2025 Thailand – Krabi
15th January 2025
It was a short flight from Bangkok to Krabi Airport where a taxi took us to the Sofitel Krabi Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort, opposite Klong Muang Beach. I loved the hotel and our large room which overlooked the gardens. There were a lot of activities going on and every morning a dinosaur walked around the large breakfast room greeting the children who were either thrilled or terrified by it. Federika preferred smaller boutique-like hotels but accepted that there just weren’t any as the whole area seemed to cater for mass tourism. The only snag was we were a long way from any kind of nightlife although there was an area just down the road with some restaurants so at least we weren’t restricted to our hotel to eat.
We ate in the hotel on our first night and had sea bass on a bed of pesto rice. I wasn’t expecting much as I am not a great lover of pesto or rice but it was brilliant. While we were waiting for our meal the restaurant manageress started chatting to us. She warned us that there was a “Diarrhoea bug” going around and not to stay too long in the sun. I was no doctor but I had never heard of the sun giving people diarrhoea and we suspected the bug was picked up in the swimming pool which didn’t affect us as we preferred the sea anyway.
The beach was only a few yards from the hotel across a busy road. We read that sunbeds and umbrellas weren’t allowed anywhere in Krabi but to our relief, there was a row of sunbeds sheltered by trees although we had to keep moving them to stay in the shade. The sea was lovely and warm and on my first swim I managed to get stung by a small jellyfish but that was the only time it happened. By 1 pm there was no more shade and the tide had gone out to leave a lot of rocks so we weren’t able to swim anyway. I would have thought that the tide changed every day but, it was always the same and by 2 pm swimming was impossible. 
For lunch, we walked along the beach to an area that had some outside restaurants and were so hungry that we made the mistake of stopping at the first one. We both ordered a fillet of sea bass and the woman told us it came with a thick sauce. We made it clear that we definitely didn’t want any sauce with it which she wasn’t happy about but agreed begrudgingly. When it was served, mine was ok but Federika’s tasted strange and judging by the smell, it was off. We told the waitress and with a straight face, she told us it was our fault because it was meant to be served with sauce in which case we would never have known it was off. She replaced it and the next one was fine which confirmed our suspicion.
We still had one week without accommodation booked and were struggling to decide on which town let alone a hotel. The only place that seemed mildly suitable was the nearest town to us which was Ao Nang so we decided to spend the day there to check it out. As we entered the town our hearts sank as it seemed so full of tourists. We had coffee and while Federika went to the toilet upstairs I watched our waiter walk to the bushes to spit and walk back again several times. When Federika returned, she said the chef in the kitchen upstairs was continually spitting in the sink and how bad the toilets smelt.
We had lunch and spent the rest of the day on the beach which I wasn’t very keen on and although smoking on beaches in Thailand was illegal, it was impossible to find a square inch of sand which didn’t contain a cigarette butt. The noise from the constant coming and going of longboats was horrendous but I had some earplugs with me which helped a lot. This wasn’t our ideal holiday destination but after a week in such a quiet location with no nightlife, we decided to book somewhere in Ao Nang and make the most of it. During the afternoon we looked at dozens of hotels and eventually found one that was ridiculously overpriced but was two kilometres outside town so it would be quiet and we could walk or take a tuk-tuk into town.
Back at the Sofitel we had intended to go on one of the many boat tours and forgot the golden rule to do these things in the first couple of days after arrival. You always think you have plenty of time till the last day arrives and it is too late. We booked to go by longboat to the famous James Bond Island on our last day but I had a stomach upset in the morning. These things only lasted an hour with me but by the time it passed, it was too late for the trip although we could still do some boat tours from Ao Nang the next week.
At night we walked down the road to a group of restaurants which weren’t great but they were on the beach and had a good atmosphere. We had a choice of two restaurants that were next to each other with each having live music so they might as well have played on the same stage. Apart from the cacophony, why would someone pay for live music when the restaurant next door was already providing it for free? It turned out a fun night as our waitress was stoned and after losing my order and Federika finishing her meal before I was served, every time she passed our table she giggled and mumbled “Chicken Wings.” Fortunately, I wasn’t that hungry so we saw the funny side.
2025 Singapore
