Krabi Beach (Ao Nang)

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Krabi doesn't really have a beach, unless you are into mangroves, but for a 50THB on the public tuk tuk (white with Ao Nang - Krabi - Etc - Etc) written on the side you can head to Ao Nang.

This would have once been an amazing beach but the constant stream of long tail boas kind of ruins the serenity (I am picky when it comes to beaches), it is also a 200THB round trip to Railay beach and jumping off point for a multitude of rock climbing adventures.

The far end of the beach (away from the longtail boats) also has some monkeys that you can feed, always be careful around wild animals.

While the other end is a bit noisier and crowded.

We had 5 people in a hotel room for 400THB each, some cheap street food can be found, and there is a small collection of bar's in a plaza that is opposite the beach, no where near as wild as Koh Phanang, or Ko Phi Phi (see my other posts) it is enough for a night out and a few drinks.

Rock climbing Krabi

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One of the world's best rock climbing destinations, free climbing (no rope) is an incredible experience falling into the ocean when your body is too fatigued or jumping from the top of a climb 20m into the water below is an exhilarating experience.

We paid 1000thb each for a yacht to take us out to two climbing spots, lunch, water and a few smokes included, others we spoke to paid the same for a long tail boat (see boat in pic above) which is way crowded and nowhere near as pleasant as sailing.

We booked through Ao Nang Climber, run my a German woman sorted is out with our boat and legendary captain Luang who I would definitely recommend, for the same price you get a yacht with music, water, food, and an incredible captain or you can find him in the afternoon at Railay beach, as he lives on the yacht (pictured above).

 A stop was also made for a little bit of snorkeling and exploring a cave on a secluded beach. This was easily one of the most memorable days of my trip and an incredible workout with most muscles aching today, we had 2 experienced climbers but the rest of us were novices but still had fun and made a few fun climbs.

Muay Thai training at Ao Nang Stadium, Krabi

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A 15 min walk or cheap tuk tuk from Ao Nang beach is the Ao Nang Stadium with Ao Nang gym on the right hand side (pictured)

400Thb for an hour long lesson (ended up being 90 minutes), this is one of those things that most people will be scared of doing but is well worth it, they also had group classes every morning and afternoon.

Beginners get a good work out and learn some basic punching drills, I had done some training previously in Australia (only 2 months) and the trainer here was so much better than any I had in Australia and incredibly friendly also.

Me practicing my kicks.

Warming up before some technique work:

Koh Phanang to Krabi

For 700 THB ($25) through our hotel in Koh Phanang, we booked a:
Taxi 11:00
Ferry 12:30
Bus 14:00
Arriving Krabi 18:30

The actual trip involved 4 taxi's, 2 buses, 1 ferry, and arrived in Krabi at 21:00, with numerous stops along the way to change modes of transport at various noodle shops (none of which were very good) and also so we could swap our ticket for a coloured sticker that lets the operators know where you are going, once we even swapped red stickers for white ones with Krabi written on them, and others swapped blue for white with BKK written on them.

I am hoping there was some method to the madness, but despite the absurdity of the whole affair we managed to get a good laugh out of it, and woke up to this view from the restaurant making it worth the trip:

Pine Bungalow for 600 THB a night between 2, is 30 minutes from Krabi and is the ultimate relax on the beach in a hammock location to wind down after Koh Phanang.