Tag Archives: Krabi

Day 171 – Parking nationals

All packed up and ready to go! The pool did look nice and cool in all our gear

All packed up and ready to go! The pool did look nice and cool in all our gear

As comfortable as it was, time has come to say our final farewell to the Krabi Discovery Resort that is totally not in Krabi. Not least because we could not afford more than this one night anyway 🙂

Our next destination was the Khao Sok National Park not far away at all, so we decided to take the scenic route there, bagging two more national parks along the way. We decidedly left Phuket to its own, after our experiences of Bali and Lombok, we were all touristed out for now.

There was only one little flaw in my cunning plan: It turned out that I forgot to check the maps on our GPS and it just so happened that we only had another 50 km or so more left before the big blank green of the no map generic land started up. We were little worried though. With less than 200 km to go, a mobile phone with heaps of data and a paper map, we were more than prepared. Plus, the Garmin does not need an installed map to record the track for later.

Limestone caves turned temple are a thing

Limestone caves turned temple are a thing

We followed the main road through the hills and stopped at one of the many signposted roadside attractions for a brief break. Limestone cave pimped by temple-y bits seems to be a theme of the region.

The roads through the hills were nice, but once again the following coastal areas utterly failed to tickle our fancy. We had a horrible and overpriced lunch in one of the touristy roadside places and moved on quickly to forget about it.

The next national park had little to hold us for long, either. The road was nice and curvy, but the beaches were mostly blocked off by the high walls of massive beach side resort complexes or “developed” little towns in between.

We got our reward after all though, when we reached the higher ground of the Khao Sok National Park.

And then we came across this view

And then we came across this view

The air got cooler, the road curvy again and the views got up to fantastic at some points. Did I mention that I love limestone formations?

We concluded the day with some needed map updates and a good dinner in our lovely (and cheap) riverside retreat. Tucked away behind a palm tree plantation, it felt a lot like an Indonesian home stay – the good kind.

 

 

Day 170 – Familiar territory

To not repeat our mistake in regards to the tropical heat, we set the alarm clock for sunrise this morning. Luckily still being somewhat close to the equator, sunrise is at 6.30am which isn’t even too bad. So we got up, packed our tent away and drove off in search of breakfast.

no words, just gawk

no words, just gawk

The Hat Chao Mai National Park is really pretty, even along the road. We stopped to take some pictures on a bridge because the water looked amazing in the early morning light. About 100 meters behind the bridge, we found a row of food stalls, many of which were already open. So we sat down at a table in the sand, ordered fried rice, decadently rich Chai tea and enjoyed our view. The limestone cliffs offshore make for such an interesting coast line.

Again, we were having problems with Rocinante’s electronics. This lead to us to doing little hops between shops,hoping to find a hard ware store somewhere. Flo needed contact cleaner spray as he detected that the battery was having troubles as well. Along the road, we found a mall which had EVERYTHING so we even got to replace the missing electrical tape from way back when.

Bonebreaker on the scooter, but no match for battle hardened Rocinante.

Bonebreaker on the scooter, but no match for battle hardened Rocinante.

From here on out, we came to familiar territory soon. Having spent a special holiday around Ao Nang already, the scenery around Krabi looked like home. We waved to the airport as we passed. Since the bike hadn’t been with us on the holiday, we decided to stay another night at the Discovery Resort to give Flo the opportunity to see how Rocinante performs on the roads that nearly killed my spine on a scooter.

Arriving at the resort, no one was there. Or at least no one we knew. A quick phone call later saw Dah and another staff member return. Big smiles and waves when they saw us but still only

I'm getting good at taking the fairings off ...

I’m getting good at taking the fairings off …

a 200 baht discount per night. Buh hoo. This made it rather expensive but we still stayed for the night. Arriving at our destination so early gave Flo time to work on the bike again. AGAIN everything came off, got cleaned and the contact spray was used. Two things might have possibly been the culprit: One washer was missing on the battery side of things which might have resulted in a bad grounding or a connector near the impact site form the fall recently was bad, as it had burn marks from having sparked multiple times. Fixing both seems to have done the trick, Rocinante started reliably again. Fingers crossed! But actually, the starting process sounds better already so we are hopeful.

Otherwise, the day was uneventful; filled with jumping into the swimming in the pool, catching up on the blog, one more dish of fried vegetables with cashew nuts and a movie in the evening. 🙂

 

Day 154 – Action time! (5th Month-i-versary)

Carrying your own paddle

Carrying your own paddle

Two more days in Thailand. When we realized this, we actually got our lazy bums to do some of the activities that are offered here. Klaus and Silvia had already been kayaking and recommended it. Flo was very keen and I was persuaded to actually do some physical activity.

Because of the tide, we started at 2pm which is right in the afternoon heat. Our group consisted of four two-men kayaks and a guide. So in the end, it was a proper tour.

From the Discovery Resort, we walked the 50m to the pier where we all hopped onto our kayaks. The tour would be 6km long and take about 2 1/2 hours. Despite my initial reluctance, I enjoyed it very much and Flo started teasing me about being way too keen to paddle. :p

Passing through there was very cool

Passing through there was very cool

We moved along the limestone coast for a bit before turning into a small passageway which lead us thorough channels into the mangroves. Here, we realized why the tide was important as some of the spots we went through were so shallow that we scrapped over the ground.

On the way back to the pier, one had to move back out into the open on a wide river which has the most beautiful backdrop. One of the other couples was nice enough to take some pictures of us and send them. 🙂

Arriving back at the resort, we hopped into the pool to cool off. Since we still had Klaus’ waterproof camera with us, you also get some pool pictures.

 

Day 146 – Let the chilling commence

We were thinking about whether to actually continue to blog for the next 11 days, since this Thailand trip is in a way not part of our home to home journey. Then again, it is what we are doing within that year, even if Rocinante had to stay tucked away back in KL.

limestone formations are all around.

limestone formations are all around.

So for the first time in our relationship, we are attempting to have a “normal” holiday. Like, staying in one place and not try something physically crazy or weird. Just a room, a pool and time to go by. For the most part at least 🙂

After a decadently long breakfast, we organised some wheels for our time here. We could not abstain from bikes entirely now, could we? Also, the place is cheap but a bit out of the way, so we need those wheels to get around. Unfortunately, no Honda Wave or any other (semi)-manual bike for me. Well, the 110cc automatic will have to do.

first LunchWe went out for lunch and to pick up some cash – which I should have done yesterday at the airport but have not. We had to go the 20

km to Ao Nang, the next tourist town down the coast towards Krabi. Once again, we were re-assured that there is nothing but ATMs and maybe other / cheap infrastructure that would hold us at these places.

We got back and hopped into the pool for the first time.