Krabi - April 2011

Tom suggested having a beach holiday one night and after some hasty planning, we were on our way to Krabi and Bangkok. Our itinerary: 4nights in Krabi and 4nights in Bangkok.
Krabi holds a special place in our hearts as that's the first holiday we had went when we started dating. So, to finally go back there after 4 years, I was so looking forward to it.

At Singapore Changi Terminal 1

I'm really glad that they finally refurnished one of our oldest airport terminal, especially with so many international airlines using T1 for their flights. It looks so much brighter and cleaner now. There used to be this moldy/damp smell at the old T1 (Think: Clothes stuck right at the bottom of your mountainous pile of clothes and haven't been worn for donkey years. Get it?)

Even that smell has vanished!!! Now it's just fresh and airy. Almost like new :))

Our Thai airway flight bound for Bangkok was departing at freaking 7.05 AM. And that's not all. Upon arrival in Bangkok, we had to wait another 5hours for our connecting flight to Krabi. Bless us.

I could barely open my eyes and smile.

Tom keeps insisting on using flash for our pictures. He says quote "Without flash, my eyes look like panda eyes and my forehead looks prominent"
Ermmmm, now that he mentioned it, it's actually true :P

I do agree that some photos look better with flash cos it's makes the photo clearer and sharper. But when you are under white florescent light, the photo would turn out looking slightly yellow~ish

Like this====>

I do admit it's still a nice photo (Thanks to the two subject in the photo of cos). But it doesn't reflect the true or accurate colours at that point in time. Arghhhhh, I having such a difficult time explaining that in words, but u know what I mean right? Hopefully....

We were beginning to feel the excitement mounting when our Krabi flight finally takes off from Bangkok. Our minds were thinking sandy beaches , sun, snorkeling, Thai food.... So imagine our shock when we read the first page news in The Nation. "Torrential rains, floods, mudslides and rough seas.... unseasonable storms inundated six southern provinces and offshore islands, killing at least 17 people and stranding thousands more..... Areas hit are Koh Samui, Krabi Surat, Nakhon, and most Southern Thailand Provinces"

We didn't know how bad it was until we arrive at Krabi airport. We could see the heavy downpour outside. To make matter worse, our hotel transfer pickup was no show at the arrival hall. We waited for an hour (with the flooding, traffic jam, it's understandable that they might be late ) till we were the last few passengers there. Left with no choice, we decided to make our way there on our own. We were fortunate (in a way) that we manage to get a big sturdy 8-seaters van to drive us to the Ao Nammao Bay pier that goes to Railay Bay (800bahts). A regular car couldn't have made the journey there in those floods. We heard from a couple that their taxi had to u-turn back as the car couldn't drive through the flood. The journey that usually takes 30mins took almost 2hours.

Scene that greets us at every roads

At the pier, we had to negotiate with the longboat guy to bring us to Railay beach. They would only depart for Railay bay if there's enough people to make their trip worthwhile (usually minimum of 8 people). Since there's only us and another German couple, they wanted us to pay double each, which we refuse. In the end, we managed to agree on 100 Bahts per person.
We had to slosh our way through the muddy knee high sea water and by the time we reached the long boat, we seriously looked a sight.

NOTE: If you have tons of luggage (like us), please book the hotel transfer service!!! Waddling through knee high water while trying to balance your luggage and with the heavy downpour was seriously no joke. We saved like 200bahts but it's so not worth all the trouble.

There we were, completely drenched from head to toes, muddy from the knee down, tugging our luggages and dripping droplets of water as we finally walked toward the hotel reception. Looking back now, it was actually quite hilarious and adventurous. We did laugh about it and thinking what a 'Great" start to our vacation. :))

The experience this time round was completely different. Due to the unseasonal rain, we couldnt do any snorkeling or tanning by the sea. Most of the day were spent just laying around the room, reading, relaxing and playing card games.

Check out the gloomy sky

The complimentary breakfast was pretty good. Mix of western and thai food.

Our favourite haunt for Thai food. Can't remember the resort name but their Tom yam soup is pretty good. We love their pizza too!!

And finally, a day of sunshine!!

It must be a lucky day cos they had Tom's favourite food on their breakfast spread!! He had like 3 helpings of it.

Here we are, at Railay bay!!

The beach on the western side of Railay bay
(photos look so much better when there's sun!!)

Much as I would like to say we were doing rock climbing, I shall not lie. I mean look at us! You'll have to be really fit to be able to do that, and we're so NOT. Plus I'm afraid of height :P
The lady in the picture had seriously strong arms!

Well, at least we had a day of sun. Albeit just a couple of hours. We should have checked the weather forecast before we planned the trip. The locals mentioned the wet weather was totally unexpected and unseasonal, so either way, we'll never really know.

To Krabi airport.

This time round, it was so much better. No more sloshing in muddy water. There's people helping us with our luggage and even a golf-cart to ferry us from the pier to the taxi stand. And all for just 1200bahts.

We arrived too early for our flight to Bangkok. Since we had 2hours plus before check in, moi suggested using their 100bahts/hr internet services to pass time. Tom gave me this distasteful look and said "I don't wanna be losers like them. Can't live without internet. You're suppose to be on a holiday and not think about work"

SAYS THE PERSON WHO HAS BEEN COMPLAINING THE LAST FOUR DAYS THAT HIS COMPANY'S EMAIL SERVER WAS DOWN AND HE HAS NO ACCESS TO HIS EMAILS ON HIS IPHONE!!!!!!!!

Sure, I wanna be a loser like them. Hmmphhh.
And Tom had to take a super zoomed picture of the loser :P

And this coming from the person who has been playing Zombies Vs Plants on his Iphone for the last couple of days. So, Tom, join the club. You are a loser tooo :PPP

Next stop: BANGKOKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!