Thailand to Cambodia

Fly.

Simple, for the sake of saving $30 and taking the overland route, you will have to deal with 30+ hour bus and train rides, on poor roads in possibly cramped conditions.

Book a week ahead and you can fly and enjoy an extra day. You might have to fly through KL but this is still better than wasting a full day and being uncomfortable, when looking for flights you will have to do individual searches on Air Asia, as they don't do combination flights.

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.

Koh Phi Phi

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So your looking for a picture perfect beach to relax on with cool water. Unfortunately Koh Phi Phi Don is no longer the greatest spot for this, there are some nice beaches at Long Beach (15 min walk from the main area) but the main beach is shallow, filled with rubbish and sewerage.

We did find a nice secluded beach just before long beach that had clear water, and plenty of corals that were still alive.

If you do an island hopping trip then you will find some amazing beaches, snorkel with sharks (small harmless reef sharks), see coral, caves, and incredible sunsets.

Incredible fish and sharks can be found at some of the islands.

As can incredible beaches:

If you came for the party's then you are definitely in the right spot, this place has everything, fancy fighting a friend or random drunk person in the Reggae bar for a free bucket of booze, Phi Phi has that.

Maybe dancing drinking and smoking all night at one of many beach bars, or relaxing with a smoke at Banana Bar's rooftop lounge area (great by day and night).

We stayed at Flower Hostel in the dorm room for 300THB per night, the crowd in this hostel was incredible with cheap beers at the hostel we made some great friends here and partied all night.
Thailand also has easy access to prescription drugs which have been known to be used to increase your energy for those who really want to take partying to the next level, of course drugs are dangerous so I do not recommend you take them.

Buckets start at around 200THB, up to 400 depending on what and where you buy them. Beers are 40 for a small Chang and 65 for a large. Tiger and Singa are about 20THB more.

Ao Nang to Koh Phi Phi

A 2 hour ferry can easily be organised from Krabi at any of the travel agents for 300THB, if leaving from Ao Nang a public Tuk Tuk (will likely beep if your with your bags and has Ao Nang - Krabi written on the side) should set you back 50THB but drops you away from the pier so either organise in advance to pay extra or negotiate a taxi for 100THB.

If you get there early enough I would recommend getting on the roof and relaxing, like this:

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.

Full moon party Koh Phanang

To get to Koh Phanang, you can arrive in any of Thailands airports and a willing travel agent will be to organise the best route, the fastest would be fly to Koh Samui, get the fast boat. However people starting in Bangkok can get 12 hour trains, bus transfers and any number of ferry options.

 

I arrived in Surat Thani as this was the cheapest option, then paid 600THB ($20) for a maniac shuttle bus driver to get us to the roll on roll off ferry in record time for the 2.5 hour crossing.

 

Here is the view of Koh Phanang from the ferry. A taxi at the other end can be arranged for 100THB due to price fixing.

 

The full moon party on Koh Phanang, Thailand is world famous for possibly the wildest party's I've been too. This does however means the price is much higher than the rest of Thailand even if only for the week surrounding the actual full moon party, most hotels triple the price of accommodation.

 

Most hotels near the action fill up 3-4 days before the party but I would recommend arriving 5 days earlier as the lead up party's are often just as much fun. Jungle Experience is a trippy party held in the jungle, there is a wild Pool Party at Coral Bungalows, and of course Mellow Mountain for your mushrooms (highly recommended) and weed.

 

I paid 500 thb for a two bed air con room at Coral bungalows a week before the full moon but this goes to 1500thb from 5 days before and two days after the party, it's a 7 min walk from the beach and very convenient for the pool party's with a great view of the sunset.

 

All your local Thai food is from 50thb a dish, or triple if your near the beach, and beers are from 30-90 THB

 

No trip is complete with out drinking spirits from a bucket these start at 200-400 depending on location and quality of spirit.

 

 

 

Full Moon parties are dangerous, women shouldn't be left alone, belongings shouldn't be taken out you only need 2000THB for the night (2500 for the Jungle Party), jumping through a fire skipping rope may look fun, but I saw so many people with scars the next day from this. Be sensible and have a good night.