TH: Krabi Trip Day 3

Morning!! Again, need to find a place for breakfast :-) actually last night, we have decided to do cycling around the town. Since our target place for breakfast is Starbucks, we planned to rent the mountain bikes and cycle to Starbucks. Then from there, do another 1 - 2 hours biking.

We forgot that time in Thailand is one hour later from Malaysia. So, 8am there is 9am in Malaysia. Guess what, the sun already shined above us and felt like our skin is burning! Not to mention the path we took, which tested our endurance....

After 1.5 hours, we were done and back to the hotel for a rest. After few hours, we went out venturing the same Ao Nang place again. Wonder when I am going to get tired of the same place..... we walked towards the Ao Nang beach, the area where the hotels facing the beach are. We found couple of massage places and this one attracted us... BF Massage. On daily basis, they have 50% discount on massage between 10am - 2pm. Good bargain. The massage shelter is by the beach and the wind blew from the sea makes it a relaxing moment. The only complain is the masseurs! Can't they stop talking to each other ... it really disturbs us...

After massage, we went for a lunch at the hawker stall near our hotel, and in the evening, spent time at the hotel spa. It was a good bargain, but unfortunately for me, in the room, the air-cond is blowing at its fullest couple with hot steam room and the cold rose body scrub made me feel uncomfortable.

It was 2.5 hour spa and when we finished, it was nearly 9.30pm... gosh.. need to fill up our stomach.. too a tuk-tuk towards McDonald's area and found out quite a lot of stalls were closing. We just wanted a street food and tried fried noodles and fried rice. Again, unfortunately for my fried rice, it was a bit spicy and was not cooked properly - I ended up with diarrhea the whole night! What a way to spend the final night at Krabi.

There is no photo since my friend forgot to bring the charger for his camera... the battery ran out and sorry, no photo to share...

~ MT @ Thailand
~~ Mercure Deevana, Krabi

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

TH: Krabi Trip Day 2

Day 2 starts pretty early. We were told to be at the lobby for transfer to the jetty by 9am. Since we did not have breakfast as part of our hotel stay, we need to find breakfast somewhere else. The problem is, no restaurant open this early here, except hotels. We walked few hundred meters towards Ao Nang beach and lastly, saw Burger King 24hrs service. Yeah! Walked in, glance through the menu and ... aargh... something there that prevented us from ordering here. Walked out and few steps ahead, 7-Eleven... yeay.. breakfast time :-) Spent equivalent to RM5 for a pineapple pie, coffee and yogurt drink. Had a breakfast on the bench at Ao Nang beach.. nice ...

While enjoying our breakfast, we didn't realize it was nearly 9am. Sh**.. walked as fast as we could back to the hotel, change and zoomed to the lobby. Alas, the pick up only arrived at 9.10am. With us, there are another 6 guests going for the same trip. 4 from the UK and 2 Singaporeans.

The tour agent used is Ko Phi Phi Tours. We noticed other hotels such as Sheraton and Ao Nang Villa also use them. So, i guess it must be trustworthy.

At the jetty, we have to wait for another 30 minutes for other people to arrive and the speed boat to get ready. Our boat can accommodate 30++ pax and it is full.

Our first stop is Ao Maya then snorkeling and proceed to Phi Phi for lunch. Lunch is just so-so, and PhiPhi island is just another local island like those in Malaysia. It is good for the local to make some money from the tourists.

After PhiPhi, another snorkeling and back to the mainland. By 4pm, we are back on the shore and our transport to bring us back to hotel are ready.

Tips: Make sure you go to toilet whenever you have chance and before you board the boat. If they stop for snorkeling in the middle of the sea, you will find yourself uncomfortable holding onto your bladder :-)

The jetty

Walking to the speed boat 

Inside the speed boat - best seat, towards the corner. Do not recommend sitting near the engine

At Ao Maya Beach

Welcome!

Lunch at Phi Phi - full board

Take a short rest at the hotel, and we went out discovery Ao Nang for the second time. For dinner, we stopped at Bamboo Special Seafood. The ambience is nice and the arrays of seafood in front entice us to have dinner here. Unfortunately, the service is very slow and the food is not so great. Couple of tourist next to our table ordered clams and once delivered, apparently nearly half of clams are not cooked. At least the restaurant took it back and deduct from the cost of meal. That is what I called customer service.

Bamboo Special - where we have dinner

Prior to our dinner, we had a reflexology at the Seaview Massage. it is situated at the corner of the Ao Nang road towards the beach. Although the price is competitive, I got the old masseur... and the results - do not feel anything! She even admitted that she is old and cannot press hard enough... what a waste!


~ MT @ Thailand,
~~ Mercure Deevana, Krabi

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

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 ~