We arrived in Krabi after a long day on the ferry and the bus, but relieved to have escaped the island ahead of the ‘worst tropical storm ever’, according to the media.
On the bus we met Ros, an English girl and we hit it off, so once arriving in Krabi we headed to find a hostel together. We booked a cheap room and awaited the storm.
That night we also met Tanner from the US, Kindred from Canada and Dom from England, and we formed a little group who we ended up spending the rest of our time in Krabi with.
The Italian Restaurant
The best thing about our time in stormy Krabi was the food. Spoiler alert from the heading….it was not Thai food that got us excited. We happened to be staying right near an Italian restaurant called Uno, and ended up visiting there 4 times in 5 days. It was run by an Italian and the food was incredible. And they had blue cheese, which I hadn’t seen for over three months. That’s enough to get emotional over alone!
Hogwarts Hostel
On the second day we decided to move hostel, and it was just about the best decision ever. Although only loosely Hogwarts themed, it had stairs up to the top bunk, and underneath the stairs was a cupboard, which was your locker. A CUPBOARD UNDER THE STAIRS. Enough to get me excited. The beds were very comfy and we were pretty lazy whilst in Krabi, so it was nice to have somewhere really comfortable to chill.
The Book Cafe
While we waited for the miserable rain to pass, we spent a whole day in the book cafe around the corner, reading and catching up on life admin. It felt really nice to be surrounded by books of all ages and languages while we read and had coffee.
Tiger Temple Cave
When we finally thought the storm had passed, and there was a bit of blue sky poking through, we decided to head out on an adventure. We were going a bit stir crazy by this point. The six of us grabbed a tuk tuk to the Tiger Temple Cave, and prepared to climb the mountain. It was incredibly humid, and although 1,237 steps didn’t seem that much when stood at the bottom, we quickly realised the physical task of what we were doing. At 200 steps we were exhausted, and having over 1000 to go was daunting to say the least. But we pressed on, all at different paces (and with regular stops), motivated by people coming down and repeatedly saying ‘it’s worth it!’ After what seemed like forever we reached the top. We were sweaty messes but victorious! The panoramic view of Krabi was beautiful, and at the top there was a giant gold Buddha awaiting us.
The view went from crystal clear to pretty much zero visibility in about 5 minutes and the weather suddenly turned. The heavens opened and torrential rain came down on us. With thunder rumbling in the distance we decided it was time to get the hell off of a mountain and back to sea level! The climb down was hilarious, with rain water gushing down the steps, all of us soaked head to toe. We’d heard there were monkeys on the mountain but hadn’t seen any evidence; that was until we reached about the 200 step point, and found the whole lot of them sheltering in the trees surrounding us. There must have been at least 50. Some were looking quite threatening so I hurried on past, but stopped to turn around when I heard a loud shriek; one had climbed on Chloe’s bag and she had no idea what to do! Luckily it jumped off again, and her and Ros timidly carried on past, hoping to avoid a repeat encounter!
At the bottom we acknowledged how mental that was, and were all pleased to have a little adventure after two days of doing virtually nothing – a rarity on a trip such as this!
Railay Beach
The next day the sun was back! Beautiful blue skies awaited us, so the six of us got the boat from Krabi Town to Railay beach, a famously beautiful beach about 40 minutes away from the town by boat. Small boats in Southeast Asia never fail to both impress and amuse me – they literally grab a car engine, stick it on the back of a rickety old wooden boat, and away we go! Unfortunately on this journey we were sat at the back and the engine was unbelievably loud; I spent the whole journey with my fingers in my ears – those who didn’t had ringing ears!
We had an awesome day of swimming in the calm sea and sunbathing, whilst taking in the beautiful cliffs surrounding Railay.
Oh and Chloe got stung by a jellyfish (don’t worry, she’s currently still alive).
The boat for the return was a smaller boat that got up quite a speed, we were thrown all over the place and I obviously got the shit seat as I was soaking by the time we stopped, whilst everyone else looked pretty dry. But hey, when it’s 30 degrees you don’t really mind a bit of water sprayed over you!
The boat stopped at a different random place this time, and the company shoved us in a mini van and drove the rest of the way back. Why, I’m unsure. I learnt pretty quickly not to bother questioning the ways of the transport in SE Asia, sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to why they do things certain ways…you just have to roll with it and you’ll always get to your destination one way or another!
Return of the Giacomo
After another visit (our fourth) to the Italian restaurant, this time with a carafe of wine, we wandered around walking street and the night market, and stumbled upon a stage with some kids breakdancing. They were great!
We then headed towards the bars, and despite it being Sunday night, we found an awesome Reggae bar with live music where Chloe, Ros, Tanner and I hung out for a couple of hours.
Then the dream reunion happened. We had arranged to meet up with Giacomo, our Italian buddy from uni, who just happened to be on holiday in Thailand. Giacomo hosted us when we visited Milan on our Europe trip, and is a good pal.
Finally he appeared with his friend Matteo, and Renzo from Columbia who they had just met. We had an awesome night drinking beers and catching up with each other. We hadn’t seen him for a couple of years but it felt like we’d never been apart.
At 2am we called it a night, with a 7-Eleven toastie on the way home of course (when in Thailand). The next day we headed to Koh Lanta, but the Italian boys were following one day behind us, and we happened to book accommodation next door to each other. Fate! So bring on the second reunion.
Krabi was an unplanned stop, and the town didn’t have that much to offer, but we made some great friends to wait out the storm with, and made the best of the bad weather.
Next stop Koh Lanta!
Annie x
Pint-Sized Adventurers 