Krabi Day 01 & 02 - Ao Nang & Phra Nang

Krabi Day 2

Nipping Over to Ao Nang

The ubiquitous sounds of cicadas (such as the enormous Empress cicada, Pomponia imperatoria, that is found in Malaysia) and the songs of birds greeted me as the sun rose that morning but the sounds were quickly encompassed by the loud drone of the engines of long tail boats. Breakfast basically consisted of two cans of Birdy robusta coffee (THB20 each) and two banana pancakes (THB30 each) and as I was accompanying Jamie and Cass as they were having breakfast, Michael Lakos, an Australian who was living in Railay whom we had met the year before on our Deep Water Soloing trip with Hot Rock wandered over to greet us before heading out for rock climbing. We then proceeded to walk over to West Railay in order to get a long-tail boat to Ao Nang.

Ao Nang was as I had remembered it, basically a myriad of shops adorning the sides of the road catering to the whim and fancy of all the tourists wandering by. The wares ranged from a huge variation of tour packages to souvenirs and cliche Thai clothing such as the Thai fisherman pants. I ended up purchasing two Krating Daeng singlets for THB150 each. Initially the shop keeper was asking for THB350 each but after just starting to walk away saying that I wanted to check the prices of the other shops first, he hastily blurted out his 'lowest price'. Lunch was to be found at one of the small shops sequestered in a rather nondescript alleys only known to us as we had stumbled upon it the year before. Two plates of chicken fried rice cost me THB100. I added lots of chili flakes to give me the extra kick that I needed but was ultimately glad that there was free iced water available. We then proceeded to make our way back to Railay the same way that we had come (boat ticket costing another THB100).

Phra Nang Beach

As we made our way to Phra Nang beach, we came upon large numbers of the common frugivorous dusky langurs (Trachypithecus obscurus) that can also be found in the area - albeit with relative difficulty due to their shy nature) Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) that were scavenging for food with their heads buried in the rubbish bins just outside Phra Nang cave. According to local legend, Phra Nang was the wife of a fisherman who was lost at sea, who apparently lived out the rest of her days in the cave awaiting her husband's return. There were also phallus-shaped wooden carvings just outside the cave that were supposedly offerings for fertility.

The visibility in the sea around Phra Nang beach was horrendous, definitely less than 1 metre since I was unable to see my fingertips when stretched out at arms length, leaving absolutely nothing to see underwater. I compensated for this however by floating on my back just gazing at the gorgeous rock formations towering directly above. Despite the enormous precarious-looking stalactites that embellished the cliff face, I found the entire visage to be somewhat serene.

The information from the Suunto Ambit for this 'swim' can be found on my Movescount Page.

Next : Krabi Day 01 & 02 - Ao Nang & Phra Nang (Part 3)