Krabi 20-25 August 2008 - Best Giler!!!

Warning 1: This post is long overdue, but what the heck...
Warning 2: This post is VERY lengthy. (Lotsa pictures.)

So, anyway, the whole gang had been planning this trip from February 2008. We were looking forward to the trip A LOT! And it was worth the the wait and the planning. Thank you to Miss Co-ordinator, Miss Bank Sedunia, and uolsz uolsz yang berkenaan for helping us make it happen.

It has been a wonderful experience and even more so in the company of these great guys who I went on the trip with. Hope you'll enjoy sharing some of the moments here with me.

So here goes...

Day 1.
At LCCT. Can't wait to get on the plane.

Breakfast first before taking off.

Practising some expressions for the international photo shoot in Krabi. Krabi's Next Top Model katanye... Tak larajjj...

The flight that took us there.

Yeay!!! Everyone is very happy to be in Krabi. On our ride to our hotel.

Hotel sweet hotel. Phranang Place - 10 minutes walk to Aonang Bay.

Our room. Very clean and comfy.

Usop trying out the bed (while posing with a complimentary bottle of drinking water).

Leo and Jen too trying the bed.
They almost fell asleep? *hiak kepish* No, no, no... Too excited to be here and start exploring.

The view from our hotel room window.

Quite nice, huh?

Ahhh... Our loyal swing on the porch outside Phranang Place.
We sit swinging here while waiting for everyone before heading off for the destination of the day.

Rempit giler, Usop!!!

Everyone trying to pick the best bike. Camne, okay tak?

Puas hati? Sume happy? Okay, let's go!!!

Arriving at our first destination. Makan time!!!
Lunch time, uolsz. Lapar giler!

This is where we ate. Nice view, huh?

A picture first before makan.

Look at our happy faces.

See how happy we look even while waiting for the food.

Crabs were part of our lunch menu.
The chili sauce that came with it, sedap giler!

The food was delicious.
In fact everything we ate while in Krabi was delicious!!!

Juwita khusyuk giler enjoying the food.

Why the serious faces? Sebab lapar, uolsz!
And the food was yummy, yummy.
Kena concentrate nak makan makanan yang lazat.

Hoh!!! Beware of the Minah Ah Long.
Hudus giler expression. Camne nak jadik modelsz???

Anthony the Mat Rempit.
Jen is smiling, but inside... Cuak giler!!! Hehehe...

Usop and Rizal Mat Rempit Chomey No. 1 & No.2...
Leo tu enter frame jer. Huhuhu...

Arib Mat Rempit Chomey No. 3

Browsing through the brochures for ideas on places we can visit.

Minah Ah Long at work.
Negotiating the price and hassling for discounts.

Macam tauke judi kan? Tak larajjj... Hahaha...
I guess we got quite a good deal. (I think.)

After all the hassling, we decided to JJCJ.
The Rempits arriving at the far side of Nopparat Thara beach.

It was low tide when we arrived.

We decided to stroll towards those small islands just off the beach.

And off we went.

Tengok apa tuh???

Tengok nie lah... Can you see what I see?

Tak nampak lagi?

We were trying to see these cute little baby crabs.
They practically scattered away and crawled into the sand as we approached. There were so many of them. They were literally covering the beach we were walking on.

Our first jump in Krabi.

A bit more sedate pose.
Tengoklah Anthony yang gagah perkasa.

Arib managed to catch a beautiful shot of the sunset.
That was the only time we got it.
Towards Aonang, we couldn't see either the dawn or sunset over the horizon.

A quick rest and shower back at the hotel and then off for our first dinner in Krabi.

Juwita checking the camera. Leo and Jen looking on.

A picture before dinner.
Teoh recommended this place to us.
Krua Thara. Just at the end of Nopparat Thara.
Quite cheap, uolsz.
(Nasib baik sedap giler food dia, Teoh! If not we would have sekeh you! Hehehe...)

A picture after dinner.
Sorry, no pictures of the food. We were too busy enjoying the dishes. Super sedap!

Day 2.
Our driver from @rt Canoeing came to pick us up at the hotel.

On the speedboat.
We didn't know yet what we were getting ourselves into.

Smile for the camera!!!

Very sunburnt Thai girl. Very cheap cheap one. =P

Sitting in the front of the speedboat for the ride to Phi Phi islands.
Veli stlong wind lor...
This was just a small taste of what the ride would turn out to be on our way back.

First stop. The Viking Caves.

The water was crystal clear.

A longtail boat passing by ours.

Our first swim-drop-off point.
A very beautiful lagoon.

You can see right clear till the sea bed.

Our mermadia.

The wannabe-mermadias a.k.a. dugongs. Hehehe...

Second stop.
We stopped here for a while to snorkel.
Didn't take many pictures here, though.

Our next stop was at this beach.
Very beautiful. But very congested.

We took our second jump in Krabi here.

Posing on the beach.

Lunch. Can't remember on which island, though.
The spaghetti I was eating was so good, I couldn't even look up to smile at the camera.

Juwita as usual, in her khusyuk pose over food.

A nap after lunch and before our next stop.
We had to pay RM4 each for the beach chair we slept on!!!


If you want it FOC, then join Ant, Jen and Rizal at this quaint hut for after-lunch-lepakking-session.

We stopped here for another snorkelling-drop-off.
The water was very, very deep.

Only our mermadia dared to venture without any lifejacket on.

Ant and I only looked on. We cannot swim lor...
*The guy in the yellow shorts I was talking to is the speedboat's captain. I had the super hots for him while I was there. Hehehe... Badan dia menggiurkan. (At least to me lar...) You know, the lean type. I loike!!!*

The mermadia-wannabes also wanted to snorkel. But they weren't as adventurous as Juwita.
Tetap kena pakai lifejackets. For safety purposes.

Our last stop of the day was at this beach.
Our camera guy was pretty exhausted by then, so no pictures were taken here except for this one.

We couldn't take any pictures on the hair-raising ride back to Aonang bay. The sky had begun to darken while we were here and our captain made us go through a hell of a rollercoaster ride back to Aonang to avoid us from getting caught in the rain and storm. I had bruises all over my legs from all the bumping sitting in the front of the speedboat. (Sape suruh duk depan lagik?) It was the most awesome speedboat ride I had ever taken. I could do it all over again. Tapi yang penting, mesti captain yang sama yang bawak speedboat tuh. Ehehe... But I can't vouch the same for the others, though. They were just glad to come out of it alive. Hehehe...

That's Jen and Rizal getting us sustenance from the fruit stall across the street to our hotel.
The rest of us all pengsan flat after the island hopping tour.

Day 3.
Our arrival at out first pit stop of the day.
We were heading for the Tiger Cave.

Singgah dulu amik gambar kat sini.

And another gambar here.

Finally a picture with our elusive photographer.
His other half took the picture for us.

Pretty cute signage, huh?

The stairways to... the caves.

These monks are pretty young.
Badan boleh tahan berpetak-petak, uolsz.

The Tiger Cave.
Without us in the picture.

Now, with us in the picture.

That's the tiger paw that got the cave its name.

Just a group photo in the caves.
Not sure what Leo is pointing at.

A photo of me since I wasn't in the earlier one.

There was a tourist guide there who was leading a Korean couple around the caves. She told us this tree was old. But I can't remember how old it is. Hence the group picture.

On our way back out.

To our next pit stop.

Waiting for Minah Ah Long to pay the entrance fee.

Which way? That way?

We just had to pose before heading to the waterfalls.

And here was our third Krabi jump.

Our mermadia posing by the signage to greet us.

Part of the falls.

Can't see the falls too clearly in the background.
What a pity. It's beautiful.

Heyyy... We're up here!!!

A small pool.

Boleh bermandi-manda. The water is veeerrrryyy cold. Best!!!

At our third pit stop.
But first, our fourth Krabi jump.

The Emerald pool.
The water was just nice.
Sangat clear ye. Boleh nampak sampai dasar.
Tapi busuk sebab bau sulphur.
Our fifth jump was in the pool. Hehehe...

Our mermadia showing off her diving talents.
Or jumping is more like it.

At the hot springs.
This was our fourth and last pit stop of the day.
We stopped at a hot pool first.
Jangan terpedaya tengok senyuman we allsz tu.
Airnye sangat panas ye.
Telur bisa direbus dalam air ni ye pak...

The heat took some time getting used to.
But after a while, it was quite nice.
Kalau ada bubbles cam jacuzzi dah.

Macam sungai kan? Memang sungai pun! Tapi airnye panas ye...

Jue, tak panas ke air nie?
Memanglah panas, Sop. Kata nak rebus @#$%&???

Ant, your face so red already.
Haiyaa, Azyei... Of courselah. Very panas one. But kena kasi tahan lebih sket maa sebab mau @#$%& setengah masak one...

On our way back to the hotel. Semua kepenatan.

Took a tut-tut to the night market. Too tired to take the 10-minute walk to Aonang Bay from Phranang Place.

Lotsa of local crafts on display.

Eeeee... Cicak... Gellliiiiiiii...

Usop posing with the cowboy hat.
Krabi's Next Top Model katanye... Tak larajjj...

Shoes, shoes, shoes...

And a cute pup also. But not for sale. Just for display. Hehehe...

Day 4.
There was a parade along Aonang Bay that morning.

Usop takes a picture with Miss Krabi 2007.
Usop covets the 2008 title.

Getting ready for our elephant ride.

Me loike me elephant. But me don't like the smell. =P

That's me with Miss Bargain.
On the elphy beside us is Mr Sunburn 2008 and Miss Diving 2008.
The ladies all gagah perkasa. The guys cam takut-takut jer.

Ske, ske ske...

Cam Lara Croft tak? Hehehe...

Peace, uolsz!

Maharaja Rizal the Gagah Perkosa. Hehehe...

Mr Sunburn 2008 and Miss Diving 2008.

Miss Mascot, Miss Co-ordinator, Miss Mermadia a.k.a. Lara Croft ke-2 & Mr Local.

Feeding the elephants. Takuuuttt gakkkssszzz...

Mr Sunburn 2008 trying a hand at it.

Miss Mermadia also wants to feed the little elphy.

Our guide, King, told us we had some extra time to kill before our next little "adventure". So, he took us to a natural pool. The pool looked nice. But it was too deep for us. Ant and I can't swim. And the others didn't dare enter the pool if they can't touch the bottom. So, only our Miss Mermadia and King took a dive and short swim there. No pictures taken, though. Juwita said Mr Local saja sabotage dia and tak nak amik gambar.

Next, 3 hours of kayaking. In Ao Thalene Bay.
The marsh area we went through was beautiful, but the water was kinda murky. Yucks!!!

Ao Thalene is on the other side. You see those islands in the background? Yes, that's where we were headed to. No lifejackets were provided. Giler kan? Memang we allsz berani mati. Only our guide, King and our mermadia were good swimmers. The rest of us if tergolek masuk air, memang hanyut terus lar. The water was quite shallow in the marshes, but we had to cross the sea to get there. Yes, that's the open sea you see in the picture. You can see Ant and Jen here. And we were all heading to the marsh area near the islands you can see right in the background.

Where's this?

King told us to get off. At first we thought he was kidding. We told him most of us can't swim that well. Some of us not at all. So, he got off and told us it's not deep. He was only standing knee deep in the water. This was actually a sand hill in the middle of the sea. Right smack in the deep water, there's this sand hill. So, we all got off our kayaks.

And took a picture.

And another picture.

We stopped at this small cove. There were monkeys there. The monkeys here are very tame as compared to the ones we find in Malaysia. They will come right up to you and take the food given quite politely off our hands. Modelsz kan monyet-monyet Krabi?

And we jumped here! Our sixth.

And again. That's seven.

Miss Mermadia bertungkus lumus mengayuh.

Our Miss Mascot and Miss Co-ordinator.

Mr Sunburn 2008 with Miss Diving 2008.
The two in the blue kayak are a South American couple who were part of our kayak outing group.

Miss Ah Long with Miss Bargain.
He's a very good kayak navigator. Picked up the skill just by watching King.

Day 5.
We ventured into Krabi town.
It was a Sunday.
Big mistake.
It's a dead town on Sundays.
But we managed to take our seventh jump here.
We hung out in town for a while, wandering aimlessly.

Then Mat, our driver, took us for lunch somewhere by the town's waterfront. As usual, the food was superb that we forgot ourselves again and didn't take any pictures of our lunch.

After that we asked Mat if there was a place where we could go for a good swim. Kitorang sume kan sama ada mermadia, dugongs or aspiring mermadias/dugongs. We love the water so much.
So, Mat took us to this cool place by a river. Phu Tara.

The mermadia and the dugongs trying some synchronised swimming moves.

There was a swing where we could jump into the water.
This is our second runner up.

Our first runner up.

And our champion. Miss Diving 2008.

And Miss Aspiring Mermadia watching on to support all the contestants.

All in all, we had a great time in Krabi. I almost wish we could have stayed on a bit longer so that I could have found the courage to go on a rendezvous with the captain I was drooling over so much. Hehehe... Anyway, to Krabi and what-not, thank you. The activities were eventful and fun, the food super scrumptious, the price for the whole trip quite cheap cheap one, but most of all, the company was super awesome. Thanks for the great time guys. Let's do it again next year ya! =D

Day 6.
Our last day in Krabi.
Our good bye picture with Mat, our ever-sporting driver, in the middle.

Our eighth and last jump. Dengan Mat sekali kitorang paksa.

In the airport cafeteria, while waiting for our plane.
(It was delayed almost two hours!)
Happy faces?
Yes, sad to leave, but happy because we had such a great time!

Bye, bye, Krabi.
Maybe we'll see you again some time.
Kuala Lumpur, we're coming home.
(Dah berzaman selamat sampai dah pun.)