Feeling Groovy but not too Krabi

We've now settled into our home for the next week - the Groovy Bungalows. This is a nice little guest house in the tourist town of Ao Nang, just outside of the city of Krabi, a major hub here in the south of Thailand.

Ao Nang itself is not exactly what we expected - a little too much of a tourist beach town - lots of bars and overpriced restaurants offering very average services to loud and half-naked hippies and Russians. Thankfully, our little resort is about a 5 minute scooter ride away from the hustle and bustle of the town.

We have our own little bungalow facing the swimming pool, with everything we need for the next seven nights - air conditioning, complimentary breakfast, free use of the scooters, and a good supply of DVDs for our evening movie watching.

I know some people might think that booking all of our accommodation in advance removed some of the spontaneity from our journey, but one of the main reasons we took this approach was to ensure we secured rooms which could comfortably fit the four of us in such a way that the kids had their own beds as often as possible - something which can be a real challenge in Asia. This spacious bungalow is perfect.

A great start to the day.

Given the rapid development and intrusion of numerous diving and snorkeling visitors, the local government has made it a priority to try and preserve as much of the local marine life as possible, so they have set up an aquatic breeding / hatchery centre just outside of Ao Nang. While the facilities are anything but fancy, the public is nevertheless invited to visit the 'aquarium' to learn about their ongoing efforts. 

spot the turtle

Although there is little in the way of English information provided, the facilities are self-explanatory and proved to be a big hit with our kids. We basically had the whole place to ourselves....

...until seven busloads of local students showed up. I thought this would spell the end of our tranquil visit (and it did for a while) but, curiously, they stayed for only about 30 minutes and then left - seemed like a weird school field trip - maybe they were on their way somewhere else.

Since this place hardly showed up in our research on the Ao Nang area, we had almost given it a miss, but we were very glad we took the time to visit.

We then decided to check out Krabi, a bigger town with a population of about 30,000. This is the place to come to get a 'local' feel, and to enjoy more authentic food markets and restaurants - the prices are noticeably lower here and the flavours more diverse - not surprising given that the Muslim population is over 40%. Not too sure what the traffic lights designs are all about, though.

I though that taking spontaneous and unscripted photos might make our blog a little more interesting - not sure it resulted in the desired effect. Shirley looks angry, Owen's napkin is magically levitating, and the fellow in the back is either cheering, stretching, or just stuck to the wall. Maybe I'll go back to the "ok everyone - one, two, three" approach.

Son, the great thing about practicing your pick-up lines on these lovely ladies is that you never experience rejection. 

We moved on to the Wat Tham Sua (Tiger Temple Cave), a beautiful temple just on the outskirts of Krabi. 

That's a lotta steps. And I'm not sure our timing was ideal - we went during the heat of the afternoon (about 3 pm in these parts) and neglected to inform the rest of the family that there was a small hike involved - basically doing a mini Grouse Grind in a sauna. 

"We've got to go up there?"

"Yes ma'am, all the way up there, and I'll be with you to harass you the whole way"

Temple monkeys are a common nuisance everywhere in Asia - persistent and aggressive. You should never feed them. We met a Russian coming down the stairs sporting an ugly gash on his calf after being attacked by a monkey. We asked what happened. His response began with "well I had my hand out with some food and a little monkey started climbing on me. Then the monkey's mother......" My sympathy ended right there and then. Don't get me started with Russian tourists. But I cleaned his wound with antiseptic and gave him a band-aid anyway (good Canadian tourist, and remarkably well equipped with first-aid necessities).

Only half way up and still smiling. A few hundred more steps and the smiles began to wane. And these steps were of the steep variety - each one seemed about 18 inches high. I soon found myself using the ice cream incentives to drag their sorry butts up to the top.

But I think we all appreciated the view from the top.

Evidently this is the largest 'west facing Buddha with a snake coiled around its base and a radio tower behind it' in the world. The world, kids!

Looking down on Krabi town. Owen's brilliantly suggested a ziplining descent would make this more of an attraction. Can't argue with that.

Annie has reached travelling Nirvana!

A great day of exploring the area. Stay tuned for tomorrow's entry. If all goes well, Annie and I will have some great pictures of our first tropical scuba diving trip together.