Krabi Town 2/12/2025-2/16/2025
With a somber heart, it was time to leave the monkeys. The bus to get to the main town would pass by anytime before 9 am until as late as 10 am. We just posted up on the side of the road with all our bags hopping we didn't miss it and hoping it would come so we could get out of the sun. And when I say bus it was more of a pickup truck with benches in the back with a roof. Pretty bad ass and was dirt cheap for a half hour ride into town.
The actual town of Krabi did not feel like it catered toward tourists yet there was a ton of backpackers we saw. Nearly everything was in Thai but still easy to navigate. We went to a coffee shop that pretty much had every single one of my interests packed into one room. There was music, surfboards, motorbikes, and art filling the space. There was even a surfskate there that one of the people working there let me take out on the street so get some turns in. I couldn't really chat with the guy working there because of the language barrier but we would definitely have been homies.
Later, we took another pick-up truck ride to Ao Nang for dinner. Super touristy. Heard someone say that this was a more chill version of Phuket. Which made me think glad we didn't go to Phuket.
We went to this cool noodle spot in an alley away from the crowds. With the presence of mcdonalds and O'Malley's Irish Pub along the beach, this place no longer felt like Thailand. We didn't spend much time there. We stood on the side of the road and waited for another one of those converted pickup trucks to take us back to town. Sure enough, one did.
The next morning, we indulged in a free breakfast provided by the hostel. Brain storming what we were gonna do that day, we decided to take a boat over to Railay beach and maybe check out a view point. It all seemed to make for a super low key relaxing day. On the boat ride there, we checked the reviews for the view points and a lagoon that looked pretty cool. All of the reviews said it was a hard hike even for very active people. And I thought, "ok yeah right dude how had could a hike be."
We arrive to the spot and walk along a crowded path to get to the start of the trail. Arriving to a nearly vertical wall full protruding rocks and tree roots, we saw the sign that said viewpoint with an arrow pointing up. I was gobsmacked when I looked up and saw people climbing up. I guess the reviews were right, this was not going to be an easy hike and would be more akin to a climb.
We read one review that said confidence is key with this high. And since were were at the base of the trail with people around us there was little time to think about this and we just went for it. We probably climbed for a half hour when we finally made it to the top. Now there was a short trail hike to this look out point. We got a stunning view of the little town and the surrounding area.
Photo: View from the Viewpoint
Photo: Zoomed in View of the Boats from Viewpoint
On the top of the hiking path the was a route to get to the lagoon. We remembered reading that the lagoon was more challenging of a hike than the view point. We decided to just check it out. We started down the path and were met with some pretty mellow down hill descents. Finally, as we were able to see a glimpse of the lagoon through this canyon we were hiking in, the next few descents seemed like shear drop offs but we knew we'd look like total cowards turning back.
Photo: Looking down at the Climb to The Lagoon
As we were standing at the top of one of the climbs down, there was another group coming up. Since this lagoon is a one way in, one way out type of deal, there was sure to be some traffic. After watching to see how this group navigates the climb up, we noticed that each person is in full rock climbing gear and has some one belaying them. Camila, myself, and the group behind us are all witnessing this and we are all collectively thinking, "wait, we don't have rock climbing gear, how the fuck are we gonna do this?" All we had was a rope secured to a tree a the top of the climb. Fuck it, it's my turn. I go first down this first climb. I went first in case I need to catch Camila coming down and to look totally cool in front of the rock climbers. She didn't need any of my help other than directing a foot hold or two. Totally bad ass chick. We do a few more climbs like this and we make it to the lagoon. Guess we didn't need rock climbing gear.
The view point was cool but the lagoon really blew us away. It seemed as if a gigantic cylinder was removed from this mountain. Weirdly magical and had one hell of an echo. The walls had so much vegetation stretching all the way up to the sky and the bottom was teal water that rose and fell with the tide. Simply breath taking and well worth the effort.
Photo: Inside the Lagoon
Photo: Camila in the Lagoon
As more people made there way to the lagoon, Camila and I decided it was a good time to head back up. And then back down again to where we started. After a nearly 3 hour hike, we felt as if we deserved some beach time. Tired, sweaty, and filthy nothing felt better then jumping in the blue water on this beautiful beach. There was a cliff that was overhanging the water, a cave you could swim to, and little islands along the horizon. Once we got out swimming fix, we had one more thing to check out. The bat cave!
We struggled to find the entrance to the bat cave even though this cave was massive. Little secret was we had to go into the jungle a bit to find the easy path up. At this point, we were no strangers to a climb and this was a walk in the park. This cave was gigantic. I could not believe how high the ceilings were.
Photo: Camila Entering The Bat Cave
Photo: View From The Bat Cave
Photo: Inside The Bat Cave, no batman though
It was unreal to be standing in a natural structure of this size. This probably would have felt even more grand if I had not seen so many amazing things that day. Camila also saw a bat and I did not. Total BS! Again!! We headed back to the beach for one last swim and made our way to the dock to catch our boat back.
After an insane day, all we wanted to do was eat and let our bodies do nothing. As I am chilling in the hostel bed, a dude straight from the villa of love island walks into the hostel room and says "Whaaaaat up SLUTS! My names George and I'm the party manager here." Who uses what up sluts as an opener? He then went on to explain there was a beer pong tournament and party going on tonight. Probably the last thing I wanted to do. We stayed in, watched Lost, and had popcorn.
He was a pretty interesting dude. He moved to Krabi permanently, got a dog, and has multiple businesses going on. I have no idea what those businesses could possibly be. Every night he would come in, usually with the same opening line, and explain what party events he was hosting. My favorite game he had set up was a guy has to go in front of a group of girls and pitch himself and the girls vote turned on or turned off. Ran into him the next day and said it didn't go very well. We never actually went to these events.
Our days were filled with a lot of walking around the city, either in the morning or the evening. The middle of the day was a bit too hot to do any kind of exercise. I ran about 3 miles one afternoon and was ready to pass out.
The nights been came cooler and the city of Krabi became more alive. At around 5 pm the night markets would open and people would start to fill the little board walk areas. The night markets had everything, food, shakes, clothes, little trinkets, human rumbas, you name it. One night after hitting a night market, we stumbled across these kids playing classic rock songs and it was so cute.
Photo: Night Market
Our time in Thailand was coming to a close and we prepared our selves for a brutal travel day to Vietnam. Thailand is sick though. Highly recommend checking it out.
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