🇹🇭 from the island to the mainland to Krabi (our 10th & 12th stop on our world trip)

On February 1st, we left Koh Lanta. We took the minivan that we booked online through '12GoAsia' and drove for about 2.5 hours to Krabi. We were dropped off at the bus station and took a taxi for 80 baht (40 baht per person) towards the city center - Krabi Town. When we arrived at our accommodation, Krabi Orchid Hometel, we dropped off our backpacks because the room was not ready yet, and then we headed towards the water, along the Krabi River. Our accommodation, where we stayed twice, has an excellent location: various street food and night markets are in the immediate vicinity, as well as cafes and restaurants, a 7-eleven, shops, laundromats, and of course the promenade along the river.

We had such a great time in Krabi: we didn't perceive it as overly touristy, on the contrary, we often only met other travelers in the evenings at the street food markets. The locals were super friendly, and twice we even had to pose for a group photo. We always had breakfast at the same shop around the corner to enjoy a 'Roti-Egg' or 'Roti-Banana' with an iced coffee among the locals. You can compare Roti here with pancakes, very delicious!

The province of Krabi is known for its landscape and nature, the mangrove forests, and its characteristic rock formations. The region is located on the southwest coast of Thailand on the Andaman Sea. If you go to the coast, you can visit some beautiful beaches. The most famous one is probably Ao Nang Beach. Krabi itself offers excursions to various national parks, temples, waterfalls, and is also suitable for climbing and diving. If you plan a trip, you just need to go to the promenade along the Krabi River, where several longtail boats are waiting for customers.

If you walk along the waterfront promenade, you will eventually reach Thara Public Park. Located on the riverfront with playgrounds and sports facilities (tennis and football courts). There is also a tartan track running through the green and tidy park. Everything is clean. The locals are very active when it comes to sports. ⚽️🏀🎾

We explored the area around Krabi Town on foot, climbed a viewpoint, and went through the Urban Forest near our accommodation. We also visited the historical wall and the temple in the center. Highly recommended and please dress appropriately.

We stayed for 4 nights from February 1st-5th during our first visit and then continued to Khao Lak, as I wanted to stay there for my 👩🏼 birthday. To leave Khao Lak, we came back to Krabi again from February 10th-14th and booked the same accommodation with the same beautiful room with a balcony, as we had liked it so much at Orchid Hometel the first time. From the balcony, you can watch the colorful hustle and bustle of the night market next door in the evenings, and the owners are extremely friendly.

We booked the trip to Surat Thani with a bus company in Krabi itself, not online, for February 14th. They were supposed to pick us up at the accommodation around ten o'clock in the morning because the bus starts at eleven, at least that's the information we had. So we waited in front of our accommodation shortly before ten for the pick-up service... but it took quite a while for them to arrive, which was not surprising because in Thailand, the clocks tick differently. But when it was almost eleven and nobody was in sight, Chris went to the reception and asked the lovely receptionist to make a call there. We had a receipt and a business card. The first numbers were not in use (🤦🏼‍♀️, 😂) she entered the address on the internet and found something. She called, and someone answered. They said they would pick us up right away. No more than 5 minutes later, a red car stopped on the street, and suddenly everything had to happen very quickly.. the bus had started without us, they had simply forgotten about us, that was our theory 😅 The car took us straight to the bus, which stopped along the way and was already waiting for us. We took our seats on the bus, and finally, the journey to Surat Thani could start for us.

The Surat Thani post will follow after the Khao Lak post.