Galen & Rebecca Kennel’s Weblog

This morning I discover that I have a wireless internet connection – thanks to the municipal office across the street. Now I can upload photos and work on my blog.

This room is a great place to work, with the windows on 3 sides. It is almost like being on a veranda. On the way back from breakfast, I see lots of signs in front of the travel agencies – Visa Run, 1200 Baht. When a tourist’s Thai visa is about to expire, one can go across the border to Malaysia and get it renewed on re-entry into Thailand. This must be what makes me check our visa. It expires on the 6^th and today is the 4^th. Oops. So much for our plans to stay around here and explore the islands.

When Galen comes back from his tour around town and the river, we catch a sawngthaew out to Ao Nang to see what we missed by having to leave early. The drive out there is worth the whole trip. The road curves in around these incredible karst mountains that jut up out of the land like giant stalactites.

Ao Nang is a resort along the coast about 30 minutes from Krabi. The beach isn’t that great, but the scenery is amazing and the resort hotels, restaurants, and shops attract the package tourists. The place is crawling with people intent on having a good time.

About 4 km away is Hat Noppharat Thara which is less developed for tourists and the location of the Ko Phi Phi National Marine Park. Ko Phi Phi is an island two hours away by boat. The island was heavily damaged in the 2004 tsunamai, but has rebuilt. It was one of the places we had wanted to visit.

We catch the sawngthaew back to Krabi and go down to the night market along the water for dinner. The food vendors are set up along the sidewalk and the tables are set up in the open area by the water. One walks around and selects what food you want, then sits at a table and waits for it to be delivered. It amazes me, the quantity and quality of food that is cooked up at these little ’stations’.

While we wait for our food, we chat with a Danish family seated next to us – a couple with two young girls. They took the girls out of school for two weeks to travel in Thailand, taking local buses and eating local food – an education of its own. Thailand is an easy place to travel with a young family.

Back at the guesthouse, we plan how we will travel south to Malaysia. Chinese New Year is on the 7^th – two days away, and our guidebook warns about finding accommodation in popular places over the New Year. We had planned to take a ferry from Satun, a town south of here, to Pulau Langkawi Island in Malaysia, and then by ferry to Pinang Island, but when I check a few guesthouses online, they are already booked. Instead we will go to Hat Yai and then south to Pinang by bus.

Photos from Krabi, Thailand.