Exploring the Land of Smiles

                       My first trip out of the country; first major outing with better half; her first flight too...  All these first times means the destination should be really special. That’s why we decided to visit, the heart of South-East Asia, popular for pristine beaches, activities like diving & snorkeling, ancient temples, vibrant night-life, and most importantly (for me at least..) the fabulous food, especially sea food. Very few places in the world can cater all these together, all without creating a huge hole in your pocket – unless their name is Thailand..! So here we are ready to take-off to this mesmerizing destination. (Video link here)

The planning…
                       Since travelling with wife I wanted to make it a bit more planned trip, unlike how I usually do. Our focus for now was on visiting the gorgeous and peaceful islands, rather than the busy cities. And the obvious choices were Krabi & Phuket. We chose a decent 5-days 4-nights package offered by TravelTriangle, which included flight fares, accommodation, airport as well as island-to-island transfers and island tour charges. The way they arranged all the facilities, providing timely information as well as 24x7-support is quite commendable. I’d strongly recommend TravelTriangle for trips, especially if travelling with family.

Let’s go…
                       Finally, on that sunday evening we left Trivandrum; and the flight take-off also marked the beginning of my wifey’s clicking spree, of photos that are exclusively for Insta & Watsapp status. We approached our destination by 7.30 AM and opened our eyes from the sky to the overwhelming view of the numerous green islands dotted in the vast Andaman Sea. It was just a teaser of what we’re gonna experience in the coming days.

                       Since we have done a detailed study beforehand on all the landing procedures, getting things done at airport was a breeze. Only thing which we struggled a bit was in understanding the English pronunciation of the Thai officers, but that was expected. We got SIM from the airport itself, and the data plans were so cheap - Unlimited local call + unlimited data for 15 days for a price of 149 bahts. Our cab arrived in 15 mins once we were out of the airport. It took us to the ‘Glow’ resort by noon, located in a calm and peaceful street in Ao Nang, Krabi, after a 3-hrs drive (by a less-speaking robot-like driver) from the airport.

Exploring AoNang…
                       In the evening, we took a stroll to the AoNang beach which is just a few-minutes’ walk from the hotel. There were plenty of small shops lined on the sides of the highway selling cut-fruits, handicraft items, sea-food etc. Enjoying food delicacies from some of these shops simply washed away all the fatigue of travelling. The drizzling that evening made it more romantic as we walked holding hands. But, what made her hold my hands tighter was the presence of the tall lady boys on the street, which really scared her 😁. 

                       We also visited the night market which is hardly 200mtrs away from the hotel. The place was not so crowded that night, thanks to the mild rains. However, it was not sufficient to turn us back. We tried plenty of sea food varieties which were served grilled on demand. Most of these platters had fixed prices, although some bargaining helped us getting a little more in quantity for the same price. The tip here is to be so friendly with the vendors who are already over-friendly. Seafood,  beef, chicken, pork, vegetables.., here you get literally anything grilled. By 10PM we left back to the hotel and wasted no time in getting to bed as we had to get up early in the next morning for the important activity here in Krabi.

The Krabi 4-Island Tour…
                       By 8.30 in the morning on our second day in Thailand, we were already waiting in the hotel lobby for the cab to pick us; after a sumptuous delicious breakfast. The cab dropped us along with a number of other tourists at the beach from where the island tour begins. We paid 800 Bahts for two people as National Park Fee. After a quick briefing we were boarded into the long-tail boat; and slowly the old rusted engine roared into life marking the start of a whole-day tour to the green rocky islands. The boat had enough water bottles, lunch and snorkeling gears.

                       The first beach we stopped was the Phra Nang beach which is on the southern tip of the Railay peninsula. Along with the white sandy beach with thick green vegetation on the backdrop, the major attraction here is the Phra Nang Cave. We saw incense and signs of idol worship inside this cave, and later came to know that there are a couple of interesting stories behind this. Some say Phra Nang was the wife of a fisherman who went to the sea but never returned; and for some Phra Nang is a princess killed in a shipwreck. Today, the locals visiting here pray and leave a peculiar kinda offering – the ‘linga’ (male genital) shaped statues decorated with colorful clothes. We spend almost 45 minutes walking on the soft sandy shore and taking occasional dips in the clear water before leaving the place.

                       The boat stopped a little far away from the Railay island for snorkeling. Interested people were provided snorkeling gear, but there was not someone available as a guide per se. Which means, only experienced swimmers can enjoy this activity. For people who are non-swimmers (which included me as well 😐), it was just about wearing the life jacket and floating on the water, occasionally immersing head into the waters. Even that quick glances presented mesmerizing view of the vibrant marine life beneath.

                       By noon we stopped at the Poda Island. This beach has a tall rock opposite to it which has become a mandatory pic for every visitor and in most Krabi tourism brochures. This island is the place where we had lunch as well. We were served lunch that included authentic Thai delicacies such as sticky rice, glass noodles, spicy chicken curry, paneer curry etc. After taking some time for rest as well as for exploring the island, we left the place.

                       The next island on the tour was the Chicken Island. We had to be content with just clicking pictures of this beautiful green rocky island, as entering here was banned by the government. The island got its name from its shape, which apparently looked like a chicken for the first visitors who gave it this name. However, for me it doesn’t looked like a chicken. For different people it looked different – camel, ostrich, emu etc. etc… Another 30-minutes Snorkeling session was also provided in the waters a little far from its shores.

                       The last island we visited was the Tup Island. The unique attraction of this place is the sea linkage that connects the Chicken Island with the two smaller islands of Tup & Mor. This sand bar becomes visible during low tide, and visitors can walk through it from one island to the other. We too were fortunate enough to be able to walk on it, as the tides were low. This sea linkage is commonly known as Talay Waek, which means divided sea. The whole place, with the white sand bar, rocky green islands, blue and green water, clear sky altogether presented a perfect canvas for photography, and we too never wanted to miss that. By 5PM we left the place marking the return journey to the Ao Nang beach from where we started. Transport from Ao Nang to our hotel was also arranged, and by 5.30PM we were back in the hotel.

Nightlife at Ao Nang Streets…
                       That evening after freshening up and a quick nap we went out for exploring the Ao Nang town. The streets were lined with numerous street food shops. We visited the night market near the Ao Nang Landmark. This night market is bigger and busier than the one near to our hotel; and the food, especially sea food choices here are aplenty. One peculiar thing about the streets of Thailand is their cleanliness, which makes roaming through them more enjoyable. After trying some, if not many, of the food items and a bit of shopping including the mandatory fridge magnets, we decided to call it a day and went under the blankets for a much necessary sleep.

Drive to Phuket…
                       We were scheduled to be picked-up the next morning after breakfast. But due to some VIP visits the cab came to pick us up arrived only by 12 in the noon. It was almost a 4-hours drive through the highways that runs amidst plantations of various kinds, villages and occasional towns. We had lunch from a hotel in a Petrol station, and the quality of food as well as cleanliness of the washroom facilities in the petrol station is quite worth mentioning.

                       Our accommodation for the second half of our trip was arranged at Casa Del M Resort in Phuket. There are several night markets within a few kms radius from this hotel. That evening we visited a nearby night market enjoying local food as well as doing a bit of shopping. Once back at the hotel, we spent some time enjoying the night view of the Phuket town from the balcony, sipping hot coffee. The long travel during the day demanded the obvious rest, and unable to resist it we retired to bed dreaming of the next island hopping planned for the next day.

Phi Phi Island Tour…
                       Our 4^th day in Thailand began with the delicious luxury breakfast from the hotel. We were picked up from the hotel and after briefings as well as paying the National Park fee at the gathering point, we boarded the boat. This time we opted for a speed boat rather than the slow long-tail boats. The advantage is that we could cover more islands within the same time frame, but that comes at a cost. The almost closed sides of the speed boat, means photography/videography becomes almost impossible during the ride; whereas the long-tail boats serve this purpose better. There were ample supplies of cold water and cut fruits available in the boat, as well as when landed on the beaches.

                       Entering most of the islands visited on the day was banned, citing bad weather. But for most of us it looked nothing ‘bad’ as such, but having said that, the tour operators are the best people to judge on these. The boat stopped for Snorkeling for about 30 mins near the Khai Island, while people who were not into this spend time in photography and such activities.

                       We got the fantastic and beyond-the-words view of the much renowned Maya Bay from the closest possible distance. The boat stopped for a few minutes for all of us to click pictures of this exquisite piece of land in the sea. We also got to see the Viking Cave from a distance. This place has some amazing ancient wall paintings as well as the poles and rudimentary gears used by bird nest collectors. This protein rich bird-nests are used for preparing the expensive bird’s nest soup. Due to the uncontrolled poaching of these, the cave is now closed for the public. 

                       Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Le are the two major islands in the Phi Phi island group. Monkey Beach, in the larger of the two, the Phi Phi Don was the first shore we landed on the tour. This 150 -meter long white-powdery sand beach with limestone cliffs is an ideal place for monkeys to live. We spend almost half-an-hour in this beach. The shallow and clear waters with colorful fishes and corals in abundance is a top-notch snorkeling spot too.

                       Phi Phi Don has hotels and resorts, and we were served buffet lunch from one of these eateries. After relaxing and exploring the Loh Dalum Beach for more than an hour we continued the tour. The last island we visited was the Khai Nai Island. This island has plenty of shacks and small eateries and is the livelier of all the other islands. We spend time exploring this white sandy island and relaxed in one of the shacks sipping a 200baht-worth juice 😢. The island tour came to an end by 6PM and we were dropped back at the hotel.

Patong Walking Street…
                       Since we must leave early the next morning to catch our flight back to India, we had only that evening to explore and do some shopping in Phuket. The Walking Street at Patong Beach is the best place to get a feel of the various sides of night life in Phuket. This busy street that houses lot of pubs and night clubs, is also a major destination for food lovers. Since we too belonged to this lot, we thoroughly enjoyed and tried as much as food varieties possible. Here, most of the shops have live fishes and the customer will get it cooked/grilled on demand. These food stalls had many kinds of meat too apart from sea food; we even got to taste crocodile meat. This street is also a good place for shopping the local handicraft items, cloths and other souvenirs. Even though most of these have fixed prices, there a lot of items available in better deals via bargaining. The music from pubs, street performers, crowd at the food stalls.., all together made it a completely different place in the night. It was almost midnight when we reached back the hotel, still we haven’t completely explored the place. It requires at least couple of more nights there; but it’s almost time for us to say goodbye to Thailand for now.

Wrapping up …
                       We left the hotel early in the morning on the 5^th day and were dropped at the airport. Once all the check-in formalities were done, it was time for me to indulge in reminiscing the Thailand experience. The abundance of nature which is quite a feast for the eyes, the experience of glances into the colorful marine life, the bustling walking streets, the vibrant and festive night life, the countless varieties of food creating quite a job for the taste buds, the ever-smiling vendors at shops, their ‘Hellooooooo’s and ‘Thank Youuuuuuuuuuu’s with sustained ending tone… While thoughts of all these put a smile on my face, my wifey was on all smiles going through the pics captured of these, most of which had already made it to the internet via her Watsapp or Instagram statuses. This country, the ‘Land of Smiles’ never fails to put a smile in the face of anyone visiting her…