The Other Side

Days 203 – 206, Tuesday 10th – Friday 13th March 2009 (Cath and Al)

The taxi drivers are on to a good thing at Phuket airport.

We were actually staying in Krabi (Cath had been to Phuket back in 2001 and it wasn’t on the top of her must-go-back-there list), but Phuket was the only place in the region we could fly into using our round-the-world ticket, and the Lonely Planet told us we should be able to catch a bus from there to Krabi. So, all prepared for but not looking forward to a cramped and hot 4-hour bus ride, we ignored all the ‘transport?!’ touts in the airport foyer and tried to find out where the bus stop was. 

It turned out we would need to get a taxi to the bus stop on the main road to make it in time for the next departure. So we joined a few other backpackers at the official taxi rank, insisting to the drivers that we didn’t need a taxi the whole way to Krabi, just to the bus stop. We couldn’t help feeling we were being sucked in, and I’m pretty sure we were all looking at each other thinking ‘we might be gullible, but these other people haven’t found a better way to get there either, so at least we can all be suckers together’.

Ten minutes later we were zooming along the road to Krabi in the taxi. The driver was very persuasive, let us feel we’d driven a hard bargain, and turned out to be quite an entertaining singer. And he had air-conditioning. I wonder how many backpackers ended up on that bus!

I did regret our decision at times – mainly the times I looked at what was left in the wallet, or when I looked at the road and saw how close we came to having head-on collisions or taking out pedestrians in the emergency lane – but it was hard not to give in to relaxation, with the bright sun soaking us, tropical green plants whizzing past and limestone cliffs appearing. Even the Thai pop videos on the in-car DVD player were making me happy.

True to his word, our driver got us to Ao Nang more than two hours earlier than the bus would have. We were staying further west of Ao Nang, on Noparat Thara beach, but we had time to stay in town for a bite to eat. That first Thai lunch could best be described as a flavour explosion. We had missed sauces and spices and vegetables so much! I felt like all I ate in Hong Kong was noodles, rice, batter, dough, and a bit of potato. Basically beige, with a touch of soy sauce and chili. But here things were green and red and delicious and people realised that stuffing things with meat wasn’t the only way to make them tasty. Paradise.

And then a lovely and quiet Thai-speaking man came and picked us up and drove us to P.A.N. Beach Bungalows, a family-run collection of wooden bungalows lining each side of a rectangular paddock, with a small open-air restaurant and bar at one end. And at that end happened to be a white sand beach, an expanse of turquoise water, and an island in the bay we could walk across to at low tide.

Our bargain basement bungalow!

(One of the cheapest on hostelbookers – great find by Al)

The only reason I was still wearing my jeans was that it was physically impossible to fit them in any of our bags by this stage, and this was a quick photo before we unpacked and totally messed up the room. There was no electricity during the day to power the ceiling fan, so it was time for cold showers (again, no electricity – but they may as well not bother with a hot water tap in this climate), and then a bit of exploring.

Low tide

We walked over to the island, avoiding sea cucumbers underfoot (which Al kept referring to as ‘Sea Turds’ – gross), and trying to shoo off a mangy dog who seemed to want to play but needed to work on its social skills (it kept barking and rushing at my feet, and I’m not usually scared of dogs, but I really thought it might take a playful bite).

Reading in the hammock on the porch

Nap, swim, read, nap, swim, read – aah, there’s the turquoise water we were expecting!

Eat, drink, play cards

The restaurant served really tasty Thai meals, which were good value considering how isolated we were, and the family were really welcoming – the set up seemed to be that dad did the driving, mum ran the front of house, and the kids manned the desk and waited tables. A guy who seemed to be either a cousin or a young uncle ran boat trips, and even though our plan had been to just continue the nap/swim/read/eat cycle, we were convinced to join him one day and disrupt our relaxation with some snorkelling. 

Yellow and black stripy fish were everywhere, looking for a feed

Hong Island – that little gap is the only connection between the interior of the island and the sea outside

We were the only boat in the Hong Island lagoon, surrounded by the karst cliffs – our voices echoed

Lunch stop

After lunch (honestly, I was wearing 50+ sunscreen) 

Night out in Ao Nang, the place to go for Al to have a Thai massage and for me to have some very classy tropical cocktails

Nopparat Thara was really the perfect place to be for us right now. I know this will sound ridiculous to read from home, but we had really needed a holiday! We got one, and with it we got our travel-mojo back.