Krabi, Ao Nang Buri Resort 2011

LATEST UPDATE JANUARY 2014: 

For some strange reason, the photos no longer appear on this post. I am uncertain what has happened to them, but I reckon it's a Blogger issue. For photos of this beautiful island, please check out my photos on Facebook HERE.

I’m sure almost all of you have visited Thailand, its islands or its cities. I love Thailand. I think it has an amazing personality as a country. Great people (no wonder it’s called Land of Smiles), everything is richly infused by Buddhism and in this case, I’d have to agree that it has gorgeous beaches.

Krabi (like Kota Kinabalu) is the city that connects everyone to its gorgeous beaches using speedboats. There are so many beaches linked to Krabi ; Ao Nang Beach, Railay Beach, Nopparathara Beach, Tubkhaak Beach, Phi Phi Beach, Koh Lanta and Trang to name a few. As you can see, with a WIDE range of beaches to choose from, Krabi is like a haven to beach lovers. Just fly down to Krabi, and you can pick which beaches to go to like picking up from a menu.

Nopparathara Beach

Great for diving and snorkelling, with other tons of beach activities, elephant rides, go-kart and archery; it seems like you can do pretty much anything in Krabi. But my visit to Krabi was nothing dangerous and risqué. We went to Krabi with only one thing in mind – to rest and relax. My sister and I had pretty exciting times in Perhentian a week before so all we wanted to do in Krabi was – chill.

We spent most of our time around Ao Nang and Nopparathara beach, great eateries and good for casual walking. We made great friends with the Tuk Tuk drivers as well, that eventually they helped us move around much easier by offering to wait for us after our shopping and what not :D

Ao Nang Buri Resort

118 Moo 3, T. Aonang, A. Muang, 

Krabi, 81000 Thailand. 

We were arranging this booking via AirAsiaGo so you could say that it was a pretty random choice and there was only hope that we chose a good one. And thankfully it was a good enough choice.  Ao Nang Buri Resort is situated along Nopparathara Beach and NOT along Ao Nang Beach as most online users have mentioned.

Map Guide: 

A - Ao Nang Buri Resort 

B - Ao Nang Beach 

C - Krabi Airport 

As you can see from this map, Krabi Airport is far from everywhere else as it is. Probably about 40 minutes drive to Ao Nang Beach and maybe 15 from Krabi town. Click image to see it larger. 

So if I were you, I would get a room somewhere along Ao Nang Beach (where most of the markets and the happenings are). 

The guide from point A - right up the mark in red is the most happening area / market. 

Or, you could always opt to stay at the resort at one of the beaches (Ao Nang Beach, Railay Beach, Nopparathara Beach, Tubkhaak Beach, Phi Phi Beach, Koh Lanta orTrang) itself. Imagine waking up to an infinite blue and the smell of the ocean! I wouldn't recommend staying in Krabi Town, because there’s nothing much there, really. Krabi Town offers little shopping and little eateries which leaves Ao Nang Beach as your best bet for both leisure and relax.

We stayed at Ao Nang Buri for four nights, somewhere in mid August. It mounted up to RM 2534.00 for 5 days / 4 nights for 3 pax inclusive of return flight tickets, thanks to AirAsia Go. Which I thought was really cheap! That means, it goes as cheap as RM844 per person including return flights and the hotel’s stay for 4 nights. 

Good deal!

Day #1 – Ao Nang Market 

We knew that once we've reached the hotel all that’s left to do is take a good long nap. It’s amazing isn’t it, that you don’t have to rush to do anything and just simply, have a good deserving afternoon nap? And after a good 3 hours of a good ol’ nap we woke up in the evening wanting to explore Krabi a little bit more. 

So we headed down to Ao Nang Market which begins just about 10 minutes away from the resort. By walking, the market stretches up to a good half an hour so walk and there were plenty of things to do and see. Most shops are boats’ meeting points, meaning you could jump into the boats easily with so many shops bridging the beaches and Ao Nang beach.

The first dinner was a lucky hit. We had it at this seafood restaurant namely Eu-San. The girl that approached and greeted us was terribly sweet; we were sold by her accommodating sweet smile. And as expected, dinner was REALLY GOOD. 

Pineapple Fried Rice 

Thai food has never failed me so far! Even though it was rather safe, like fish, shrimp omellete and fried rice (because my sister was sick) but they were still really tasty!

Day #2 – Sleeping Buddha, Muay Thai Staidum and Ao Nang Wet Market by Tuk Tuk 

It’s amazing how sleeping in can be an option for this trip. So we slept in quite a fair bit throughout this trip simply because we CAN, and only left for breakfast right before 10AM (when it’s closing). This day’s itinerary was visiting around the more touristy spots with the trusty tuk tuk.  Because we were not in any sort of tour (because we refuse to!) mum, sister and I decided to explore Krabi by ourselves!

Our very own Tuk Tuk for the day! 

First stop - Commonly known as Wat Sai among the locals, this sleeping Buddha monument is gorgeous. This statue reminds me of peacefulness. Something I was struggling to fight for before I left my job. The dilemma that I carried through; I know what I experienced was so little, but I was blessed that I had the privilege to choose eventually J I was struggling to explain to the locals in English when we were looking for this statue, until I made the praying and sleeping gesture (like duh!) only then they could figure it out.

Wat Shai - Sleeping Buddha 

Our next stop was to visit the Muay Thai stadium/ ring. It was closed particularly on that day we came, so we went there only to check out how the stadium was and how the exercise stations looked like from the outside.  

Then we headed to the Ao Nang Wet Market – where they sold fruits of all kinds, mostly the more famous ones among Thais like the Durians, Longans and Mangos. 

Ao Nang Wet Market 

We bought some back to the hotel, and while most where delicious, the Mangosteen was NOT my favourite L Initially, we were depressed when we found out that we have wrongly bought coconut pudding instead of the coconut drink (because by God, it was so hot that day!), but to our pleasant surprise, the pudding was x 10 more awesome. It was awesome. Cold and sweet, just what we needed on a really hot sunny day.

Day #3 – Carnival Street Fair

Our visit to Krabi experienced two evenings of showers. When I was searching online, there were never really specific indications whether or not we were in the midst of a sunny season, monsoon or a bit of both. But some evenings experienced a bit of showers, so I assume we were there during the normal tropical season. It was really scorching hot during the day (goes up to 32 Celcius) and it would rain a little bit in the evening, sometimes late at night. But most say, best avoid May - October as average rainfall is the highest during this period. 

Wednesdays are for Street Fairs! It was a massive stretch of shopping! Pretty much for everything. Clothes, bags, accessories, shoes. My sister and I went a little crazy, we started grabbing all sorts of things because they were SO CHEAP! 

Bags go as low as RM 20, and other things like even fishes (!!!) go as cheap as RM 1 per little fish. I thought it was rather odd, but whatever rocks their boat :D

Entertainment of the night 

Day #4 – Krabi Town

From Ao Nang Buri Resort, Krabi Town was at least half an hour of a tuk tuk drive. Krabi Town is... less touristy I would say. More banking operations, more restaurants cater to the locals and less shopping. The beaches around Krabi Town are smeared with foreigners, so when you do head down to Krabi Town, it is there then would you feel more in Thailand then anywhere in Krabi :P 

We weren’t really sure from which stretch to which stretch the town was, but we could tell which the heart of the city was. Should you see these adorable traffic lights from afar, chances are this is where most operations 

are.  

Right smack in the middle of the town was a temple - I loveeeeee gorgeous crafts and architectures! 

Check out the drawings inside of this temple. It's gorgeous. 

Most southern Thais are Muslims. And as you can see from this drawing, it reflects the marriage between both Buddhism and Muslim. Quite a rare sight actually. I am not very sure how much influence both culture affects on one another, but it's fair to say that mot Thais living in Krabi itself are Muslims. 

Day #5 – Thai breakfast

So there you go. A pretty chilled trip for me, mum and my sister.  Our flight was in the afternoon for Friday so we had our usual Thai breakfast, with Thai pineapple fried rice, Thai green curry and the usual mango juice. Oh damn, I love Thai food so much.

Before I leave, there are a couple of little little things that I’d recommend you to try or not leave Krabi without experiencing it! It is a personal list, so you could choose whether or not to try it!

#1 – Coconut Pudding

I LOVED IT. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED IT! It was a mistake at first, but this coconut pudding turned out to be really lovely, that I was preaching to everyone back home about it! You should give it a try too! Even mum loved it so much :)

#2 – A Muay Thai match

Sort of like a "poster" of the contestants

Because I missed it, I suggest everyone should at least check out a Muay Thai match once before they leave. I mean, where else should you check this sport if not in Thailand itself!

#3 – Some Thai appetiser

Hehehehehe, you’ve seen me posting it on Facebook. Yes, I’m talking about trying out some insects, very much famous among the local girls for its “protein”, maybe you guys should try it too. I tried this; 

which mum said was a caterpillar and it had the strangest after taste. Was it good no, but it wasn’t bad either. It felt, hollow. But definitely worth trying, trust me! :P

#4 – Tuk Tuk! (or the bigger version)

Not hopping on a tuk tuk is like a cardinal sin around Thai. Well, at least once during your stay. I remembered previously how I wanted to ride on Tuk Tuk so much but wasn’t given the opportunity to, and my hippie mum told me “Honey it gives us a reason to come back here” and bam next thing you know, we were riding Tuk Tuks almost every day on our last trip! :D 

No safety belts, no safety measurements! Hey! It's so liberating! 

Well that’s it. I am so sorry for the much delayed post – but really Krabi was pretty and nice I thought each of my travelling experience could use a long good ol’ post. Thais are friendly, I can attest to that, and I am glad that we went to Krabi this time around, a beach for a change then the infamous shopping areas.

Total spent :  RM 1, 244 for 5 days/ 4 nights (inclusive of everything! )

Need some Krabi? 

Love,
Jacqueline Rowena @ Jacqkie.