Krabi 02/01 – 02/04

It seems like every place we visit in Thailand is more beautiful than the last. We just spent three days in Krabi and that was definitely not enough. There are so many beautiful beaches, cliffs, and caves to explore here that you can spend at least a month just in this one area. We got ourselves another scooter and visited several beaches near our home base in Aonang Beach. Some were full of people, others completely deserted. The landscape is amazing. There are many rocky islands off the coast, some are very close and when the tide is low, you can walk right up to them.

We went on a jungle hike we discovered on our scooter in a secluded area. There were no other people on our hike which led to a mountain top with excellent views of the area.  Although there may have been no people, but we could tell that we were definitely not alone. There were all sorts of strange sounds in the jungle that we had never heard before. One was like a saw but must have been coming from an insect. There were also geckos, giant ants and butterflies. Thankfully we didn't run into anything scarier than the ants. The trees were enormous and vines snaked all over everything. There was also a bamboo grove and even a change in ecosystems halfway up the mountain.

A view like out of some storybook.

I also finally broke down and decided we should go on an elephant ride. I have been on the fence with this because I read that sometimes elephants are not treated very well, but we had driven by this one place a few times and it was small, seemed to have a family of elephants and looked like it might be ok. The ride was pretty scary and I kept screaming because it felt like the seat on top of the elephant would just slide right off. These animals are huge and you rock back and forth in your little seat. The elephant trainer kept making fun of me, mimicking my screams, but he did get me to ride sitting on the elephants neck which was pretty cool.

Our last day we took a boat over to a few of the more secluded beaches, ones you can't get to by car. These were, of course, packed with tourists and expensive resorts, but we found one beach with a very nice hippie vibe where you can sleep near the beach in basic shacks with rock climbers and beach bums for company. We explored some caves and watched as the climbers attempted to tackle the jagged cliffs. We wished we could stay longer. I could lay around on the sand and watch while Peter could rock climb. I guess we can do that next time. Adding it on the “to do” list for next year.

Rock climbers practice climbing and laying around in the sand.

I made my own sad attempt, but didn't get very far.
I think my bony arms are not suited for this activity.

Our plan was to head next to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, but because we have gotten so lazy we failed to book one of the many, many cheap flights to KL. We barely even made it onto a flight to Singapore. Our flight leaves at 10:30 pm and our entry permit expires at midnight tonight. If we left any later we would have been jailed. Just kidding. They make you pay a fine for overstaying by a day or two. The point is, though, that we have stayed way too long in the islands. We have heard that this happens quite often. I, for one, can stay here forever. I can live in a shack on the beach and have a pet monkey.

My future home.