Bangkok, Krabi Town & Ao Nang, Thailand 2020

Bangkok was our 2 day layover before heading to Krabi/Ao Nang. It is a loud, crowded and busy city. We got to our Hostel (Zee Thai Hostel), which is located in the Bang Khun Phrom district. If you are looking for a place to stay I highly recommend ANYWHERE, literally anywhere but Zee Thai Hostel. Our private room was nice, the a/c worked and the bed was comfortable. The women’s bathroom, however, was a whole other story. It was not cleaned once while we were there, (dirty underwear in the shower stalls, and feminine products stuck to toilet stall walls) it was dirty and smelled. The staff were unhelpful, and were unresponsive to the front desk and What's App contact.

Our first day in Bangkok, we looked at a map (that we had picked up at the airport) and selected some attractions within walking distance. As we started to wander down the road, we found a tourist booth that warned some Tuk Tuk's (a scooter with a covered platform with seats attached behind it) offering "tours" were a scam, and would overcharge you.

In such a busy city it is easy to get lost, so we ended up asking a local for directions. He was very nice about giving us directions, but also suggested a short list of three stops (Wat Saket Ratchawora Mahawihan, Wat Noranat, and Sunthrikaram) we should do while in Bangkok.

As we continued to walk a Tuk Tuk pulled up and asked if we needed a ride, conveniently right after we had spoken to a local man. At the time we did not think twice, hopped in after negotiating a price for him to take us to all 3 of the stops (looking back this is probably the exact scam the tourist booth was warning of).

Our Tuk Tuk driver's name was Eddie, he was really nice and very informative, he took us to all our stops around the Golden Mount. Eddie really did bring a fun and informative twist to our morning sightseeing walk.

Eddie got out and walked through all the temples with us, making sure we saw the "important parts". He took us to Wat Saket Ratchawora Mahawihan and Wat Noranat

Photo Credit: V.Gray

the last stop was Sunthrikaram, this is where the scam part came in. Before he took us to our third and final stop, he took us to Max Fashion. Max Fashion makes Armani and other name brand suits. We had just gotten tailor made clothes made in Hoi An, Vietnam, so we were not interested in getting any done. But we went in anyway, talked to a salesman who was quick to grab us a few beers and show us suits and pricing (always easier to get someone to spend money when they have had a couple). We listened to their sales pitch, politely said "no thank you" and walked back out to Eddie and his Tuk Tuk.

As we approached the red light he asked us if we bought anything in Max Fashion, when we explained we had not because we had just bought suits in Vietnam. His face dropped, he pulled over quickly and told us that our next stop was across the road. That was it! The end of the tour. We figured he probably got a cut for every customer he brought to Max Fashion that purchased suits.He didn’t take off immediately, so we said "thank you", snapped a quick selfie with him and parted ways. The tuk tuk ride with Eddie was fun, and we got some insight from him on the attractions that we would not have gotten otherwise. He brought humour to the tour. Looking back, knowing that we were probably getting scammed for the 50 baht, we still would have gotten in his tuk tuk.

We walked across the road to Wat Ratchanatdaram Worewiha. We walked around for 30 minutes, seeing the temple and monks first hand. After the anti-climatic end to our Tuk Tuk tour we decided to start heading back to our Hostel to cool off.

On the way back we decided to hike up Golden Mount (Wat Saket), at the top Bangkok is laid out before you in every direction.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

That night we went to Khao San Road for dinner, it is the tourist and backpacker hub of Bangkok. Known for cheap hostels, food, drinks, good night life (no matter what night of the week there's a party), clothes, souvenirs and also the darker side Thailand; the lady boys/prostitution is here as well. We got dinner and drinks, and people watched. There were men playing games in the bars with paid women; ladyboys and women catcalling the younger guys who were walking around the road; and people who sell souvenirs and clothes wandered by. There seemed to never be a dull moment.

We took the next day pretty easy and walked over to The Royal Grand Palace. When we went in they told us that he had to buy pants and a long sleeve (he was wearing shorts and a shirt), and I had to buy pants to go in. We decided not to go in, and walked over to see Thewasauna (Brahmin Shrine). In all honesty nothing stood out overly in Bangkok, it was not one of our least favourite places.

We found that Bangkok gets really smoggy and heavy late morning/early afternoon until around dinner time. So we headed back to our Hostel, had a low-key

Photo Credit: V.Gray night, and prepared for our early flight the next morning.

We booked an AirBnB in Ao Nang, just outside of Krabi. The early morning flight really taxed us, so when we arrived we just relaxed, and sat on the beach with a few beers. .

Ao Nang has lots of nice restaurants, bars, hotels/air bnb's, and it is not as busy as Krabi. Also if you walk down to Ao Nang beach there is a monkey trail which is nice and easy. Monkey trial is a short loop leading to a small beach then back to the main area. You may see monkeys, we were not so lucky.

We decided the next morning we would get a boat over to Railay Beach. We had Photo Credit: V.Gray

heard good things from fellow travellers about Railay Beach and thought we would spend the day there.

We took a longtail boat (long boat) over to Railay beach. These boats are really cool and loud! You do have to walk into the water and climb a small ladder to board these boats (so better pack light). We sat near the front under the sun shade and enjoyed the views.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Once we got to Railay Beach, we started at Phra Nang Nam Cave or The Cave of Dicks. The locals told us the story about the Cave of Dicks; That a fisherman went out fishing and got lost at sea.

His wife was waiting for his safe return home made offerings. When he did not return she stayed in the cave looking over the sea. Now local fishermen make offerings here before going out for safe travels, luck, and for the goddess to protect them. Women also come here and make offerings and pray for fertility. There are plenty of fertility shrines throughout Thailand.Yes, you do see penises everywhere; trust me you are not losing it.

You can also hike through the cave and see the Strait of Malacca.

As we continued past the resort/restaurant Photo Credit: V.Gray

(the left of the cave), we walked around to the other side of the point and found a view point hike.

This is a challenging hike, honestly if we did not have our running shoes in our backpack I would not have attempted it.There were several points where I did not think I could do it (I did cut the hike short).

In this picture there is a small rope to the left, that is where you start and go up. The rope is the railing and it moves as you climb your way up.

This was a really cool hike. At the end there is a lagoon, which was supposed to be absolutely gorgeous, and a viewpoint. I made it about half way until I admitted I did not know if I could physically do it, and honestly I am glad. Photo Credit: V.Gray Always know your limits, especially when travelling.

You might be looking at the picture (to the right) going “It's not that bad.” Well after climbing up the front of the hill with a rope and insecure rocks, you meet a flat sort of easy hike for a bit.You follow the rope over trees, up more rock faces etc.. Then there is the down part, to the lagoon.

This part has narrow ledges, vertical ropes and just gets more challenging. We saw one other couple that turned away 3/4 of the way to the lagoon and a solo climber (she stopped at the same point I did). So Ryan continued alone to the lagoon, while I waited at the half-way point. When he got there the lagoon was dry! Photo Credit: V.Gray

Depending on the tide, depends if the lagoon has water or not (rookie mistake).

Once he made it back to me, we took the other path that led to the viewpoint over Railay Beach. The second part of the view point hike was not as challenging as the lagoon hike.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Even saying that after reaching the viewpoint and then returning to the halfway point, we now had to go down the first half of the climb.

After all was said and done we completed the view point hike, and Ryan completed the lagoon hike at Railay Beach. We then retired to the beach for a few hours with some snacks and watched the monkeys play in the trees overhead.If you go to spend some time on Railay Beach or stay overnight, be prepared for a lot of people, it is a very popular tourist destination.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We took some time, and rented a scooter to travel from Ao Nang into Krabi Town.

We walked down by the river bank where there is the mud crab statue, then continued on through the markets.

From here we took the scooter through town, and went to find a National Park. The Park was said to have a great hike and the possibility of seeing elephants (my favourite animals).

Photo Credit: V.Gray

It turns out the National Park was closed that day, so we decided to keep on riding and see what else we could find.

Sometimes just riding around on the scooter seeing the sights is a nice change from walking. We did find an elephant sanctuary, just outside of Ao Nang, so we took some of their information and carried on. I wanted to look into it a bit more before we went. I had heard stories from other travellers about the treatment of the elephants in these sanctuaries. Looking further into it I found most of the places that are advertising are not legitimate Photo Credit: V.Gray sanctuaries by definition.The elephants are tied up, beaten or “rented” to other companies throughout the year (they go to work in tourist attractions like elephant rides).

We continued back to Ao Nang and went to the Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park by Noppharat Thara Beach. it is not very big, we walked the entire area in about 30 minutes. One of the few nights we probably should have called it an early night because of another early ferry ride, but we stayed up and had a few drinks at the local bar instead.

They had a great deal on: buy a drink and get a free shot. We couldn't pass it up. The bars have games at the tables, making it easy to lose track of time. Between focusing on your game and accepting “top ups” on your drink, suddenly you realise that they have been around 3 to 4 times now. Hey you're on vacation, so who really cares. We did eventually make it back Photo Credit: V.Gray

to our AirBnB to get some sleep before catching our ferry over to Koh Phi Phi. We were going to spend the next couple of day's island hopping; starting at Koh Phi Phi.

Cheers!

Map 1 - A map of Thailand and places we travelled.

Map 2 - Close up on Krabi Town and Ao Nang.

**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray

This post is edited by E.Gray Editing (https://www.egrayediting.com ).**