Krabi Trip

Krabi was beautiful! If you live in Thailand (or should happen to visit), I would highly recommend a side trip there. We flew out of Don Muang Airport which is about 15 minutes from Nichada and it was just about a one hour flight down to Krabi. The airport in Krabi was quite small and we collected our luggage and found the hotel transport without trouble at all. 

The hotel provided us with van transport to the pier. In my world, this is what is known as a beach but whatever.

At the pier, we transferred to a large long tail boat (similar to those above but a little larger) and set off for our hotel, Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas Krabi. The hotel was located on the edge of a national park and was accessible only by boat (well, there was a walking trail that went over the mountain but I will have more on that later). The hotel property fronted the Andaman Sea and was surrounded by steep limestone cliffs on other three sides. What you can see in the photo below is pretty much the entire resort. Everything was laid out very well - the rooms were built up on the slopes of the mountains and the tropical landscaping was so lush and plentiful that it felt very secluded and private throughout the resort.

The view of the resort approaching from the Sea...

The pool.

There was a small soaking pool at the top of the waterfall and the kids spent a lot of time in there.

  

The view from the pool deck looking out to the sea.

 Miscellaneous photos from around the property.

 

 Our villa.

  

 The balcony.

 The view from the balcony.

 Another area on the balcony.

 Still on the balcony.

Tuesday morning, we hired a long tail boat to take all of us over to Railay Beach to meet up with some friends of Caitlynne's from school. 

I am so glad that we made this side trip because the Railay Beach Peninsula was amazing!  The limestone cliffs and thick jungle have essentially isolated the Peninsula from mainland Krabi and, like our hotel, it was accessible only by boat. There are no roads (and thus, no automobiles) on the Peninsula so it was very quiet and peaceful. Railay Beach was a 15 minute boat ride and just south of where we were staying.  The boat dropped us off at West Railay Beach West and we hiked through the jungle to Railay East Beach and then down along the coast and over to Pra Nang Cave Beach. You can follow our hike (the white path) on the map below from www.thailandparadise.com.

Christopher and Friends.

The scenery that we saw on the boat ride over to Railay Beach was spectacular.

 

 Christopher.

 Arriving at Railay Beach West.

 Going ashore.

 Caitlynne.

 Long tail boats for hire.

The sand crabs made these beautiful patterns when they dug into the sand. It looked like fireworks exploding all over the beach.

We hiked about 45 minutes through the jungle to meet up with Caitlynne's friends. The limestone cliffs up close were incredible.

Small world...Monday morning, as we were waiting out front for my friend to pick us on the way to the airport, my neighbor was driving out. Long story short, she and her two children were also staying in Krabi at the Centara also so we expanded our group by 3!  

The Welcoming Committee on footpath to Phra Nang Beach .

The sad face on this little guy reminded me of Sonder!

Finally, we arrived on Phra Nang Beach and it was well worth the hike. The beach was soft white sand and the water was crystal blue and so clear. We weren't in the water for very long when we saw a small sting ray and a lot of colorful fish right offshore.

In Miami, we had food trucks. On Phra Nang, there are "sandwich boats". The food was delicious (and cheap) and the beer was cold. A great time was had by all.

Back at the hotel...

Caitlynne ( obviously having learned well from her mother)! 

The boys at dinner on our last night in Krabi.

Our last night - Sunset.

So, the Centara is not really accessible only by boat. There is a "walking" path called the "Monkey Trail" that connects the hotel with Ao Nang Beach (to the North). It is about a 20 minute hike - straight up and then straight down. Hikers are forewarned to take a stick along to ward off the monkeys - however, friends who have hiked the trail tell me that "beat" is probably a more accurate description than "ward". Not my cup of tea, thank you. Guests at the hotel are cautioned to keep balconies clean of any personal items (especially food!) and to keep all doors and windows closed and locked. Each morning, we could see a lot of monkeys climbing all over the roofs and balconies of the villas. We had a monkey on our balcony just as we were packing up to leave Thursday morning but he saw there was nothing for him and scampered off. 

True to its name, on the beach, at the beginning of The Monkey Trail.

This guy broke the No. 1 rule - never make eye contact with a monkey!

A Spirit House at the beach.

We had a wonderful time - good friends, good food and very relaxing. Based solely on service (which was non-existent), I don't know if I would recommend the Centara to anyone. However, its location cannot be beat and it really was a very nice resort.. 

Have a great Saturday!