018. x, krabi

I just got back from Krabi on Friday afternoon and I'm still dead tired. I've been falling asleep infront of the computer screen for the past few days. But since I dozed off just now for a little bit, I'm wide awake now, ready to write about the trip. Oh and erm, the cough is back to annoy me (this time because of lack of rest and food in Thailand and I realize I keep falling sick every time I travel this year).

26th June 2012, Tuesday ;

We got up too early (I didn't even sleep), since our flight was at 10:40am, we had to be at the airport two hours ahead of time which was about 8 in the morning.

It was our first time to the budget terminal in Singapore. It isn't as bad as I thought it would be ( I think it's almost the same as Melbourne's Domestic terminal), checked in and waited for our flight... which was delayed by an hour due to some maintenance, technical stuff, which made this girl really irritated so she tried to catch some shut eye.

We arrived in Krabi at about 1pm (Thailand time, it's one hour slower than Singapore), and there was a tour guide waiting for us. I didn't expect them to take us to sight see because I thought we booked the "Free and Easy" package, but there was a free half day city tour around Krabi, so I was delighted because they brought us to Tiger Cave Temple. Little sis and I were thinking so hard how to get there beforehand.

So the first stop was Tiger Cave Temple, yes, it's literally a Temple in a Cave! I was so amazed about that fact and more amazed at even though it is Buddhism, it's so different for Japan's Zen Buddhism and how much I've gotten used to that and now looking at the Buddha statues in Thailand, it's a totally different feeling.

We had to take off our shoes before entering the temple and were greeted by nuns, where they will hand you a book and you had to sign your name and later on they'll tie a cloth bracelet around your wrist, it's for good luck.

There were so many statues!

From here, there's a small opening next to one of the statues where there are steps, and you'll have to climb up to see the "Tiger". We had to be mindful of our heads because of the formation of the cave. I literally had to bend down while walking to avoid getting hit by the sharp rock formations.

After exiting Tiger Cave Temple, we walked down the path to find even more temples. There was one where you have to climb 1246 steps to get to the summit of the hill and there was another one right ahead. Of course I wasn't crazy enough to climb that many steps, I think I would have died of heat and my feet would have probably gave up and I might die. 

There were a lot of monkeys around on the way to the other temple. I actually was kinda scared when one came too close to us. Haha.

I thought these were cute.

1246 steps to the temple!

I think the statue in the middle is Goddess of Mercy. Out of all the Goddess of Mercy(s) I've seen, I still think the gigantic one I saw on 2010's road trip in Japan was the prettiest. There was another forest trail but we didn't bother to climb. Thailand's weather and sun is worse than Singapore's. T_T

On the walk back to the van, we were greeted by even more monkeys. I thought they were cute on the tire swings.

This little guy posed for me.

At the entrance, there was yet another temple. I like how the statues are brightly coloured, it's just... I don't know. I think I haven't been to a new place in such a long time, I've forgotten the feeling of being a tourist.

Had to force her to take this photo with me.

I really love the tigers and dragons in front of this temple.

And another temple... I really like the details on the gate for this one.

After the temples, we had lunch in the middle of no where. On the way, we saw an elephant close up, I was shocked it was so close to us. I didn't even notice the elephant was there because I was looking in another direction, the driver pointed it out to us. Also, saw a lot of cows with their nose rings. 

Duck noodle soup!

You can see how tired I am right? Anyways, the duck noodle was gooooddddddddddd. If you know me well, I really love Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian food because of the chilli, spiciness! Weirdly, the soup was sweet but savoury at the same time. I really liked it!

After lunch, we headed to the "city" area of Krabi for some shopping. 

An ape-man carrying the signs?

You could rent a bike for about 20 baht for about an hour, that is less than $1!

She was too amazed at how "Thai" the sign above my head is. We've gotten too used to Nihongo?

 We went to the market for a bit but was too scared to walk in because the grounds were really wet. So we settled for coconuts! The only time you will ever see me this "tropical" in a picture.

We didn't buy anything in the city area. I only do my shopping in Tokyo and Singapore to be very honest. I don't know how I am going to survive living in Melbourne because I hate their "fashion" over there. We hopped onto the van once again and on the way to the resort, bought some Thai snacks.

It didn't take long to reach the resort. We were staying at the Apasari Resort, which was a small cute resort smacked in between some beaches.

Towels folded into elephants! How cute!

We rested up for a bit and went out for dinner at a nearby Seafood restaurant by the beach. It only took about 10 minutes to get there on foot and the sun was already setting, so we had a pretty view plus on top of it, good food. While waiting for our food to be served, little sis and I went for a walk on the beach.

There were so many shells in the sand!

These were the bracelets the nuns gave us at Tiger Cave Temple.

Not long after, we headed back to the restaurant for dinner. We had mostly seafood for dinner accompanied by Pineapple Fried Rice. I hate fried rice but the pineapple one is really awesome. I think that is the only time I enjoyed having fried rice. 

I like how they put an orchid on each glass of fruit juice. Pretty~

After dinner, we walked down the shopping area. There wasn't much, it was mostly souvenir shops, restaurants and shops selling beach wear. We walked down some more to Ao Nang beach, where we saw a lady selling lanterns. I wanted to buy one to let it fly up into the sky but my sister didn't want one because those were for couples.

View from the room.

We didn't do much but look around, than slowly walked back to the resort because we were too tired. Took a bath than retired for the day.

27th June 2012, Wednesday ;

Had a good night's rest and headed back to Ao Nang beach in the late morning to catch some rays. I didn't spend too long under the sun because I didn't want to get dark. I love being fair, I applied so much sun-block on me it wasn't even funny how white I looked.

The road just outside our resort.

It's funny how different my sister is from me, no? She wears pink and I'm still  drenched in black .

Boats to get to the tiny islands nearby.

We walked from one end of the beach to the other and back, there wasn't much to see because the scenery was already so beautiful on it's own, I think most people just sit on the sand to admire the beauty or just sun tan.

You would never believe that's me if you saw me from afar right?

After the beach, we headed to a nearby tattoo studio and cafe, which was just across the street. I think it's cute how they merched a cafe and tattoo studio together. Of course I didn't get any tattoos, I'm saving up to get one done in Melbourne and Tokyo in the near future. 

We had some home-made ice-cream and I''m in love Thai Tea! 

Thai Ice Tea!

After some snacks, we walked back to the resort and spent the whole afternoon there in the spa. Such a girly~ thing to do, but it was so relaxing. Little sis and I did the aromatherapy massage, facial scrub, facial massage, manicure and pedicure. It's been a long time since I pampered myself that much.

For dinner, we headed to the hilltop, which was just opposite the resort. We didn't climb up the hill, they had a free service to the restaurants on top of the hill. 

Me being an idiot.

Watermelon Juice!

We had the typical again, Thai food for dinner. Tom yum soup, curry crab, rice, some vegetables... which I didn't bother taking photos of. Haha. The view from the hilltop was really nice as well, below the restaurant there was bar. It was pretty quiet, maybe because we were there really early? By the time we finished our dinner, it was only 7.30pm.

Ice cream in a coconut for dessert! The ice cream was honey flavoured!

We headed straight back to the resort after paying the bill. Had an early night because we had to get up extra early the next day for a full day tour of the nearby islands around Krabi.

28th June 2012, Thursday ;

We got up at 6am the next day because we needed to be at the lobby at 8.30am to get to the dock, to take us to Bamboo Island, Phi Phi islands and Maya Bay.

We go on the Tuk Tuk and off we went to the dock!

On the Tuk Tuk!

So the first stop was Bamboo Island, once we set foot on the island, I was so amazed by how pretty the water was. So clear, so blue. I don't even think it's blue more like turquoise. It was really hot and bright, little sis and I again, walked to the ends of the island and back.

She was too excited, she left without me and my slippers. D:

My favorite picture from the trip.

Haha, I just had to.

Her favorite picture from the trip.

After Bamboo Island, the speed boat stopped in the middle of no where for snorkelling, I still have a sick phobia of fish and sea creatures in general (except for whales, dolphins, seals, etc) so I didn't jump into the water. Little sis and Mom did on the first stop. Little sis said the first stop was boring because you only could see little fish but she managed to see a swordfish deep down. She's so much more adventurous than me.

She still can do that when the waves are carrying her away? MENTAL.

At the second stop, little sis told me she saw really pretty corals and she almost stepped on a sea urchin. The only downer about snorkelling is that she kept swallowing sea water. Gross.

After the snorkelling, we got to Phi Phi island for lunch. As always, little sis and I finished up our food really fast and went to walk around the island. 

There were some cute little shops along the beach. I bought some chips because they had really "Thai" flavours like Hot N' Spicy Chilli Crab (which was yummy), little sis bought 3 dresses and some bracelets. I wanted to buy a dress too because it was so cheap but it's too colorful for my own taste. -_-

Little sis bought some of these bracelets, they're really cute! It's only 100 baht for 4!

Pretending to camwhore but was actually looking at some guy with really nice tattoos lol. 

After Phi Phi island, we headed to Maya Bay. I was really excited to see it because it's the set for the movie,  The Beach. I really liked that movie and how Leonardo Dicarpio looked in it, aha.

On the way to Maya Bay, the boat stopped several times to show us some caves. We saw Viking Cave, a cave where many swallows nest and that's where you get your birds' nest. Some people actually live there. I was pretty amazed by the rock formation and wanted to take a picture but damn tourists blocking the way.

On the way to Maya Bay was amazing, the color of the water was so pretty. 

The water was really clear too!

And we've arrived at Maya Bay. The sand was so soft, unlike the other beaches, there weren't much shells on the beach so we didn't have to avoid certain areas to walk on. Little sis and I ran to the end of the beach and jumped into the water! The waves were so fun, we just let them carry us away. Little sis carried me on her back in the water. I think she's crazy. 

See the people hiding under the rock? I don't understand them, none of them went into the water, they just hid there in their swim suits the whole time hiding from the sun. Than what's the point of coming to a beach? -.-

We had fun on the beach, and soon it was the end of visiting the islands, so we climbed onto the boat and headed back to Ao Nang beach, which took about 45 minutes to an hour. The water on the way back was so rough, it was actually fun because the boat would kinda "fly" on the water and it was like sitting on a roller coaster but the only bad part was water kept coming into the boat.

They served some watermelon and pineapple on the way back too, and like I said, since water kept coming into the boat, the sea water got on my fruits and my fruits were extra salty. Haaa.

On the boat!

And despite the boat ride being so bumpy, I somehow managed to fall asleep. I guess I was too tired from not having a good sleep for the past 3 nights. I was sick again, with flu and a bad cough. I don't get why I keep falling sick this year whenever I travel. Boooo.

We arrived back at Ao Nang at about 4.30pm and a small Tuk Tuk took us back to the resort. We washed up, there was so much sand on our body, omg. Than headed to the Seafood Restaurant for dinner! 

My very vain sister.

We didn't walk on the beach this time because the tides were really high. It was a kind of painful dinner for me because I had such a bad cough and blocked nose, I couldn't taste anything. ~__~ 

We walked down to the shopping area again and tried to finish all our Thai baht but didn't manage to. In the end, I bought some alcohol at a nearby stall. Back at the resort, we went for yet another massage. This time, little sis and I tried to Thai traditional one which was really painful. ;___; 

And we ended our night with vodka and some menthol cigarettes. No, little sis doesn't smoke.

29th June 2012 ; Friday :

Had to get up early because our flight was at 11:40am. I wasn't ready to go back to reality yet because it was such a nice break off everyone and everything. I literally left my phone in the room the entire trip and didn't even bother getting wifi. The only time I used my phone was when I sleep because I need music to fall asleep. Another day on the beach would have been nice.

Little sis in her new dress.

We weren't allowed to take pictures when the plane was taking off but I could care less, the view was too pretty and I like how you could see all the small islands when you're in the clouds. The water still looked so pretty even when you're way up high.

I should be going to Jakarta to visit my dad next month and we'll head up to Bali to celebrate his birthday. Right now, I'm discussing travel plans with Andrea for November because that's when I have to leave the country again. We're planning to go to either Bangkok or Tokyo, because both of those countries are like our second home, we know how to get around and stuff.

I don't really want to go back to Tokyo again but the GazettE's lives are in November and I'm tempted when I know I really shouldn't. But most probably I won't because I REALLY DO NOT WANT TO GO TO TOKYO SO SOON EVEN THOUGH I CAN SEE RUKI AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE.

So most probably, Bangkok it will be. Bangkok sounds exciting from what Andrea tells me and it would be nice to visit a new place once again. I can't wait to leave again.