Here are 4 things you must do in Ao Nang

Ao Nang

Before we went to Ao Nang, we heard mixed things about the place, which was 20 minutes from Krabi. After we stayed there for a few days, we still have mixed feelings about it.
The beach didn?t look as pretty as the ones in Koh Phi Phi or Railay Beach for example. The sand wasn?t nice and the waves made it impossible to swim.

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Ao Nang Beach
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What we loved about Ao Nang was the lively vibe and atmosphere around town. There were many nice bars and restaurants to grab a drink during the day and the hotel we stayed in had live music every night. Another good thing about Ao Nang are the tours you can book and start from there. Half or full day tours to the islands and temple around are very popular. We did 2 tours (7 island hopping and Tiger cave and Emerald Pool) and liked them both. It was a fun time and we met a lot of nice people during the trip.

 

1.  7 Islands Tour

Like I mentioned before, we really liked the tours from Ao Nang.
On the 7 Island Tour the weather turned on us and half of our stops had to be cancelled because of strong waves and wind. If it wouldn?t be for the weather, the guides would have shown us the surrounding islands and we would have the chance to climb of a high rock and jump from 5 to 30 meters into the deep blue sea. Nevertheless, Thomas and I had a great time with the people on the boat ? we went snorkeling at Chicken Island, sailed around Railey Beach and saw glowing Plankton during our night swim after the sunset. I bet the tour would have been perfect if the storm hadn?t hit us that day.

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On board the Mariam Travel & Tour’s boat
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Snorkeling
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2. Tiger Cave, Emerald Pool and Hot Stream

The second tour was an all-day program which showed us the above mentioned places. First stop was the Tiger Cave, a temple on top of the world. We had to climb up more than 1200 huge steps to get to the temple.
After that the guide took us to the Emerald Pool. It was a magical place and I am so glad I experiences it, because it was so unique. We arrived at a national park 50km from Ao Nang and after we walked along a small river, we arrived at the Emerald Pool ? a turquoise spot of happiness. It was a magical place in the middle of high trees and small waterfalls. A perfect spot to cool down after a walk through the rain forest.

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The Emerald pool
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Light rain shower in the pool
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After cooling off, the tour lead us to our first hot spring experience. It was a beautiful collection of natural Jacuzzis? flowing like a waterfall from pool to pool down to the river.

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The hot streams
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3. Railay Beach

I already wrote about this island in my last post but there is one last thing worth mentioning.  Railay Beach and its lime stone cliffs has become the Mekka for rock climbers from all around the world. One of the activities we really wanted to do but couldn?t, was ?Deep Water Soloing?. It?s basically just rock climbing over deep water and the climbers can push themselves and climb as high as possible. If you can?t go any higher or got to the designated jump spot, you can just jump ?safely? into the water.  Sadly our plans got ruined by too high waves that week, but we will surely come back and try this out.

Poda Island is where the tours will take you to try deep water soling.

 

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If you want to see more pics go to this guys flickr page

 

4. Sunsets in Ao Nang

You can actually get some pretty good sunsets at Ao Nang despite it being on the east coast. It doesn?t cost anything and you get to see one of the most magical things. There is a saying that no one is ever not stunned by a sunset, no matter how many times he or she has seen it.

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Sunset at Ao Nang beach
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Sunset Ao Nang
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Where we stayed
After we had a horrible night at a very shady hotel (Sunset Hotel), we had to find another place to stay. Only 5 minutes walk down the road we found ?Ao Nang Beach Resort?- a way better place for the same price. It is quite central opposite of the oceanside, surrounded by bars, shops and restaurants. The resort had a small outdoor pool and the rooms were clean and bright. The service was helpful, but some of them couldn?t understand much English, but it was enough for the necessary things. There was great live music every night at the restaurant downstairs. We enjoyed both the entertainment and the food there. The breakfast however, was horrible and not fresh at all. Except this, I would recommend the resort to everyone, who wants to stay a bit more luxurious than a hostel (price per night 700 to 1100 Baht in low season ~ 20 to 30 Euro).

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Tuni

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We decided to spend a few days in Krabi, after we stayed in Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta. Krabi was ?in the area? and only a few hours of drive or ferry away. There are a lot of things to do and I will share my 3 favorite spots in today?s blog post.

Krabi Town

Krabi Town itself was cozy and less crowded than Phuket or Ao Nang. In my opinion, you can explore the city in one day and maybe add one more for the white temple on top of a hill and the weekend night market. We stayed close to the river and enjoyed having dinner at the local food market by the pier almost every day.

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White Temple
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Huay Tho Waterfall

From Krabi Town we went to a beautiful waterfall in the ?Khao Phanombencha National Park?, which is about an hour away, if you ride with a motorbike.
The national park is well maintained with security guards, who were very nice and eager to help. After we paid a small entry fee to the park (100 Baht / around 3 Euro), they explained us the way to the waterfall.
We walked along a path, which lead us straight to the waterfall after only 5 minutes. The waterfall had two ?water pools?, one was at the bottom, the other one in the middle of the waterfall. I could access the first one easily, without a lot of climbing, but the second one needed about 5 minutes of pushing myself up steep stairs. It was totally worth it.

After the climb in the burning hot sun, I got rewarded with a jump into cool water. We were really lucky and had the entire waterfall with its pools almost by ourselves.

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Waterfall at the second pool
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Railay Beach

Surrounded by beautiful lime stone cliffs, the island has a very unique location and is definitely a must visit, when you are Krabi. According to some sources, Railay Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches of the world. It is only accessible by longtail boat and the whole ride takes 20 minutes from the pier in Krabi. It costs around 150 Baht/4 Euro. If you come from Krabi, you will arrive at the East side of the beach, which is not as beautiful as the others. We loved Railay West, a beautiful beach with  amazing view of the islands opposite and many restaurants and hotels.

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Railay Beach West
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However the best place is Ao Pranang. You can get there from the East side of Railay and it is a magical spot. The huge lime stones are surrounding the beach and a little cave, called ?The Princess cave? at the end of the beach.

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Ao pranang
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Where we stayed

We arrived in Krabi from Koh Lanta and stayed at a cosy little guesthouse by the river, called ?Rooms@Krabi?.  We really liked the place, which was close to a night food market, the pier to Railay Beach and about 10 minute walk to the centre. A sheltered, cozy lounge is placed outside, where we could have breakfast or enjoy a drink in the evening. The receptionist Ton was super friendly, helpful and spoke perfect English; the Australian owner made sure we had a good time and told us how to get to some sightseeing places and markets.
We took a big room with a beautiful view to the river and a huge balcony in front of it and would recommend this anytime.
The guesthouse also organized a motorbike for us, so we could get around and explore the area.

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Rooms at krabi
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So here is a little list of things we found funny and abnormal in Thailand

See-through soda cans

As much as I liked the look of the can, the soda itself was disappointing. It tasted awful and artificial and is nothing compared to the fresh lemon shakes I get at every corner.

 

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Haircut booth

We found this strange kind of hairdresser in Bangkok. Like a car wash, you have to pay at the machine first. After that you get a coupon, then you line up for the next free booth and get your hair cut in record time.

Just a few moments later you can move on with your life and the next guy in line gets a quick haircut. The whole thing costs only 100 Baht (2,50Euro).

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The Hair Booth
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Monkey oil

Thomas and I went into a small boutique to buy some After Sun Crème. In the area for oil products, we found the funniest label on a bottle of coconut oil.

As you can see, one of the labels is slightly different from the others and seem quite weird, considering the fact that it is a beauty product for humans (and not for monkeys).

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Bunny Mannequin

We saw this one in front of a designer store in one of Bangkok?s biggest shopping malls. It just creeps me out and I have no idea why anyone would choose this kind of display.

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Zebra-crosswalk

A crosswalk in Krabi took it literal and put zebras on the street instead of the usual boring white stripes. We should get this in Germany and Denmark, it would make me chuckle every day. [/av_one_full]

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Why so Sirius?
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Weird T-shirt prints

Like every other touristic place, Thailand has the stereotype T-Shirt with something funny printed on it.

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Amongst hundreds of prints and pictures on T-Shirts and hats and bags, this is one my personal favorite.

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My favorite
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Tuni

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One of the must-go places in Thailand is Maya Beach, famous because Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The Beach” was set there in 1999. Thomas and I ended up going to Maya Bay three times in three different ways.
Therefore we want to share our personal experiences with you, to help you find the best solution for your trip.

1. Taxi Boat

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We had “The Beach” almost completely to ourselves
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Our third and favorite time to Maya Bay was with a private taxi boat.

It was our absolute favorite way to see Maya Bay. We got to “The Beach” by renting a long tail boat from Koh Phi Phi. You can rent it for 3 hours or 6 hours, if you want to see more places. We ended up paying 2000 Baht (53 Euro) for 4 hours on the boat, and we could have brought up to 6 people and share the costs.
My previous post (Click here) described the trip we had.

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Such a beautiful place!
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To sum it up short, I would recommend this way to go to see Maya Bay. We arrived at ?The Beach? at 6.30am and it was almost empty and so calm, unlike the speed boat tour. All four of us sat down and enjoyed the view, the sound of the waves and the soft sand under out foot. We took hundreds of pictures without anyone in the background as well. It was a great to have Maya Bay all by ourselves and see the sun slowly brighten up the entire lagoon in front. Truly the only way you should experience this wonderful place. And it is just great to be on your own schedule and decide for yourself when it?s time to move on.

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As we left the island to go to the other side
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And just like the speedboat tour, Mr. Potato our ?chauffeur?, supplied us with free drinks and snorkeling equipment and shared all the local insights of the area with us.

 

2. Speed boat tour

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View from the speed boat
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On our first trip, we went on a tour from Phuket. It was a daytrip via speed boat with lunch included,which you can book at every tourist booth or shop. We paid 1200 Bath each (around 31 Euro) with pick up from the hotel. The tour was advertised as 3200 Bath on the flyers and the couple sitting next to us paid 2500 Bath a person. The speed boat ride was really bumpy. Sometimes it hit a big wave and I was literally flying up from my seat. I wouldn?t recommend this tour for anyone who gets sea sick.

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With the right angel and some cropping skills you can get a good picture. this is not an example
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Maya Bay around 10:30
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We arrived at Maya Bay after what seemed like an hour long rollercoaster ride, around 10am, where the entire beach was packed with people and boats were queuing. It was an unpleasant view to be honest, because you could only take pictures for a few seconds before someone or some boat would come into the picture. After half an hour, we left the island as fast as we came and sailed out to the open sea for a bit of snorkeling. Again, after 40 minutes, we hurried to Koh Phi Phi for lunch and had only half an hour of ?free time? to explore the island, which was not enough!

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The last stop of the trip was a small island, which was obviously designed to pull some extra cash out of our pockets. The island had nothing special to offer and felt like a huge bar in the baking sun. The island was tiny and packed with people from the surrounding tour boats. We really didn?t like how the tour ended.

It was a nice day but most of the time, we felt being rushed from one scenic spot to another. There was no time to actually enjoy the beaches and islands plus it was overcrowded with tourists and speedboats, everywhere we stopped. There was no space to swim and no picture without a boat in the background.

3. Ferry from Phuket to Koh Phi Phi

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Veiw over Maya Bay from the ferry
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The second time was when we took the ferry from Phuket Town to Koh Phi Phi, which stopped in front of Maya Bay for a couple of minutes for people to take pictures. You couldn?t get off to spend time on the beach. Then the ferry passed by the island, so the passengers could see the Viking cave too, before heading on to Koh Phi Phi. If you only want to have a glimpse of Maya Bay, this would be enough and the cheapest solution. It was a nice extra from the ferry company to stop at the touristic spots, but I wouldn’t describe it as a “tour”.

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The Viking cave
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Tuni

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