TH: Krabi Trip Day 1

It has been a while since my last vacation. In 2011, my original plan was to travel on a monthly basis, unfortunately time and money seldom be on my side. I did travel end of 2011 to Bandung, visiting my brother and his family. For 2012, January went by and in February, I managed to get myself the sun (in which I can get plenty on it here :-)) and sea.

Actually, this trip was planned in August 2011 (that when I bought the tickets). Couple of days prior to the trip, I scanned through the itinerary and notice there was a service fee paid for "SKYB" costing RM28.80. Can't remember what I have booked, I attempted to contact AirAsia. However, the number listed on their website is the premium number which they will charge RM1.95 per minute. There is no 1-300 number or even local number. ....

A friend and I took a bus from KL Sentral to LCCT at 10.30am. Reached LCCT an hour later and proceed to departure hall. The departure hall for Krabi is at Y gate which is next to domestic departure, unlike other departures utilizing Gate T. This used to be part of the domestic and there are only two gates, Y1 and Y2. The area is partitioned from domestic side with 2m wall. Very cramped when you are in there and there is no toilet inside. No wonder they won't allow passengers to get into the hall until at least 1hr from departure time.

Departure Hall for Gate Y1 & Y2

Boarding started at 12.50pm. Full load. Our heavy today is 9M-AHP. Few families and those travel in groups were split (in terms of their seating arrangement), unless you have paid extra to secure your group seats. .The flight was uneventful and we were flying at 36000 ft above sea level over Penang, Langkawi and direct into Krabi. Landed at 149pm local time on runaway 14.

A short 1hr flight and we were in a place hotter than Kuala Lumpur.

Landed Krabi

Immigration was smooth although the officer seemed to take a bit more time to admit a Japanese family of four in front of me. My turn, it was fast and within minutes we were at the bus counter. There are choices to get from the airport to the Ao Nang beach, where we will be staying. The cheapest mode is bus transfer. It costs 150 Baht per person one way. A taxi with maximum of three pax cost 600 Baht per taxi. Since we were not in hurry, we opted for the bus.

Krabi Airport

The bus transfer is operated by Pichet Transport Co. Ltd. It is a white bus outside the arrival hall. Since the only arrival at that time was AK flight, all 12 passengers were from the same flight. One Caucasian couple, another one none Malaysian couple and the rest were Malaysians. On the way, the driver dropped the Caucasian couple first and then turn back to stop at this one travel agent. Hmm... pretty fishy...




Then, the travel agency manager came on board and told us to get down since they will arrange another transportation for us - except for this one non-Malaysian couple (the bus driver will drop them at their hotel)... now it smells fishy...

We were asked to wait, and then the travel agency staff trying to sell us the packages.. damn! luckily we did not take any since it was very expensive compare to the hotel excursion packages and those travel agents down at Ao Nang. When I asked why we have to change transport, I was told the bus could not get to the hotel due to its narrow street at Ao Nang.. LIAR..LIAR...LIAR --> the next day, I saw the same driver drove the airport transfer bus right to the street where our hotel is!

After 15mins, we were transported in the Thai-style pick up truck. Reached the hotel at 3.30pm. Check in was a bit slow. Read more about my review on Mercure Deevana Krabi here.

After one hour relaxing, we walked towards the main street of Ao Nang. Just at the junction of the main road, there were hawkers in tri-cycles selling varieties of seafood which are halal! Great! Spent 100 Baht eating the seafood skewers. Not bad. Apparently, a lot of tourists sampling this great cheap Thai fare :-) We walked for couple of hours and had our dinner at Chaba Thai Seafood restaurant. Apparently, it is easy to get halal food here. There are quite a number of Muslims in Krabi and there are few mosques as well. Quite a big mosques like those you see in Malaysia. So, the food is not a thing to worry.

Walked back to the hotel and called off an early night. Tomorrow is Phi Phi Islands day :-)

~ MT @ Mercure Deevana
~~ Krabi, Thailand
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~