Krabi
ByA huge rock, almost a mountain, leans over at a precarious angle giving the town of Krabi an interesting landmark. Krabi is a “working town” but the tidal Mae Nam River flows by, disappearing into the mangrove swamp. So Fishermen offer short cruises on the river, under the shadow of the leaning Khao Khanap mountain, and down the delicious brown river flowing sluggishly like a river of molten chocolate. As the longtail boat drifts with the current herons rise from the mangroves and glide gracefully over the tree tops to the next bend in the river. Basking monitor lizards, big enough to be seen clearly from the boat, clamber lethargically from their vantage points on sunny trees to disappear into the rustling foliage.
What attracts most people to Krabi, however, are the beaches. Ao Nang beach is long and clean with well designed shops and restaurants built on the beach road. Behind the beach huge limestone cliffs rise up in vertical columns and these step out into the clear turquoise water as sea stacks. Just off shore, coral islands dot the horizon.
A range of boats, to suit all tastes and budgets, take trippers out to the islands for diving, snorkelling to see the coral or just exploring the island. We went on a slow long tail boat to visit a few of the islands. The beaches were clean and sparkled with powdered coral and the water was so clear that even from the boat several species of brightly coloured fish could be seen.
On one island a bar of sand in the shallow water allowed people to walk from one island to another. Here red and white striped fish, about four inches long, played in shoals amongst the legs of the waders, occasionally nudging into hairy legs searching for tit bits of food. They loved the crumbs of bread from our sandwiches and even when there was no bread left the brightly coloured fish still followed us, keeping pace as we strolled along the white beach.
We met Yo, a manager at ‘Rayavadee’ one of the exclusive upmarket resorts at Krabi. We chatted about the tsunami in 2004 and how that affected the region. It was impressive how the Thai authorities had helped to revitalise the area and put tsunami warning systems and escape routes in place. Yo invited us to tour his resort and the next day he welcomed us like lifelong friends. It really was an impressive place in a wonderfully scenic setting. www.rayavadee.com
It had not occurred to us before that the cyclone that hit Burma had many other side affects. Yo explained that the number of visitors to the west coast of Thailand were significantly down this year. So as well as the death and misery in Burma there were people in the service and tourist industries in Thailand laid off, unemployed and unable to support their families.
So we were pleased to be doing our bit to support all the lovely, friendly and engaging local people we had met. The beaches around Ao Nang, especially on the islands, really were the paradise beaches in southern Thailand we were looking for. We planned to stay only a couple of days but kept putting off our eventual departure.
