{"id":2090,"date":"2017-02-24T16:31:30","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T16:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/?p=2090"},"modified":"2017-02-24T16:31:30","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T16:31:30","slug":"a-weekend-ashore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/?p=2090","title":{"rendered":"A Weekend Ashore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday 17th Feb<\/p>\n

As usual we were up early, having adapted to the routine common in most hot countries: to rise early in order to make the most of the cooler hours, and rest during the hottest part. Sleeping in would have been impossible anyway as we were in the middle of a busy longtail route and they start ferrying passengers back and forth early! The constant drone of their engines was beginning to get beyond irritating after an hour or so.\u00a0 It was a relief, therefore when Paul was able to confirm a place at Krabi Boat Lagoon and we moved off immediately so that we would avoid the lowest tide on the route. It was a bit hairy anyway with mudbanks either side of us and the depth monitor showing mostly 3 metres but dropping to 2.8 at times. It only needs 1.5 for us to go aground and although it has happened before and Paul says it\u2019s nothing to be scared of, it\u2019s an unnerving sensation. Anyway we kept to the \u2018path\u2019 (mostly \u2013 Paul took a bit of a short cut to speed things up a bit) and then all we had to do was identify the entrance to the river.\u00a0 Spotting things on the horizon at sea, it\u2019s easy to become confused regarding perspective. We could see no way in even with the help of binoculars until we were fairly near. The landscape is a lot flatter in this area and there was a long row of trees forming part of the mangrove swamp at the edge of the marina entrance and they carried on almost all the way to the pontoons.\u00a0 We were guided to our berth by Ben, the marina manager and once securely tied up we checked in with him at the office. Ben gave us some useful information and maps on the area.\u00a0 By then it was 1 30 and too hot to do much else than work or read with the fans on in the cabin.\u00a0 We went for a drink and dinner at the bar later (where they were more than happy to cater for my vegan, and Paul\u2019s non-spicy requirements) and Paul arranged a hire car for the following day.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Noisy longtails at Ao Nang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Looking for the way in to Krabi Boat Lagoon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
Boat Lagoon Entrance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Sister Midnight in her berth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saturday 18th Feb<\/p>\n

The early morning chorus of birds here makes you look up (or wake up) and take notice. Their cries are so different to those of the seagulls or wood pigeons back home. One bird\u2019s very loud call sounds exactly <\/em>like Mr Punch from Punch and Judy. I really thought it was someone on a nearby pontoon practising for that act (in Thai, naturally)! Paul, hearing it just as he was waking up, sleepily asked \u2018is that a bird, or a screeching woman\u2019?\u00a0 The morning after that, Mr Punch’s cry was responded to by an even louder bird call similar to that of a jammed car alarm and this time Paul muttered \u2018Crikey, I wouldn\u2019t want to mess with him!\u2019. Try as I might I could not get a glimpse of the birds so I have no idea what they looked like.\u00a0 Anyway we collected our car on a very hot Saturday morning and drove out on to a village road bordered by lush, jungle-like vegetation. We also passed salt pans, which Paul explained are huge ditches filled with sea water and left to dry so that the salt can be collected and sold. \u00a0Further on, I noticed that Krabi Province differs from Phuket in quite a few ways. Tethered cows and bulls are a common sight: they graze in gardens, on roadsides and in fields \u2013 \u00a0but there are never more than two. The roads are considerably wider and colourful flowers often form part of the verges. Houses and gardens are well-tended, there are fewer shacks and roadside cafes appear smarter. There is an air of affluence here and yet it isn\u2019t as much of a tourist destination as Phuket.<\/p>\n

Our first stop was Ao Nong Beach which didn\u2019t impress us much. It was crowded, tacky in places, and felt soulless, or maybe we expected more after observing the smart towns and villages we\u2019d driven through. A little further on, though we found a fantastic caf\u00e9 bar on the brilliantly-named TubKeak Beach. The view from the tables was glorious and we sat at one of them for a late lunch of Calamari and fries and a tomato sandwich for me. The guy who served us was a typically friendly Thai gentleman who couldn\u2019t understand why I didn\u2019t want any chicken in my sandwich. It was a lovely location to sit out the hottest part of the afternoon before heading into Krabi Town. Purely by chance we parked outside a gift shop that doubled as a second hand bookshop. It was a real treasure trove full of crime and thriller paperbacks\u2026so Paul went off to look at the river for half an hour or so :). \u00a0In the town centre, we had a walk around and caused a bit of entertainment buying bread from a bakery. In quite a few shops and stalls in Thailand there is a system in operation whereby if no one is around or behind the counter, someone will suddenly appear, acknowledge us and then go off to fetch the owner\/assistant. Admittedly this time we\u2019d entered the cafe next door instead of the bakery but when we found the correct place, someone had to come and explain to the confused baker that we wanted to buy the big brown loaf we’d pointed at and we didn\u2019t want it sliced. Both the lady baker and her helper thought this was quite amusing and got us to confirm it twice in case it was a joke. All I can think was that it was rather a large loaf for two people and as they don\u2019t really go much for bread in Asia, we had probably stumbled into the bakery that provides for the cafe rather than a shop. Anyway it was very tasty bread.\u00a0 Next it was on to the market in Krabi Walking Street. I found this much better than Patong’s larger street market, which can get a bit manic. This one reminded me of the kind of stalls and street food found at music festivals. After ambling around for an hour or so we were tired and still had the Tesco shop to do, but luckily we only had a few fresh items and drinks to stock up with so that didn\u2019t take long. We used Google Maps to find our way back to the marina \u2013 sometimes it\u2019s quite nice to get lost and come upon interesting places, but we were eager to get back for a rest and to plan where to go on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lunch at Tubkeak Beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Our friendly waiter in the background<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"
More browsing heaven<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Krabi River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
School band in Krabi Walking Street<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sunday 19th February<\/p>\n

Before succumbing to sleep, we had looked at a few recommended places on the leaflets we\u2019d been given, and on Trip Advisor and all of them praised a place called Tiger Cave Temple, which doesn\u2019t have any real tigers thankfully, just the footprint of a very large one that is said to have lived in the caves at the top of a very high mountain and it came to be thought of as a sacred place. All recommended the stunning views from the summit and the beautiful golden Buddha statues – \u00a0and all warned of the strenuous climb to reach them. There are 1,237 steps to the top but they are very high steps apparently and the monkeys there can be vicious according to one lady on Trip Advisor whose review stated that she saw:<\/p>\n

\u2018two monkeys attacking a lady descending a very steep ladder. We had to stop there as I didn\u2019t want to risk my life\u2019. (!)<\/p>\n

Advice for visitors included the caution that the challenging climb is only for the very fit, puts a lot of strain on leg muscles and should definitely not be attempted on very hot days. It was a very hot day, and neither of us could be described as fit in the athletic sense. All the same I was quite tempted by the challenge and the promise of those views\u2026until we contemplated the other place we\u2019d looked at. Ben had urged us to visit Krabi Hot Springs, he had even marked it on a map for us. I had nodded politely at the time because I didn\u2019t really know what a hot spring was. I\u2019m not keen on saunas and hot tubs and assumed it was something like that. Paul explained that it would be relaxing, it had a pool – it even had a bar! Well it was getting a bit late in the day to attempt such a steep climb and as I\u2019d never experienced a hot spring \u2013 ok I admit it, I was feeling too hot and lazy to tackle all those steps!<\/p>\n

We set off for another brilliantly-named place: The Nattha Waree (not to worry?) Hot Spring Resort. Set in tropical gardens interspersed with nine hot spring pools, it\u2019s a hotel resort and spa but welcomes day visitors for 300 Baht (about \u00a37) each. We were given a towel and a bottle of cold water each when we paid, and once in our swimming gear we were free to roam around the lush gardens all day. It was practically deserted. We only saw two families the whole time we were there. The springs are graded by temperature, going up to 49 degrees and we started with the lowest one which was 39 degrees. Paul went in first and said it was really hot but felt wonderful. He immersed himself straight away and waded through the long pool with the water up to his shoulders. I could tell it was hot from the steam and I couldn\u2019t help but wonder why anyone would want to get into such hot water when it was so very hot anyway, but since it wasn\u2019t fair to deride it without trying it, in I went.\u00a0 It was like a very hot bath, and it did feel nice but I still felt like I needed cooling off not heating up. We walked into most of the pools but baulked at the hottest one \u2013 it felt like boiling water just dipping a toe in.\u00a0 The highlight for me was the fish therapy pool. I had seen them in shopping centres where people were queuing up to plunge their feet in water for fish to nibble at them and it hadn\u2019t held any appeal. Here, no one else was around and I thought I might as well give it a go. At first I pulled my foot back out because it felt so strange but I gradually got used to it and loved it. It was like having my feet gently brushed with soft bristles and was very relaxing. Paul couldn\u2019t get past the ticklish feeling so he left me there while he went to the pool for a swim. Once I could tear myself away I joined him there and spent a pleasant afternoon reading, swimming, and relaxing. The only thing missing was a massage facility. I think we made the right choice for the day though.\u00a0 I had a look at some online images of the Tiger Cave Temple when we got back, and they weren\u2019t exaggerating the steepness of those steps!<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Before returning to Boat Lagoon we stopped at a tiny fishing village very nearer to the marina and took some pictures of this lovely place in the early evening sun.<\/p>\n

Kathy<\/p>\n

\"\"
IMG_2342<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
IMG_2344<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
IMG_2346<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday 17th Feb As usual we were up early, having adapted to the routine common in most hot countries: to rise early in order to make the most of the cooler hours, and rest during the hottest part. Sleeping in would have been impossible anyway as we were in the middle of a busy longtail … Continue reading “A Weekend Ashore”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2110,"href":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2090\/revisions\/2110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sistermidnight.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}