Krabi

On Friday I left Hatyai to head towards my next stop, Krabi. My bus didn't leave until the afternoon and it was quite a slow bus ride arriving into Krabi Town just before sunset. Krabi is a province on Thailand’s west coast, characterized by craggy, sheer limestone cliffs, dense mangrove forests, and more than a hundred offshore islands. Krabi Town where I was staying was one of the main gateways to explore the beautiful beaches and islands out in the Andaman Sea. By the time I checked into my hostel it was dark outside, so I went out to the night market to grab some dinner before relaxing at the hostel ready to start exploring the following day.

The following day I explored Krabi Town, first stop the Khao Khanab Nam Mountains, which were these two small peaks either side of the river which flows past Krabi Town into the sea. I followed this boardwalk through the mangroves hoping to get a closer look at them, although I think the best way to see them would have been to a hire a boat. The peak the opposite side of the river to where I got to in the mangroves was apparently possible to climb, and was also home to a cave system with some impressive stalagmites. I could have swam across but the water looked very murky so I thought I'd better not, I still got a good glimpse though.

Next stop was Tiger Cave Temple, which gets it name from legend which says a tiger once lived in a cave where the temple is located. When arriving at the large complex I headed up to the Footprint of the Buddha which was an incredibly steep climb up 1237 steps to this peak, home to a Buddha statue looking over Krabi. Up top I was rewarded with 360 degree views over the Andaman Sea and islands, as well as some of the surrounding limestone peaks. After gingerly making my descent back down I then visited this large network of caves sitting in the jungle at the base of the limestone cliffs, home to many of the monks that live and worship there. The actual Tiger cave was separate from other caves and housed several icons and relics including this rock which looked like a tigers footprint. Aside from the caves there was a pagoda and a few other buildings scattered about, the complex itself taking a good few hours to look round.

From the temple I headed back into Krabi Town where I followed the river which was home to several local fishermen, as well as visiting the Wat Keow Temple located in the town centre. I also walked round the town centre trying to suss out what the tour companies were offering in terms of getting out to the islands. Come evening I had a proper look round the night market which at weekends apparently has extra stalls, so it was absolutely heaving! There was lots to see and there was even a small funfair with several carnival games which was popular. I settled down in the local Irish bar for the football later in the evening, although it was pretty dead for a Saturday night.

On Sunday I headed out to Railay Beach for the day, accessible only by boat due to the large cliffs on each side cutting it off from the mainland. The beach is one of the most popular in Thailand for its stunning white sand beaches flanked by these huge limestone cliffs. I left my main bag in Krabi Town and packed an overnight bag as my plan was to go to Ao Nang Beach for a couple of nights from Railay Beach. Railay has two beaches, east and west, as well as two neighbouring beaches, Phra Nang and Tongsai, all of which are cut off from the mainland by the cliffs. I was dropped by longboat on the east side.

The east beach was more mangroves than white sands, so I headed towards the nearby Phra Nang Beach via this viewpoint and lagoon walk. Luckily I had my walking boots as the path up to the viewpoint was incredibly steep although the views up top were stunning looking over towards Railay Beach. The path to the lagoon was even more challenging as I basically descended into this hole where I surrounded in all directions by the cliffs! I had complete solitude at the lagoon though as there were ladders and effectively rock climbing involved to get there, and the majority of people who had attempted the hike were wearing flip flops so had no chance making it there.

When arriving at Phra Nang Beach, recently voted one of the top ten beaches in the world, I relaxed there for a couple of hours, even swimming across to this nearby island. There was a small cave system there too. After lunch I headed to Railay West which was beautiful, the limestone cliffs absolutely surreal. There was another viewpoint walk here although I only went part way up so I could have more time to relax and swim on the beach. I caught a longboat over to Ao Nang Beach later that afternoon, which is where all the nightlife and budget beach based accommodation in Krabi is. It certainly had more of an atmosphere than Krabi Town and I even met a Southampton fan down the pub.

On Monday I was up bright and early to walk up Khao Ngon Nak, which translates literally as Dragons Crest Mountain. I wanted to begin the hike early before it got too hot, and after signing in with the park ranger ascended to the 565m summit, which presented me with 360 views of Krabi. It was a little windy up top but there were lots of rocks to climb up for better views, including this overhanging rock which looked slightly precarious but made for some good photos! On my descent I went via this waterfall although it was just another trickle. I made back to the start by late morning.

On my way back to Ao Nang I beach hopped along the coast, stopping at Tubkaek beach for photos, before continuing to Klong Muang Beach for lunch. Both had a brilliant backdrop of some of the smaller islands. They were also both a lot quieter than Ao Nang, primarily serving some of the more expensive hotel resorts. From Klong Muang I headed to Noppharat Thara Beach which neighboured Ao Nang, managing to even walk across to a couple of nearby islands as it was low tide. I eventually made it back to Ao Nang later that afternoon where I just hired a deck chair and chilled out. There was a nice sunset, and come evening I went and watched this fire show down the beach.

From Krabi I was originally planning to go out and visit a few of the islands, but in the end decided not to as it actually would have worked out really expensive. I therefore instead decided I would head over to Phuket. As I was staying in Ao Nang and my main bag was in Krabi Town, I decided to go back there via the Shell Cemetery which was a beach with lots of fossils on it. It was basically these huge slabs of rock, which were broken up and inside had fossilised shells. There was also an interesting visitor centre there. When getting back to Krabi Town I collected my stuff and headed over to the bus station, and I didn't have to wait long until a bus to Phuket arrived, arriving into Phuket later that afternoon.