Krabi Day 5

Today was the last day in Krabi. We woke early and started packing. Had breakfast before making our way to Noppharat Thara beach for the last time.

Having breakfast

At the lobby

I am going to miss cruising down the road by the sea.

The sun was out and it was a fine morning. But as 10am came, it became unbearably hot. We (especially me since I was wearing a tube top) were at a risk of getting a sunburn.

We took a nice walk on the mudflats, and again, discovered more creatures.

It could pinch!

The mudflats

A scallop

A small beady orange crab ...

... A whole army of them!

A small flower crab

We saw a huge crab (as compared to the ones we had seen previously) and we were surprised. We were tempted to catch it but guess what, it scooted away in an amazing speed (say, 25kmph?)! So we tried nearing it cautiously and its downfall came when it burrowed into the mud. We hurriedly dug it out.

Caught!

Exhausted from the midmorning heat, we retreated to one of the coffeeshops near the beach for a drink.

It was Coke every hour every day

Slug felt peckish, so he bought some fried snacks from another coffeeshop. We were amazed at the variety of fried goods the shop had, from fishballs to quail eggs wrapped in wonton skins to fried prawns on onion cakes to fried baby stingrays (YUCKS!). Puts Old Chang Kee to shame.

The fried stingrays are on the top right hand corner (looks like curled sandpaper sheets)

The stallholder chopping our order into bite-sized pieces

Suddenly, one of the stallholders alerted us to a big monitor lizard clambering near the stalls and the stallholders quickly came out to take a look (they said that such reptile visits were not common) and shooed it back into the tall grasses.

We rode back to the part of the beach nearer to our hotel and sat down at one of the pavillions there to have a picnic. Slug bought two packets of fried prawns in batter (a pack of 5 prawns costs only SGD$0.80!), two fried squids, two skewers of quail eggs in wonton skins and two fried flower crabs. All cost less than SGD$4!

At a beachside pavillion at noon

Feasting on my favourite crab

Noppharat Thara beach

Sitting on a rustic swing

After that small brunch, we returned to our hotel to wash up. At 1.30pm, we were treated to a massage, courtesy of our hotel (Our hotel package included a complimentary 1-hour massage for us). Two warm and friendly masseurs came into our room and we were rubbed, stretched and kneaded from head to toe on our beds for one full hour. Slug and I felt awkward and uncomfortable at first, but we were soon overcome by relaxation and nearly drifted off to slumber.

After the massage, we felt like our tense muscles and joints had been loosened and we felt happy. The masseurs left us their namecards, and invited us to try out their 1-hour milk massage session (only SGD $30!) the next time we come.

We checked out of the hotel at 2.30pm, left our luggage at the lobby and rode to Ao Nang for lunch. At Slug's insistence, we bought our lunch: fried chicken with sticky rice, from his favourite roadside stall.

Fried chicken parts to choose from

We parked ourselves at a remote staircase along the street to have lunch.

Our lunch!

We then went to McDee's for sundae and some cool respite from the heat.

Why isn't there McD's Fish n' Fries in Singapore too!

When we were finally satiated, we went to Ao Nang beach for one last longing look at the aquamarine sea before making our way back to grey and drab Singapore. We realised Ao Nang beach is not as beautiful as Noppharat Thara beach, because Ao Nang is dirtier and its shores are steeper than the latter's, and thus does not provide much sandy space to walk on.

At Ao Nang beach

The 4 Islands far away ...

Some weird thorny coral washed up the shore

At 4.30pm, we left the beach reluctantly and back to the hotel to wash up (our feet were coated with sand grains and we were coated with sweat and grime). Even when we had already checked out of the hotel, they were kind to let us use their towels and their swimming pool toilet for our bath.

When we finished bathing, the taxi driver (whom we hired) was already waiting for us at the lobby. We bade farewell to the hospitable hotel staff and we appreciated their warm service which made our stay there really pleasant. We hopped on the taxi and off we were to the airport: Krabi International Airport, which serves only three airlines: Thai Airways, Tiger Airways (we would be expecting to see hordes of Singaporeans) and one other airline.

Goodbye Krabi (karst towers all over the place)

We were feeling hungry and bought some snacks at the Dairy Queen outlet. Not cheap.

Hotdog roll and a mega-sized Coke

We proceeded to check-in after that, and I tried to be funny by trying to smuggle a bottle of water through the checkpoint. I was aware about the restrictions on water, gels and other liquids, but I did not want to be thirsty on the plane. My water bottle was promptly fished out of my bag after it went through the X-ray scanner and I was made to finish the whole bottle (on top of the mega-sized Coke I just had!). Slug accidentally kept my two bottles of sunblock in his bag, and I was made to surrender one of them to the officer (the facial sunblock was saved as it did not exceed 100ml). I was pissed.

As we were sitting near the boarding gate waiting for our flight, the waiting hall was full of noises and kiddie shrieks from a bunch of Indian adults and kids playing UNO on the floor, and our (ex-) neighbour from our hotel was joining in the fun too. They were creating a din with their you-didn't-say-UNO-game-yes-I-did-no-you-didn't accusations. How embarassing.

We boarded the flight at about 7.10pm and we were kind of dreading it.

Krabi International Airport

Boarding the plane

On the plane

Oh well, till our next trip again.