After a busy month on the move throughout Southeast Asia, Sarah and I were ready for a relaxing week on the beach in Krabi. Our schedule, combined with our various colds, wore us out a bit and this “vacation from our vacation” really helped recharge our batteries.
We split our time in Krabi between two hotels to get a feel for the whole area here. Krabi (the general region) encompasses several beaches and two towns, Krabi Town and Ao Nang. Our first three nights were at Rimlay Villas, right on the beach closer to Krabi Town; our last four nights were at the new Poonsiri Resort, which is further away from the ocean but closer to Ao Nang. For the most part, we spent our days relaxing and reading by the pool or on the beach. I set aside some of the more serious non-fiction I’ve been reading recently, instead opting for some more appropriate beach reading: Tina Fey’s Bossypants and Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train. Both very entertaining light reading. Sarah read Defending Jacob, which she highly recommends, and The Handmaid's Tale, which she does not recommend.
The highlight of our trip was a private longboat tour of the Phi Phi Islands. The Phi Phis are about an hour offshore but almost everyone who visits Krabi makes the trip out there. The movie The Beach was filmed on the Phi Phis and Krabi became one of the most popular tourist destinations in Thailand as a result. The beaches and limestone mountains jutting out of the water were stunning – definitely one of the most beautiful places we’ve been so far on the trip!
We fly to India today and have two weeks to explore the country. While we’re waiting at the airport for our flight, we added our best pictures from Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia to our Galleries – check them out for a Cliffs Notes version of our time in Southeast Asia!
The beach was just steps from our room at Rimlay Villas.
Relaxing in the pool.
Just before sunset on the beach.
Low tide occurred at sunset and sunrise while we were there; we were able to walk out pretty far from shore to snap some more photos.
We got up early to watch the sunrise.
Strolling on the beach at sunrise.
Like I said earlier, we didn't do much during the day. So most of our photos are from sunset or sunrise when we left our hotel. Here is a shot of sunset at Ao Nang Beach.
There were a lot of other tourists on the beach for sunset, so we didn't have any trouble finding someone to take our photo.
First stop on our tour of the Phi Phis: Bamboo Island.
We pulled into a small bay for snorkeling...
...and had fun swimming around for an hour or so.
After snorkeling, we headed to Monkey Beach.
In Thai, this sign actually says "Beware the vicious monkeys." The monkeys are pretty aggressive and have no fear of humans so we kept our distance (though some tourists were happy to let the monkeys climb on them...).
An aptly named longboat at Monkey Beach.
Soaking up the sun.
We found a secluded beach with only a few other people on it after lunch.
After a few minutes, though, everyone else left. So we had the area entirely to ourselves. We stopped by the famous Maya Bay (the exact location where The Beach was filmed) but there were literally hundreds of tourists there so we didn't stay long. We had a much better time exploring the less populated areas - the natural beauty is the same and there are no crowds!
Another sunset at Ao Nang Beach.
Poonsiri Resort. Not that close to the beach, but still very nice!
We took a longboat to Railay Beach for our last day in Krabi.
We weren't the only ones with this idea! The beach was great though - very fun way to spend the day.
Riding back to Ao Nang we passed this huge limestone island.
We had a great week in Krabi and would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Thailand! Our plane to India is boarding soon so we're off to new adventures there!