Trifter

“Tiger Cave Temple offers a reward to travelers that attempt the 1,237 steps to the top of the mountain with a spectacular 360-degree view, a golden Pagoda and a huge sitting Buddha.”

If you like hot weather, fun-filled family activities, breath-taking views and some of the best, most pristine beaches in the world then I suggest you visit Ao Nang beach in Krabi Thailand.  I just got back from a short vacation of 5 days at Ao Nang beach in Krabi Thailand and some of the highlights of this trip were the beaches and monkeys, Krabi and Tiger Cave, and the longtail boats and islands. Besides the great accommodations and good prices, the laid back atmosphere help contribute to why I think you should consider visiting Ao Nang beach in Krabi.

I arrived at Krabi Airport on Wednesday evening at 6:30 pm where I took a private taxi service to Ao Nang beach 30 km away for 500 baht ($17.50 USD) and was checked in to the Ao Nang Goodwillby 8:00 pm. It was raining the first rain Ao Nang has seen in 3 or 4 months but that cleared up in less than 20 minutes and I was off to look at other rates of other accommodations. As it turned out I was more than happy with the accommodations I had at Goodwill even though it was 10 minutes walk from the beach, I enjoyed the walks. Thursday morning I ventured to Ao Nang beach as well as Nappharatthara beach just west of Ao Nang beach.  The beaches are sand, not crowded and the water is clean, warm and a brilliant green color.  On Friday, I went to the east end of Ao Nang beach where there is a foot path bridge to Centara beach (0.5 km). At a small creek that empties into the Andaman Sea from the mountains a local troop of monkeys puts on a wonderful display of… well monkeying around which can bring a smile to the most stone of faces. I must admit I found myself amazed at how the monkeys just carried on with their day as if we humans were nothing more than an odd amusement for their already pleasure-filled day. The rest of this day I just floated in the ocean, talked to people from Russia, Thailand, Norway and New Zealand and enjoyed the French women who brought their French attire customs along with them to my already euphoric panoramic point of view!

On Saturday, I ventured to Krabi town where I was shocked by the fact that this town did not put me in mind of a tourist town. I walked along the riverfront and watched a war canoe race, found a quaint little bar named the Joy Bar and talked to the locals to see what there was to do before heading back to Ao Nang on a Bus (Pick-up truck with a high open cab on back) for 50 baht ($1.75 USD). In Ao Nang, I ate, as usual, in some type of restaurant that I have not eaten at yet before going to a few bars and meeting more foreign temporary locals as well as Thai locals. 

On Sunday, I went to Tiger Cave Temple which is 5 km from Krabi; the bus pickup truck cost 800 baht ($23 USD) for 3 persons from Ao Nang to Krabi to Tiger Cave Temple and back. The compound is magnificent and glorious with old buildings, new buildings, and statutes, monkeys from the forest, some caves and lastly the Tiger Cave Temple (Wat Tham Seua). Tiger Cave Temple offers a reward to travelers that attempt the 1,237 steps to the top of the mountain with spectacular 360-degree view, a golden Pagoda and a huge sitting Buddha. I did not make it to the top as I suffered heat stroke around 500 steps and barely crawled to 1,000 steps where I recovered for 45 minutes. The two others I went with did though and they got to take advantage of all of the above as well as free water.  From the top you can go down to where today lives 250 monks and nuns in the temple compound. The views from Tiger Cave Temple are second to none. With that said, my company told me that it was absolutely awesome… ONCE! They would have to consider if they would do it again. I think when I go back I will give it a try again.

Later that afternoon after walking over to Centara beach we hired a private longtail boat from the driver/owner. This cost us less than half of what was being offered on Ao Nang beach because we went to Nappharatthara beach just 10 minutes west of Ao Nang. Our driver was very knowledgeable, pleasant and patient with us. He did not ask for any more money than the negotiated 800 baht ($28 USD) for 3 people in total. He was still excited about the sea and the many places he had found personally as well as when bringing tourists out privately. After taking the trip with him we found ourselves still excited about taking more trips with him as he had very low prices for the day starting at 1000 baht ($35 USD) but we had run out of time. While we were with him we went to beaches that had resorts but no roads or vehicles with breath-taking views, we swam in the most beautiful waters and landscapes, we travelled to isolated restaurants, saw the most amazing bats, cliffs and caves and traveled over the Andaman Sea by moonlight, the stars and massive lightning bolts from far away storms that lit the sky like fireworks from heaven.  To say the least as with most of our encounters with taxi drivers, bus drivers and tour vendors we got their numbers and or email addresses for our next visit to Ao Nang or if some of our friends are looking for a great getaway for a few days.

Ao Nang is a small eastern district of Krabi and compared to a metropolitan like Bangkok, it has relatively nothing to offer in the form of night time entertainment, but there are more than enough bars, restaurants and even some famous Bangkok nightlife type areas that are tastefully and effectively hidden from the family atmosphere that engulfs Ao Nang. I have not even gone into my wonderful accommodations which cost 4000 baht ($65 USD) per room for 5 days! The people I had the fortune to meet were laid back and enjoying themselves adding to this tropical paradise a true international flare that is hard to find co-existing anywhere in the world. I think you should consider Ao Nang beach as your vacation of choice for your next holiday and come back from a vacation for once refreshed, unstressed and ready to perform.