Krabi 7-12 June 2007

after resting for less than 2 days from brisbane trip, it's time to fly again to krabi. it was not that bad...at least not much of climate adjustment and time lag, unlike australia.

we travelled by tiger airways and there's only one scheduled flight a day. by the time we reached krabi town, it was already 9pm local time. then we were dragged by the cab driver to a local agency to arrange for hotel and program booking... only to realise that we were cheated and charged with a higher rate on the third day.

after checking in at city hotel in the town, it was off for dinner at the night market. phat thai, fried rice, pineapple juice, orange juice, chang beer are some of the must-have local delights.

satisfied after a good dinner

8 June
after a good night rest, we woke up to have breakfast before we left for our destination-tung sai, where we thought we'll be spending the rest of our holz in.

some grocery shopping before leaving...

i've no idea why weng fai and i ended up posing for lisa bakery.

from krabi town, we hopped on our hired van to ao nang. ao nang's is the main beach where we can take a long-tail boat to our little island, tung sai.

ao nang beach

after waiting for an hr or so, ( some went shopping, others dive operator searching, some simply waited in internet cafe playing games, others lunch) we finally got on the boat to tung sai.

tung sai beach is one of the least developed beaches around krabi. only enthusiatic climber like weng fai would go there and stay for ages. i was warned about the place of stay and not to expect too much from it... i was mentally prepared for no air-con, only a squeezy bedroom with a mouldy bed and a little bathroom with hose to shower...

but much to my horror, the place far exceeded what i was expecting... it was hot and stuffy- basically just standing and not doing anything would cause me to pespire like i ran 6km; fan was not working; wooden floor was slanted; walls and floors were full of holes; very dim lightings; electricity only from 6am to 6pm; a lot a lot of mosquitoes, some rooms rained crocoaches... i was stunt and lost for words for at least 10 minutes.

my face must have turned black enough for someone like cindy who barely know me to have noticed. she initiated a room switch so that i could share room with xun which might improve the poor condition. so thoughtful of her and that was the best of the worst i supposed.

the best pic of the room... don't even want to take the interior.

we decided to walk around the beaches because staying in the room only made us feel worse. went to railei beach and we found a good offer. princess resort and spa was having a promotion and we could stay there for 60+ sing dollars each for 3 nights for triple sharing... kenneth, xun and myself decided to forgo the accomodation at tung sai (ard 30+ sing dollars) for that. at least that saved the holiday trip for me and the dive trip could be made smoother.

the heavenly hotel room as compared to the stuffy, dark tung sai "resort"

having found a better place to stay in, we lazed around in railei beach for a while before heading back to tung sai for dinner. the first and last night stay, thankfully...

9 June - diving begins

on our way to phi phi island...

the two dives were much of refresher for both of us.. i was struggling with bouyancy, while bee had some problems with equalising...

back at railei from the first day of dive... had dinner first because we were both famished.

then met up with the rest of the group to have dinner a second time at coco resturaunt because weng was so insistent. and also cos cindy was leaving the next day.

10 June - local island dive

we saw much more marine life than phi phi island! quite an experience for me cos it was the first time i did a backroll entry into water and had much fun in water after getting used to the bouyancy control.

a funny advertisment near the dive shop

the boys, weng and zhonghow came over to look for us after our dive... then they were off to have their game of beach volleyball, initiated by kenneth. all the pe teachers-to-be

after parting with the two tung sai boys, the 3 of us were off to dinner and then chilling at the pub.

trying to hide their identity...


11 June - water rafting, atv tracking and elephant riding

a sumptous lunch after 5km of rafting.. we all thought the rafting wasn't exciting enough

abit shocked at the atv and the terrain we were riding in... flat and no adventurous route at all!

ended off with elephant riding. i love elephants - big, gentle and friendly gaints

kenneth's new found love

12 June - rock climbing

Just before we depart, weng had to make sure we scale the real rock wall.

it was quite an experience since those walls which i've climbed previously were all plastic.

after much whining and exclaiming that i've no strength, weng said i could come down if i can touch the finishing ring. of course i did, and gladly came down. hee...

bee's turn to scale the wall

i suppose i'll miss this trip, activities and the people... quite an experience since it was a first time for most activities except diving. now it's time to hit back reality, get over the holiday hang- overs and start on my outstanding stacks of work..