Krabi
We landed in Krabi airport half expecting to be blasted by supersoakers and water balloons (we arrived during Songkran) but we later discovered they only celebrate it for a day in the south, and 3+ in the north. For those that don’t know, Songkran marks the Thai New Year and comes with many traditions, most notably the water festival. From what I’ve read, it sounds like an enormous multi-day water fight, we were a bit sad to miss out.
We stayed in Krabi Town for 3 nights, which is 30 mins away from Ao Nang, the gateway to the islands. We made our way to Ao Nang beach on our first day, and decided to visit Ko Poda after a glowing recommendation. The islands can only be reached by longtail boat, but the astronomical prices for some of the islands are farcical.
Maya Bay/Phi Phi have been ruined by mass tourism since their exposure on ‘The Beach’, and it’s no surprise that the former is closing for 4 months in June, with a huge clean up operation planned.
Once we reached Ko Poda, and reluctantly paid the sneaky national park fee, we quickly left the crowds and took a short walk around the other side of the island for a bit of solitude. We spent the afternoon on these white sands, dipping in the sea and occasionally ducking into our beach wigwam for shade.
The Krabi night market was 2 minutes from our guest house, so we ate there every night. The food was ridiculously cheap and delicious. We tried Thai staples like phad thai, various curries (massaman, red/green coconut), and mango sticky rice for the first time.
We didn’t fancy shelling out for another pricey island trip on our last day, so we decided to explore the town. We paid a visit to the Wat Kaew Korawaram temple, inside it, the walls are filled with Buddhist murals. Graphic, sexual, violent, and downright fucking weird.
Afterwards, we stumbled across a market, selling all the usual gear, except for a stall that had 5 ‘Siberian Huskies’ for sale. We spent 10 minutes debating whether to buy these fluffballs, then, just as we were leaving, a lady flashed us a scrap of paper with 15,000 baht written on it (about £341). We glumly shook our heads and went for a stroll along the river.
Khao Lak
Khao Lak is a series of coastal villages, and a couple of hours up the coast from Krabi. This was essentially our holiday within a holiday, 5 days of pure relaxation. Our small resort had a nice little pool, and was close to Khuk Khak beach and a zillion restaurants/the Ban Niang night market.
We ate street food everyday, we got a Thai massage (which really hurt but in a good way), I read another Levison Wood book, we got woken up daily by a Common Koel (the most annoying bird I have ever come across), Caitlin tried to improve her tan, and we sank a few Chang beers. Also, Khao Lak seems to be a hit with German tourists, they were everywhere, including a couple in our resort.
During one afternoon by the pool, an excited German lady strutted over to us and showed us a video of a King Cobra coiled on the lawn in front of her room. It had happened that very morning. We thanked her for the heads up, and treaded carefully for the rest of our stay.
In truth, the most strenuous thing we did in Khao Lak was the visit to the Ban Nam Khem Tsunami Memorial. The area of Khao Lak was decimated by the 2004 tsunami, and it was the hardest hit area of the country. Between 4000 – 10,000 people died. Many villages (including Baan Nam Khem), beaches and resorts were totally destroyed. I’m sure we all remember witnessing the harrowing footage on the news. The least we could do was to pay our respects and visit the memorial.
The area of Khao Lak has recovered well, with most of the buildings having been rebuilt and tourism is booming once again.
Surat Thani/Sonchana Farm and Elephant Sanctuary
After a sweaty 1 hour wait in a bus stop, the local bus to Surat Thani finally arrived. Our awful expectations quickly turned to pleasant surprise. The bus was fairly new, had good A/C and legroom, and it was super cheap. Fast forward 3 hours, including a scenic journey through the limestone mountain haven of Khao Sok National Park, and we arrived in the city of Surat Thani. The city is basically a gateway to the islands within the gulf of Thailand, but our brief stay here was for a different reason.
The next morning, a driver picked us up and drove us 90 minutes deep into Khao Sok NP to Sonchana Farm and Elephant Sanctuary. It’s a family run farm, which concentrates on eco tourism through Thai cooking classes and ethical elephant care. Efforts were made to ensure we visited an elephant sanctuary with good ethics, no riding, no chains etc, and Sonchana Farm seemed like the perfect fit, and it was.
On arrival, we were swiftly introduced to Somboon, a 56 year old Asian elephant. We were very excitable, especially Caitlin. Despite being the smallest species of elephant, we felt tiny in comparison. We fed him bananas and sugar cane, (Somboon gets fed 4 times a day), and balls of rice, mango and even more banana. He boshed it all in minutes. After feeding, we gave him a wash in a nearby pool.
Now then, some of you have seen the pictures already, and I can confirm that Caitlin has not obtained an unwanted appendage and I am not holding a turd. They are, in fact, coconut shells that we used to scrub Somboon’s skin. Over the course of 40 minutes, we scrubbed his back, he soaked us a few times, and he also did an enormous shit. It was about 2 foot long. One of the guys had to fish it out, poor bloke. It was amazing to be so close to such an iconic animal, it felt a bit surreal to be honest.
After a quick shower, we headed to our cooking class. There was no plastic in the kitchen, big efforts were made to use natural materials as much as possible. Over the course of an hour, we made Paek Leung, Gai Yang, Tom Khagai and green curry. The food was insane. Just before we left, the guys gave us a little bamboo cup souvenir and a recipe sheet, which was a nice touch.
Oh, and we met this little guy too, Leo, named after the Thai beer.
A fantastic day, and doing it all in jungle surroundings only added to the experience. We cannot recommend Sonchana Farm enough.
Next up, the northern delights of Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
Travel Ramblings 