Trip to Krabi

I just came back from Krabi, Thailand about a week ago and this is definitely one holiday destination i intend to visit again in the near future. Krabi is pretty similar to Phuket except for one major difference... its not as commercialized as Phuket. The benefit of that is, people are nicer and you don't have to pay money to breathe air... ok i am exagerating, but when i went to phuket some years back, everything was about money.

We stayed in Aonang Villa Resort which is really all the shops & Restaurants. Just walk out of the hotel's compound and you are greeted with loads of stalls selling everything from souvenirs to clothes to food. There was even a 7-11 just outside our hotel, which was great just in case we needed to catch a mid-night snack.... hey its a holiday. all diet plans go out the window.

During our stay we visited Phi Phi island... where a boat takes you out for deep water snorkeling in about 2 different locations, 2 beaches (one of which was Maya beach, where the famed "The Beach" movie with Leornardo DeCaprio was shot) and lunch. Its a whole day event and the boat ride took about 40 minutes just to get to those places. Whole day of water activity and swimming sure burns you out... by the time we reached the last beach i felt totally drained and couldn't wait to get back to the hotel...so much for me being a beach bum... must be losing it. Below is a picture of some islands we passed during our 40 minute boat ride.

The place where we had lunch was this island called Phi Phi Don (i hope i got the name right) and just walking down the streets, it felt like you are in Hawaii or something. the music, the shops, the restaurants, the people... for a second, i forgot i was in Thailand. We decided that next time, we have to stay on that island, though i heard the rooms there are pretty pricey.

The following day we hired a taxi and went to this place called the Emerald Pool. Now when i first heard it, i was wondering what a weird name for a pool... when i got there, i realized why its called that. The water is literally green. Check out picture of wifey in the pool.



Why is the pool green? My guess is there some kind of algae growing at the bottom of the pool (you can feel it when your feet touches the bottom of the pond) which is really green and the water is crisp clear, hence you get a green pool. As we were heading out, we saw a sign that said Blue Pool... so we thought what the heck... lets check it out. So we hiked for about 1 km through the forest...

and voila, we came across the blue pool... the water is really blue. not your usual sea blue, but bright blue. Check out the picture. Creepy eh? No one is allowed to swim in it, and believe me, looking at it, for some some eerie reason, i didn't want to swim in it either.


On the way back i had a nasty slip and fell into the stream... and the damn camera which was with me and went for a plunge too. I quickly jumped out, but the camera was soaked. Luckily i had the sense not to turn it on, took it back to the hotel, opened it up, removed the batteries and let it dry over night... the next morning when i turned it on... it worked... just like it never got wet. So here is a tip... if you drop anything electronic into water... don't turn it on till its fully dry... if its on when it drops in (like your phone), then it may be sayunara...but otherwise, this tip will help you save your beloved electronic device.

Anyway after the emerald pool, we went to the hot water springs... where the water was about 45 to 50 degrees celcius... it felt hot enough to cook a packet of maggi. Boiled "nuts" anyone. hehehehehee. Anyway, no pics since at that point my camera was still wet, and i didn't dare to on it. We spent some time there and then we headed back.

The next day we were leaving, so we just lazed around in the hotel room till it was time to check out and head home. All in all, it was a great trip and like i said... definitely worth a visit again for sure. Anyone else visited Krabi before and care to share their tale? As usual, look forward to hearing your comments.