard sandy beaches
people salivate over while Google image searching things to distract themselves
from work, but it did have the chilled-out, laid back vibe I’d been searching
for. It is also the jumping off point to get to all the aforementioned beaches.
The afternoon was full of seeing lady boys dressed as Disney
princesses, chatting to people from all over the world, trying to communicate
with my Malaysian roommate who I somehow became friends with despite neither of
us understanding each other, and discovering a new passion: thai green curry
with coconut rice. All of these things passed while I was barefoot. I don’t
think I’ve work shoes in about 4 days.
The people at my hostel were really fun. On my first night in
Ao Nang I did a pub crawl with them. I wont go into too much detail here,
except it turns out that my flip cup skills are still solid despite being far
removed from my undergrad days
I woke up around 10am, just early enough to catch the boat
for my 7-islands tour and ended up having the most relaxing and fun day just
snorkeling, drinking smoothies and beers, and occasionally shaking my head in
disbelief that I was island hopping in 90+ degree weather when just a few days
earlier I’d been wearing a fleece onesie, under the bed covers with the heat on
in Manchester.
Some of the places I went:
Even though I could have easily stayed another night, being
hard pressed for time, I needed to move on. My next stop was Koh Phi Phi!
