Convinced that latest political turmoil in Thailand was only taking place in Bangkok, leaving the rest of the country remained as peaceful as always, we decided to spend our holiday in Krabi, a small resort town in the southern part of Thailand. Spending weeks in online research boosted our excitement especially as we finally got on board the region's most popular low cost airliner, AirAsia.
From our home in Bali we had to stop and caught another flight at Kuala Lumpur, the master hub of AirAsia's operation. A few hours stop-over was rather amusing than boring. Regardless of the fact that the facility was dedicated for low cost passengers, it has more than sufficient facilities, including free WiFi connection.
As we approached the destination amazing views of islets scattered across azure ocean welcomed us through the small aircraft windows. Composed of karst soaring up from the water, few small white sandy beach were seen with bordering karst walls. Arrived at the small yet modern Krabi International Airport we decided to grabbed a car from Avis. A little flaw we made by forgetting to buy a map was covered as we found Avis provided one in the car.
Driving about 30 minutes from the airport we finally found Krabi much bigger than we thought it was, not so much smaller than Phuket Town in my first impression. However, just like Phuket Town and many other ones, it was nothing more than business and administrative center of the area. There is a little beautiful area along the river where the harbor is located. Not so much attractive in daylight but absolutely stunning on sunset.
Our online research advised that Krabi has two main tourist attractions. Ao Nang, a bay on the mainland is about 30 minutes drive away from Krabi Town. Koh Lanta was an island, two islands to be exact, reachable by a short boat trip either from Krabi Town. Actually there was another island attraction called Koh Phi Phi, reachable by about 45 minutes boat cruise. But as we once visited it by taking a boat trip from Phuket, we preferred to consider it as a part of Phuket instead, regardless the fact that getting to Koh Phi Phi from Phuket took longer time.
A boring drive along a hardly considered scenic road took us to Ao Nang, and impressive small resort town with relaxed atmosphere and amazing white sandy beach overlooking cascade of karst islets along the horizon. As soon as we arrived I knew that it was a place I would want to come back. Cascading shops and restaurants along the street at the opposite side of the beach reminded me of beaches at Southern Europe. Definitely different atmosphere compared to Phuket which is only a couple of hours away, either by car or by boat.
As of accommodation, after inspecting a few Krabi villas we decided not to stay in one of them. Those villas are located a bit far away from the beach. Whilst we did rent a car, we preferred to stay somewhere closer to the beach. There were no beach front hotels in the area actually, but at least we wanted to have it and all the shops only a few steps away from our doorsteps.
There were many decent but cheap hotels in the area and finally we chose Areetara. Perfect location, close enough to reach the beach by a few minutes stroll, but away enough to avoid any noise from the road and cascading cafes along one of it side.
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