Krabi - Day Three

Welcome back dear friends and visitors. 

May your days be filled with joy and may your nights be filled with peace. 

As promised I am here to journey back in time with you to the 3^rd Day of our Trip to Krabi, Thailand.

After having our Thai Massage last night, my wife and I decided not to follow the rest of the group for shopping at Krabi Town instead we decided to go for another island trip.

The tour packages available for us are:

1.       Phi Phi Island Tour

2.       Hong Island Tour

3.       James Bond Island

As we came down from our massage center, we came across this travel agent called Aonang Photo Travel and they offer us good bargain at 800 Bath per pax. 

The destination will be Phi Phi Islands. We grabbed the offer as a child grabs a toy. Normal price was 1800 bath per adult and 1200 bath per child.

Our planned destinations for the day:

1.       Bamboo Island – to explore the coral and it’s beach.

2.       Hin Klang – open sea snorkeling experience.

3.       Phi Phi Don – lunch at Restaurant

4.       Monkey Bay – sightseeing and photography

5.       Viking Cave – Sightseeing and photography

6.       Pileh Bay – Sightseeing a fantastic lagoon.

7.       Lohsamah Bay – Snorkeling

8.       Maya Bay – Hollywood film, ‘The Beach’ location.

That was our plan for the 3^rd day which depends on the weather and sea condition.

At 9.15am we arrived at the pier and took a two engine speedboat.



Small Island that we passed by.

 At 9.28am we stop at Centara Grand Beach Resort and Villa to fetch more members of our team.

At 9.32am we stop again at Railay Village Resort to fetch the last batch of our members which total to 23 members. 

By right this Two engine Speedboat can carry 25 passengers.

Only Agnes and I are Asian in our group while the rest are from United States, France, Spain, Italy and Australia. All of them know how to swim except my wife Agnes but nobody knows about it until we turn back due to rough sea.

At 10.25am we stop at our first Island which is Bamboo Island. Bamboo Island has a beautiful white beach, a good place for relaxing and sunbathing. 

Dark clouds are in the horizon which shows the rain is coming.

A good scenery for photography but bad for your sea journey as the waves are getting bigger and higher with strong winds coming our way.

I wish I could FLY..

As the sea is getting rougher and the winds are blowing stronger, we decided to have an early buffet lunch in a Restaurant at Phi Phi Don. 

According to our guide, Michelle, once this place had been washed by the tsunami and most of the buildings were newly build.

Now our plan seems to be doomed. By now the waves were too high and sometimes the water comes into our boat. We are going for a Roller Coaster ride in the big waves and strong wind.

At 12.41pm we stop by the Monkey Bay for a few minutes just for sightseeing and snap some photos. We do not go onto the sandy beach of this bay. According to plan we should be snorkeling here and play with the friendly monkeys.

We moved one and at around 12.45pm we stop by the Viking Cave bay for sightseeing and snap some photos. We can not do much as it’s raining and waves rocked our boat. I could not snap any pictures, I just could not gamble with my new Nikon D7000 in this weather.  According to our guide, Viking Cave is a place to collect bird’s nest and it is under private property. No one is allowed to enter the cave.

We drive on to our next destination in the rough sea and heavy rain.

[After coming back home, my wife told me that this sea adventure is the most interesting one for her. She really enjoyed this trip. ]

At 1.00pm we enter the Pileh Bay, a fantastic and beautiful lagoon. It’s just like a room surround by mountains with a small outlet to the open sea. Sea people would love this place for hiding from the rough sea. Here we have our snorkeling and swimming in the blue clear water with a bit of drizzling. The water is calm as the lake as compare to the rough sea outside.

 And I went underwater...

All back in the boat...

Then we drive on to our main destination which is Maya Bay which is surrounded by mountain and white sand. This is the location for the movie “The Beach.” 

Most of my group asked the driver to continue the journey despite the rough sea but due to the sea getting rougher and rougher and the waves getting higher which really rocked our big speedboat. And one of the young boys from Moorty family started to shout and cry. The boys are sitting in the front of the boat with their father. They moved the boy inside the boat with his mother. Water is splashing into our boat as we cut through the waves. Then we know that going forward is too dangerous for our life. We have no choice but to turn back. As we turned back, the waves hit us from the side and that time I thought it’s all over but God is merciful, we still manage to laugh in those critical times.

Then we head for our last destination for the day which is Lohsama Bay for snorkeling and swimming. We were in Lohsama Bay for only 30 minutes as the weather is not encouraging to stay longer.

 Time to go back to Ao Nang Beach....

And I ended the day with this image....and a nice aromatic massage.

And the next day, we head for home....""Bye, Bye, KIKI!!"

We can't wait to be home...

I hope you enjoy the rough journey and thank you for being here.

If you plan to have a vacation in Krabi, make it a week as 4 days 3 nights are just too short to enjoy what Krabi has to offer.

Hope to see you in Koh Samui next year.

Krabi - Day Two

Welcome back, dear friends and visitors.

On this 2nd day, we are going to taste the real adventure as today we are going for a Four Islands trip.

"Pick up your bags and be ready as the Island tour guide is already waiting for us."

My weapons are packed:
1. Olympus UTough_8010 for underwater photo
2. Nikon D7000 with Lens Sigma DC 18-200mm (dream of Nikon lens 18-200mm VRII )

Let's the journey begin.....

The Island tour guide fetched us from the hotel and it took us 10 minutes drive to reach the pier. The weather is sunny with blue sky and the sea is predicted as calm. A great day for the sea adventure.

With joyful heart and eager for new adventure, we got into the Three Engine's Speedboat and head for the open sea.

I am sitting  at the back of the boat to ensure that I won't miss the good view and if I am lucky I will be able to capture some nice photos.


We passed by this beautiful small Island

Our guide in the boat introduced himself as Mr. O, a tan, tall and skinny young handsome man. 

As we ride on, he explained to us our trip route but I am not paying much attention as I am busy with my shooting.

There are a lot of rock formations on the way until we stop a our first Island which is ‘Phranang Cave. 

According to the brochure, Phranang Cave is a very famous cave where a princess spirit house is located. This Spirit house is respected and worshiped by the local people.



The Princess Spirit house is in the fore ground

I do not capture the Princess Spirit House as I believe it should be kept it's privacy.



Ops!! He lost his grip.

Rock climbing is one of the activity that you can do on this island.

After spending for about 45 minutes on this Island, we move on to another Island called Chicken Island.

 

We do not stop at Chicken Island itself but we did stop not far from the Island for our snorkeling and swim with the fish session. 

We were here for 40minutes.

Taken with my Olympus UTough8010

The fishes are friendly but they also can bite your skin. Most of us jump in the water and some feed the fish. 

 As for me, I swim like mermaid with the fish. I really loves swimming in the sea.

I am the last one in the water and then we head for our 3^rd Island called Tup Island. 

 

Tup Island is consisting of two small Islands linked by a shallow sand bank. 

As the tide recedes, the sea is gradually separated by the white sand and limestone beach which will connect the two islands at low tide. I do not swim much here as I more busy with my shooting of these wonderful scenery. We are on this island for another 45 minutes.

The sun is blazing hot in the clear blue sky. 

It’s predicted to be raining but God knows better what is good for us. 

"Thank you, God. You are just wonderful.  We love thy and we praise thy always."

Everyone is hungry as the time shows pass noon. Our guide, Mr. O told us that we will be having our lunch on our 4^th and last island which is Poda Island. We will be on this island for one hour. Before we head for Poda Island, Mr. O distributes the packed lunch to everyone in the boat. 

As we approach Poda Island, the rock formation outside the beach of the island catch everyone eyes.

Poda Island, itself has a lovely white sandy beach and we can see a lot of tourist sunbathing on the beach. For me, it’s a great place to relax with a great view, strong refreshing wind and wonderful sandy beach. It also has crystal clear water and mild waves. 

But do not forget that there are a lot of monkeys on the trees above. 

More image at Poda Island....

Lunch time at Poda Island

At exactly 2.30PM local time, we depart for Ao Nang. 

That’s all for our 4 Islands trip? 

I thought more of it....I am planning to go again on the 3rd day...I just need more of the sea and swimming. But the group plan for 3rd day is shopping at Krabi Town.

That evening, my wife joined the rest of the group for shopping while I am resting and ready for the next day.  

There was no sunset on the 2nd day but still I head for the seashore when the sun come down. I am late for sunset.

 These were the images that I captured...BLUE HOUR....due to oversleep.

Hope you enjoy the four Island trip. 

Images can also be view in my  Johnragai Flickr Account

May you have a great time and see you in Krabi-Day Three.

Krabi - Day One

Glad to see you here again, dear friends.

I would like to share with you my recent trip to Krabi, Thailand.

Come on aboard!!

I am here to revisit my journey with you. 

Upon arriving at Krabi Airport, we were fetched by our Wow Krabi guide, Mr. Kiki. He is a friendly guy with smile always on his face.

We were hungry and yet we prefer to go to our first destination for the day which is Tiger Cave Temple.

 Crab town was our 2nd destination for the day. According to Kiki, this town produce a lot of crabs.

Then we head for our last destination for the day, Krabi Coastal Fisheries Research and Development Center which locate fish farm and fishery research center.

After spending around 45 minutes at the center, we head for our hotel.

In the evening, we walked to a nearby beach where locate a restaurant for our dinner.

  Good sunset as we having our dinner.

 After dinner, we walked over to Ao Nang Beach where night market was located.

With his permission, this artist at work will be my last shot for the day. We have to sleep early as tomorrow, we are going for the four Islands trip.

 

See you in Krabi - Day Two.