......previous blog post- The Magical Lands of Oz and Fruitopia here......
“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travellers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux
The break from
Ko Fruitpoia was not as painful as might be imagined after such a long rest there. We were revived by the wonderful experiences this season, and ready for more, in places further along the road.
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| Bye bye till next time..... |
KRABI / TRANG / HAT YAI
Although
Krabi is a particularly busy tourist town at this time of year, with tourists constantly arriving and leaving for the various islands, we appreciate the casual vibe of the place, varied food (now with 5 different food night markets to choose from!), cheap prices (compared to the relatively expensive islands) and of course one of our favourite guesthouses, Swallow. We indulged in all the things we crave to be away from while on
Fruitopia- electricity, internet, movies and 7-11 to name a few.
The fresh morning market held our attention, with some unusual offerings....
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| Shellfish, any ideas on the name? Krabi fresh morning market |
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| Dried fish, Krabi fresh morning market |
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| Mountains of mussels, Krabi fresh morning market |
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| Skinned frogs- at least these ones were dead, Krabi fresh morning market |
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| Vivid blue crabs, Krabi fresh morning market |
We visited nearby
Railey and
Ao Nang beaches after an absence of several years, and were dismayed at how ugly such once beautiful places have become-
Ao Nang the worse. They are no longer the perfect picture the travel agents all have on their walls. Grey concrete paths, rubbish and rubble everywhere, noisy and polluting long tails boats lined up for miles, not to mention the inevitable mass building of restaurants and hotels, have nearly spoiled the naturally gorgeous beaches and limestone scenery. Nevertheless, we made the most of the days out, and found ourselves amused by the feeling of being on another planet, with sun worshippers, glamour pusses (one in a tiara and sequinned bikini!), in a people watchers delight.
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| A bit different from what we're used to!! Railay beach |
Trang and
Hat Yai were short stopovers of a couple of days each, and we tried to see at least one new thing in each place, having visited these towns dozens of times. In
Trang it was the Thungkai Botanic Gardens, where a forested area full of butterflies has been set up with walking paths, a canopy walkway, and is surprisingly well organised and signposted......and free. We also stumbled across a fabulous new hotel in
Trang which, as well as oozing character (an old building very recently and beautifully renovated), had the bonus of a
Trang street view from the wraparound verandah, was spotless, friendly, and only a few dollars more than the dive we usually stay in at 300 baht/AU$12!
Trang's other huge draw is the new night market near the train station. We certainly felt we were entering in to the real south of
Thailand, with the many different Muslim/southern Thai style foods on offer, such as
kopi (strong, black, local coffee, sometimes served with condensed milk),
biryani (flavoured yellow rice) and
roti (see
here on more on these brilliant breakfast foods!).
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| Thungkai Botanic Garden, Trang |
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| Gorgeous peacock, Trang |
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| Handsome devil on the balcony of our Trang hotel |
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| Chinese temple, Trang |
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| Southern treats for dinner, Trang (chicken biryani, coconut juice, guava and our fav pumpkin custard) |
In
Hat Yai, we followed the advice of a fellow traveller, and stayed in the alternative guesthouse area around the bus station, instead of in the town centre, which, once we eventually communicated what we needed to the non English-speaking hotel workers, was much more convenient considering our short stay. The new places for us to visit in
Hat Yai were a) the unexpectedly impressive Wat Mahapanya Vidayalai, a Chinese Buddhist temple with a huge, golden Buddha statue surrounded by dozens of lines of life sized Buddha statues, some containing the ashes of deceased monks, and b) the Hat Yai Municipal Park, a boringly named, but rather charming, shady garden with a large lake in the middle, and it was too tempting not to take a pedlo out on the water and feed the frenzied fish! Unfortunately, we didn't make it up the 1000 steps to see the various religious statues at the top of the hill, as Richard's recurring back problem flared up again, in a nasty fashion, and we decided the best thing to do was temporarily quit our plan for a slow trip back to
Kuala Lumpur, and rush back to arrange some visits to the Chinese therapies hospital in
KL.
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| Wat Mahapanya Vidayalai, Hat Yai |
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| Wat Mahapanya Vidayalai, Hat Yai |
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| Hat Yai Park |
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| Yes, that's Sal asleep on the bus, under all that clothing! |
