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Thailand – Day 6 (Ao Nang)

Today I did nothing. Well, that’s not true. You’re always doing SOMETHING, I suppose. What I mean is, I got up and drank my coffee on the balcony while reading my book, then gradually got my bathing suit on and headed down to the beach. I walked down the far end and hiked up the monkey trail, but saw no monkeys which was a bummer. Then I wandered back to the other side of the beach, and wound up at Noppharat Thara beach next door which wasn’t as nice or as groomed as Ao Nang beach but had thousands upon thousands of little tiny crabs that were rolling teensy balls of sand out of their chosen den locations leaving hairline pathways for them to move around. So I sat down and watched them work for a while and every time I moved slightly they would all scatter to their wee dens. Eventually some of them worked out I wasn’t trying to kill them, and ignored me even if I was moving. Then I tip-toed around them and walked that beach for a bit, then went back to Ao Nang beach. I stopped at a really nice restaurant called The Last Fisherman for sweet and sour chicken and a smoothie that was supposed to have rum in it but most definitely didn’t (still was tasty though) before heading back to the hotel to reapply sunscreen. After sunscreen, I went back to the beach and floated in the warm sea water until my fingers and toes were prunes, then sat in the surf and hunted for the tiniest of shells I could find for a while. Then I went back to the same restaurant for dinner and watched the sun set. So yeah, a lot of walking, sitting, laying down, and floating…not much of anything. I did book a boat tour to the Phi Phi Islands tomorrow but the weather is looking a little rough. Fingers crossed the rain stays away!

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Thailand – Day 5 (off to Krabi!)

I woke up to pouring rain, packed up and headed to the airport for my morning flight to Krabi. The rain clouds made for some nice scenery up in the air, and a bit of turbulence, but we landed safely. I couldn’t figure out where the heck the taxi stand was, and eventually gave up and jumped on a discount group bus to Aonang. I couldn’t check into my hotel until after 3pm anyway, so I wasn’t in a rush and it was nice to look at the scenery and see where other people were getting off at and going to. Eventually I did make it to my hotel, which is a pretty basic 3-star place with no frills, but it was cheap at $20ish a night with a king bed, balcony, and less than 5 minute walk to the beach. I quickly changed into my bathing suit, lathered up in sunscreen and bug spray, and hoofed it to the beach before the storms could roll in. I was able to shell hunt for about half an hour or so before the storm hit, and took shelter under the roof of a nearby massage place (seriously in Thailand if you close your eyes, spin around, and throw a stick you’re either going to hit a temple or a massage place). Once the rain eased up I went back out onto the beach and made my way to the monkey trail, but soon realized I wasn’t equipped to deal with mischievous monkeys at that moment and I was just looking to get the stuff in my hands stolen, as is known to happen on that trail. So I turned back around and will do that another day. I slowly walked back down the beach, looking for shells and watching the sun set over the horizon. The entire sky was a reddish orange for a long time, and with the storms passing through a beautiful rainbow popped up behind the cliffs. The sky shifted from orange to peach after the sun went behind the clouds, and then quickly turned blue afterwards. There are shells everywhere here, and the water is lukewarm like pool water.

After the beach I changed out of my bathing suit into regular clothes and walked down the street to a Thai restaurant where I noticed a lot of locals were eating. I decided to be a bit more adventurous with my food choices, so I ordered a local fish (no idea what it was) cooked in lemon and lime sauce stuff. What I didn’t expect was to get the ENTIRE fish, although I’m not sure why…this is Thailand after all. The waitress was really concerned, because I had asked for not spicy and the chef practically drowned the fish in spices and chili oil, but it really wasn’t that bad. I guess I’ve gotten used to chili oil since I put it in my ramen and udon all the time, but she was worried about me not liking it and kept checking in. I ate all but the head…sorry, I’m not that adventurous. Then of course I gave chin scritches to the resident restaurant cat and headed back to the hotel. I think I’m already falling in love with this place. I could totally retire here.

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Thailand – Day 4 (Chiang Mai)

I honestly needed a rest day. I spent most of the morning booking stuff for my next stops in Krabi, Phuket, Bangkok and Tokyo…flights, boats, taxis, hotels, and events. Then I got up and walked over to Hard Rock Café for a location pin and lunch, and wandered around a few temples I missed a couple days ago. My back has been sore from all of the long flights, so I popped into another massage parlor for a delightfully painful deep tissue massage, one of the best I’ve ever had. Then I went back to the hotel and read some of my book on the balcony. I wanted to go to the night bazaar, and sat at the end of my bed dressed for it, but then decided I really didn’t feel like putting shoes on and crawled into bed to watch a random Netflix anime that popped up. I really liked Chiang Mai, but I think I need to come back in like January or February when it’s not so hot!