Thai Backpack

After the first Thailand trip early this year to complete by open water diving course, I've been missing the food and the massages from the land of a thousand smiles, althought its more like fake smiles actually. I've read somewhere that Thais will still smile even when they're angry. Anyways, when my diving partner suggested a one week getaway to Krabi, Trang and Hatyai, I jumped at the opportunity to relive this experience, never mind that I've never heard of Krabi , or Trang for that matter! A short research on the lonely planet guide to Thailands Island and Beaches made up my mind - It seems that Railey which is near Krabi is a haven for rock climbing. I'll definitely be trying this.

Day 1

The basic plan for our trip is to travel up to Phuket by flight, and make our way down south from there. But maybe that's not the best plan to have , since we get charged a crazy RM105.90 for airport tax regardless of a one way or return ticket. Even the flight to phuket cost less - only RM99.90. Among the 5 of us, I only knew 2 prior to this trip - Chee Wei an super activist in a charity organisation called "Wen Xin Yuan" and my diving partner Hui Leng. As for Mulan and Wen Jie, I met them for the first time at the LCCT. Since Wen Jie is from Seremban, and they just came up to LCCT from Seremban, one of the first thing that comes to mind is - Seremban Siew Pau!! But unfortunately, I only have the photos of the Siew Pau - they ate them before coming to the LCCT. I guess even the local cannot tahan the lure of this kuih.

The flight to Phuket takes 1 hour 15 min, but effectively, we only used up 15 mins because of the time difference. With of all the news of the bloodless coup in Thailand proliferated in the net, I was half expecting our arrival to be greeted by some military personnel, bundling all of us ignorant holiday makers from this flight into a truck and suffocate to death for daring to enter a country during an upheaval. Forutunately no such incident happened. Its business as usual for Phuket. The only difference in the security proceedures is Thai authorities actually take a picture of you using a webcam upon entry.

After a hefty Rm50 ride on a comfy Van to Ao Nang thanks to the inept planning on yours truly regarding the transportation, we finally arrived at our destination at nightfall. Immediately we set foot searching for dinner, with the trusty Lonely Planet in hand. One thing we found out is that every single eating places mentioned by the book would be thronged by Mat Sallehs, and thus its quite certain that the spiciness would be toned down. We finally settled at Wanna's Place, with me intending to try some of the Swedish cuisine there. A final look at the prices reeled me in and I ordered some Thai mince meat with rice. Yummy. While booking our accommodation arrangement with the travel agency, we found out that Ao Nang is actually a Muslim majority area. That explains the ommision of pork from most of the menus there, though beer is freely available.

The Posh Restaurant for our first dinner.

Some sight seeing ensued. Almost all the tourist in Ao Nang are Ang Mohs, and we're like minority in this Asian town. True to the Asian stereotype, we start to snap photos happily with our cameras on every possible angle of the promenade. Noticed that Westeerners prefer to soak in the atmosphere instead of capturing it into digital megapixels. Prices were high as expected but seasoned haggler amongst us managed to bring down lots of the prices down to below 1/2 price level. Not so much luck on my side. It only dawned upon me that I actually paid RM90 for a piece of artwork. I guess I must be the answer to some of the trader's prayers.

Day 2

Day 2 started brightly enough, after the drenching downpour last nite. We did not realise the significance of today until the hotel owner greeted us with "Selamat Hari Rayo!" Its Raya Day today!

First off was the elephant trekking. All the news about elephants being tortured by these operators are quite unfounded after gettin gto know the navigator and the animals. Indeed, these elephants actually gained the respect of the citizens because its their national symbols. I wonder, since Thais get to ride on their elephants, can we tame a tiger enough to ride on it?

The next stop after the elephant trekking is the Tiger Cave temple. The sadist Mulan happily omitted the fact that we need to climb 1200 steps to reach the top of the temple. And the rest of us ignorant folks just went along with it. As usual, calamity strikes again, instead of heading straight to the climb up the stairs, we went of a jungle trekking merry go round. The lack of english signboards did not help things.

the deceptive looking stairs that does NOT lead to the temple on top

This is the real deal

Anyways, the climb was quite a challenge, with the stairs being quite steep, but the view at the top is worth the climb. Furthermore, there's a wishing bell on top to fulfill your hajat. Yes bell.

I've conquered Wat Sam Thuea!

After all the activities, we headed for the emerald pool and the hot water springs to cool down and relax. As Wen jie said, the emarald pool is nothing but a super expensive swimming pool. We pais a good RM20 to swim in the fungus infested pool. And we have to even hike into the national park to reach it. (By the way, there is a separate local rate of RM2 per entry. How nice...). The hot springs however, quelled all our frustrations. alongthe way to the water, you can see steam coming up along the paths. One dip and you'd feel all the aching muscles fade away...