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Friday, 22 August 2014

AO NANG

When we were on Koh Phi Phi we spoke to people there that had been travelling around and they mentioned that they had been to Ao Nang which is half an hour away from Krabi, where you get the ferry to Phi Phi. 

They also mentioned that they went to Railay Beach and said it was amazing so we decided to go and see for ourselves. 

On Friday of Week 5 after school we planned to get the same bus as the week before, minus the bus chase this time, to Krabi. 

Lan drove us to the bus station, well, benches under a questionable roof held up by a couple of bricks. At this point we found out that our bus wasn't coming until 3 so we had half an hour to kill and I voiced my need for the loo! Lan said she had a friend who owned a cafĂ© around the corner so we could go there and pass sometime and use the toilet. 

We turned up at a moped showroom with a sign advertising coffee. Weird as per, classic Thailand. Lan's friend seemed very excited to see two farang's in her shop and tried out some English on us. Mommy Lan left us and we were treated amazingly! We were brought ice cold water, coffee and a selection of cakes. All of which sadly seemed to have little to no sugar in them, which is typical of a lot of food that I've had in Thailand. 

Lan's friend then asked us for a photo, we get asked this regularly so we didn't even think it was strange. We stood up and were led over to the mopeds with 4 staff members in tow. Instead of having a photo with just our new friend, we were involved in some sort of advertising campaign photo shoot proving that even foreigners love my mopeds! It was cute but just another one of our strange experiences! We said that we were going to have to go and get our bus in the next few minutes after we sat down again. But instead of letting us leave straight away our new friend sat opposite me and a staff member took photos while she was trying to do casual poses looking like she was having a fluent conversation with me! Now that was weird. We said our 'kop-khun-kahs' to our new friends and went off to get our bus which didn't actually arrive until 3:30. 


The bus was very hot and sweaty...



The bus stopped in the same deserted bus station as last week. However, we had promised Anais that we would meet him at the main bus station in Krabi and all get a Songtaow (open backed truck) to Ao Nang together. We asked where the main bus station was and we were told it was a 500m walk. We realised we'd just driven past it and didn't think it was too far so we set off. We managed to cross, what was pretty much a motorway at rush hour. That was scary. 10 minutes later I had sweat a lot (nice I know) and we arrived at a pretty much deserted bus station. I spent my last Baht of credit ringing Anais to discover he had left to go to Ao Nang on his own and didn't tell us. Cool. So we then managed to stop a Songtow that had just pulled off, we jumped in and began the 40 minute journey to Ao Nang. 

Blurry Songtaow sunset.

We had booked to stay at Zavabar hostel and the directions on the website said that it was up a path right next to Ao Nang cuisine just off Ao Nang beach. 

As soon as I spotted Ao Nang cuisine we jumped off only to discover we couldn't see this path or the dive shop that it was meant to be next to. We asked the people at Ao Nang cuisine and they'd never heard of our hostel, fabulous! We showed them the address for it and worryingly that still didn't ring any bells. Thankfully a Thai waitress with incredibly good English knew where we wanted to be and pointed us in the right direction. 

Eventually, after a stressful half an hour since getting off the Songtaow, we found the right Ao Nang Cuisine and Zavabvar tucked behind it. We were welcomed by a fed up looking Thai man who had been waiting for around an hour longer than he would normally finish work and it was now a lot later than we had said we thought we would arrive. Whoops! They had a little silver bell on the desk and after I saw it I knew I wouldn't stop thinking about it until I pressed it. He must have really disliked us, making him wait and then messing around ringing his bell but I just couldn't help myself! Sorry Thai friend.

We got settled in our room and then gave Becky a ring to meet up and grab some dinner. They were in a restaurant around the corner and Becky was joined by Vicky, Anis and Joe. 

After dinner myself, Joy, Anis and Joe booked ourselves onto a tour around the islands for the next day as Becky and Vicky had already booked a cooking class. 

Shortly after we found a bar with live music, which was great but you wouldn't have guessed it from the faces of everyone in there! I've never seen so many people looking so bored in a bar. The music was really good aswell! 


Our quiet night then got a little more exciting with some happy hour deals at another bar. 


Eventually it was myself, Joy, Joe and Vicky left in Chang bar which turned into a bit of a club later on. There were a few farang's in there but it was mainly Thai people. We quickly made friends with some Thais that were just a bit younger than us and they were very eager to practise their English on us. 

We got to bed a lot later than we had previously planned but we got in a quick sleep before being picked up to go on our island tour at 8:30am.

We were told we would be picked up at our hotel. Asuming a form of transport would pick us up, we decided to wait on a bench by the road. At 8:45 we still had no transport and Joy remembered she hadn't picked up the receipt of our trip. As we went back to get it, our hotel recpetionist friend asked us if we'd booked an island trip. We said yeah and another unhappy guy, who had obviously come to pick us up and was waiting for us, appeared. We still didn't have the ticket and asked if we needed it. He said yes so we began tearing the room apart to find it. With no luck we went back to the man and said we don't know where it went. He said, very casually, oh don't worry! It's fine without! Oh okay cool thank you for our mini heart attacks of panic that we've just lost 800 baht on this trip we can't even go on. 

It turns out that our 'hotel pick up' was just the man walking us from our hotel back to the tour shop we were at the night before. Classic Thailand. 

We signed our names in and saw Anais and Joe who had already got to the tour shop from their hostel. 

We were driven in songtaows to a beach where we got on our speedboat. Our captain told us that you can sit at the front of the boat but it is very 'froppy' there. I'm not sure who had taught him that word but it turns out to mean bumpy. We got thrown about a bit when we crashed over big waves but it was fun! Our first stop was Bamboo Island. 




Not really sure why it was called Bamvoo island seeing as there was no Bamboo but it was beautiful. The pictures look amazing and they don't even do it justice. It was just a shame that there was so many other people there! 


We had a little explore of the island and is some snorkeling before we got back in the boat and headed off towards Koh Phi Phi, where we were last weekend. 


Viking caves on Phi Phi Le.

There are two Phi Phi islands. Phi Phi Don is where we stayed and Phi Phi Lee is a national park but also where they filmed the beach with Leonardo Di Caprio. It was filmed in Maya Bay which is round the other side of the island to the Viking cave. Maya Bay was the purpose of the trip for me. I love that film and couldn't wait to see the beach in real life. However, sadly the water was too choppy making it too dangerous to enter the bay so we couldn't go!! :'( :'( :'( 

Instead we had the same idea as every other boat and spent longer in the blue bay which was beautiful but a bit crowded. 



We were having a great time jumping off the front of the speedboat and into the water. I was feeling super buoyant so I was even in the water, holding a camera and filming the others jumping in. However it appears that Thai people aren't good swimmers. Most of the other speedboats were surrounded by Thais in the water wearing life jackets and looking a bit panicky. 

When we'd dried off from the bay, we got off the boat again at Koh Phi Phi Don for a buffet lunch, swim and sunbathe. Some of the group even managed to squeeze in a cheeky nap under a palm tree! 



After lunch, our boat pulled close up to Monkey Bay. We didn't stop because the monkeys were looking a bit angry as they were protecting their babies. Instead, our Captain threw a lot of watermelon their way to stop them from coming into the boat and grabbing it for themselves. This is all ignoring the big sign telling us not to feed them. Go figure. 



Our next stop was for snorkeling. We jumped off the front of the boat as the captain threw bread in which meant we saw loads of fish who were coming amazingly close to get the bread. There were some really lovely fish in the water, it wasn't quite as good as diving but still a good time none the less! 



I managed to gain a nice big purple bruise on the 'froppy' boat ride back to land. As we crashed down from flying over a wave, my arm smashed down onto the side of the boat. Ow! I obviously need to be wrapped in cotton wool! 

When we got back to our room that evening I was very happy to FaceTime my parents. 


Myself and Joy got mega food envy when they showed us what they were eating for lunch (6 hours behind Thailand). I don't even want to describe what they had, it'll make my 'rice with every meal' life feel inadequate. It was during this conversation that I put a plea in for a roast dinner when I return to England. I can't stop thinking about beef, Yorkshire puddings, potatoes, veg that's not in a stir fry, and gravy. OH GRAVY. One of the children were asking myself and Joy what we missed and we googled roast dinner. Our mouths were watering and if anyone reading this would like to ship over a roast dinner before I get home, that would be fabulous. Sorry I've been sidetracked by food. Back to Saturday night in Ao Nang...

We wanted to meet up with the others but we didn't have any credit so we trekked up the hill to find a Seven Eleven. Normally you can't walk 5 minutes without finding one but Ao Nang seemed to be a different story. The first we came to was opening in two days. The second was all boarded up and luckily the third was in working order otherwise I would have reduced myself to a puddle of sweat and cried. Finally topped up I rang Becky to find out they all were. Of course they were really near to our hostel all the way back down the hill! Myself and Joy decided to get some food near where we were and then meet them after for a couple of drinks. We found a really cheap place full of Thai people, which always bodes well for knowing how the good is going to be! 



After some curry and stuffed omelet we trekked down the hill to find our friends. On our way back we found another Seven Eleven. It was on the otherside of the road to the one we had been walking on but it was only 5 minutes from out hostel rather than the hour long (yes I'm being a drama queen) trek we did! Ew how annoying! 

Anyway, we found Anis, Joe, Becky and Vicky and heard all about the cooking class that the girls did which sounded really good! We spent the rest of the night playing card games and we decided that we would all get the long tail boat to Railay beach (the beach that had been recommended to us) the next morning, before we all had to leave to head back to our respective schools. 

In the morning, it was only myself, Joy and Becky that were up and about at 8:30am for Railay beach. The others decided that sleep was more important, which in my opinion was the wrong choice! We paid for our 200 baht return ticket (£4 there and back to one of the best beaches in Thailand - yes please!) 

We had to wait, along with other tourists, for two more people. The boats don't like to leave unless they are full and making as much money as possible! When we reached a full sized group we all walked down to the boat. It was moored in on the beach but it meant clambering into the side of the boat, making sure you jumped in when the waves had gone out because otherwise the boat jumped up too high. Once we'd all clambered in, we set off on the ten minute journey to Railay beach. We purposefully hadn't looked at any photos of the beach before we went because we wanted a beautiful suprise. 


This is a view back to the main beach in Ao Nang with people about to clamber on a long tail not like we did. 


Aye aye Captain! 

After the 10 minute slightly choppy or 'froppy' boat ride, we arrived at Railay beach! The boat was pushed in onto the sand but still in the shallow water. Becky was first to jump off and she didn't half do it well! Instead of sitting on the side of the boat and jumping down onto the sand, she went Lara Croft style and jumped from standing on the edge of the boat. Ahh! Her knees weren't quite sure what to do when she landed so, to our great amusement, her legs gave up and she toppled over, falling in the water. I was laughing so hard that I struggled to get off the boat without falling over myself! After a quick check that Becky's valuables weren't soggy and broken we continued to laugh about it for a good while as good friends do...

We definitley didn't forget to check out the amazing view though.


We did a good thing getting there so early, the beach was nearly empty! 



We all felt pretty smug that we'd arrived in paradise. So smug that we went for ice cream at 9:30am. WE CAN'T BE TAMED. 



We had heard that there was more than one beach on the island so we went for an explore but we soon realised that we were on the main one so we stayed there for a few hours, swimming, sunbathing and taking in the view. 

Reality hit that we had to make our way back to mainland soon so we wouldn't miss our transport to get back to our schools. Most means of transport such as vans and busses finish between 5 and 6pm and with most people running on a Thai time you have to allow at least an hour, maybe even two for waiting around.

At around 11:30am, we asked one of the the long tail boat drivers when the next boat was going back and he didn't seem to think it was soon. This is because, like on the way out, they have to be full, and no one was heading back yet as it was quite early! We decided to grab lunch and he said he would come and get us from the beach front restaurant if there was a boat we could get. 

After we had eaten he still hadn't called us so we walked over to the boats and we could see tourists getting in one to go back to mainland. They took our tickets off us and ushered us towards the boat before abruptly stopping us saying the boat was full and we'd have to wait. Ahh! Oh well, it gave me time to get some pretty good photos. 





So there we were waiting to leave paradise (remind me why?!) and Becky spotted a rainbow around the sun! Thailand just never stops with the amazing sights! I'm sure there's a really good scientific explanation for the rainbow around the sun but I'm actually quite happy to save the google search on this one and leave it as something pretty cool that I'd never seen before. 


We were whisked away shortly after back to shore, the ride was quite choppy and a good few waves splashed into our boat that seemed as strong as a wooden ruler. I wouldn't want to be in a long tail boat during a storm! 

The boat dropped us off quite far from where we were staying in Ao Nang so we hopped into a little moped tuk tuk to take us back near our hostel. Becky and Vicky left to head back to Krabi and then to their school near Nakhon Si Thammarat. We had a bit more time as we knew the last bus from Krabi bus terminal back to Ban Song left at 4:30. We went round some shops where we each bought a few things. My best purchase was my rainbow dress that I planned to wear the next weekend for the full moon party. 

At 3pm we hopped in a Songtaow to take us to Krabi bus station. On the Songtaow we spoke to a man, originally from London who had moved to Myanmar (Burma) to teach History in an international school and had been there for 14 years! He was on holiday with his Burmese wife in Thailand and was telling us some interesting stories about his life teaching in Myanmar. 

At the bus station we waved goodbye to our new friends and hopped on our bus (coach) to Bansong. When it came to getting off the bus in Bansong, the guy working on it as a conductor was very interested in myself and Joy, he was showing us pictures of himself on a motorbike, told us we were beautiful and then took a photo which is probably floating around on Facebook somewhere. If that had happened in our first week in Thailand, we would have thought it was very strange but that's just another day here! Strange what you get used to isn't it. 


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