A quick note: For some reason, the slides show day 2 in Krabi before day 1. I didn’t have time to fix this issue. It probably doesn’t matter. Just enjoy the photos.
Saturday, 20 August 2022: Krabi First Day
We did a lot of stuff in Krabi in a couple of days. I won’t go into great detail and I don’t have time to write a full on essay. I’ll try to cover highlights.
On the way to the hotel, we drove behind a truck carrying coconuts that were clearly valuable, as they were guarded by special security experts, as you will see in the first couple of photos. You can’t be too careful when moving valuable coconuts.
Once we got to the hotel, we met with two of the major government/business people to get a better sense of the area, the opportunities, and the province’s plans. Of course, this being Thailand, all of the conversation took place while eating breakfast. Food is always part of every transaction, either social or business in Thailand.
We started our tour along some of the 5-star hotels, including the Banyon Tree which was pretty nicely designed, at least on the outside. The views from its infinity pool out to the Andaman Sea were amazing.
After leaving the hotel, we drove along the coast line facing Phuket, which is about 31km away by boat. Krabi is made of of dozens of islands that are visible from the main land. The views out to these islands is quite stunning.
We then moved on to Khao Ngon-Nak Nature Trail with its beautiful trees and water features. The trail had, at its entrance, a small but well-tended Spirit House. It was very clear that the Spirits overseeing the trail were being well taken care of based on the number of Fanta cherry drink offerings.
On the way to the purchased site, we stopped at a beach that our guides hoped would one day become a cruise terminal. Krabi is gaining ground as a quieter, greener tourist destination, when compared to Phuket. I wondered how a cruise terminal would be helpful in maintaining that quiet ‘green’ atmosphere. (Interestingly enough, unlike Phuket, jet skies and noisy powerboats are not allowed off the beach areas as they are in Phuket. It seems like a cruise terminal would likely create more mess than desired. However we were with political/business guys. They had a different perspective.)
From there we drove to the newly purchased site, which was not very easy to get to. It is situated on top of a hill about 60m above sea level. There is not really a road leading to the site – at least not yet. So we transferred from the van in which we were touring into to a jacked up 4-wheel drive pickup truck. It was a two door vehicle with only a couple of seats, so we all got in the truck bed. It took awhile to get to the site on a track that had been partly washed out by recent rains. (It’s the rainy season in Thailand.). Even with huge tires, the driver had difficulty making it up the hill. (And down as well.). The truck was not going very fast and so the drive up and down sitting in the truck bed holding on was a lot of fun – like being on a ride at Wonderland. (Going up, we had to hold on tight so as not to fall out. Coming down, we had to hold tight so as not to fall back in the truck bed.)
The views from the site to the ocean and the surrounding rainforest were amazing. We could see the small islands off in the distance and we were looking due west to Phuket way off in the distance. There is also a creek with small waterfalls at one edge of the site. The view to the ocean is due west, so apparently, the sunsets are spectacular. We will need to consider this as we think about possible design options.
We continued up the hill to continue getting a feel for the location. At 90m above sea level, the views were even more spectacular. And then, continuing to wind our way up, we finally landed at a place called Dragon View, which is a lookout/restaurant. The restaurant is quite lovely, being built mostly of bamboo. The views to the sea and forest were spectacular. The food was awesome – inked squid, prawns, seafood curry and lovely local vegetables.
Dragon View is located 150m above sea level. One of our team had a drone that he set loose. He flew it over our site which was just below our position and so it gave me an even better feeling for the overall environment and site. These little drones are pretty amazing.
The Dragon View Spirit House was simple and very respectful. No bottles with straws for these Spirits. They got to drink out proper glasses. (Shot glasses no less.)
After an amazing meal at the Dragon View we headed to the area in Krabi that has salted hot springs, which are relatively unique in the world. We visited a public bath as well as a couple of private clinics, one of which, was absolutely stunning.
We capped off the day with a wonderful seafood meal at one of our host’s restaurants, the Candela Krabi. The food was awesome.
Sunday, 21 August 2022: Krabi Second Day
We spent most of the day in a boat provided by the hotel, exploring the coastal area and islands that flank Krabi. The limestone islands look like paintings. Different colours seem to swirl down towards the sea, almost as if paint had been poured from above. Trees cling to the sides of the limestone, also in a way that seems like they have been painted on. There are dozens of these islands and they are really lovely to look at. Occasionally, there are concave gaps in the islands that form beaches. We stopped at a few of these to enjoy the sand and the sea.
We also saw lines of Mangroves that edged many of the islands. These trees are critical to keep erosion down and sea life up.
Every so often there would be a squall bringing with it lots of rain. Fortunately, the boat was covered so outside of some heavy waves there was no problem for us. The only squall that did affect us was when we returned the boat to the hotel. The winds and waves had picked up and we had a great deal of difficulty getting off onto the beach, as the boat was being pounded by waves. The undertow was very strong. We were lucky that no one got hurt or got tossed into the water.
We spent the rest of the day looking at sites and prior to departing Krabi, we had dinner at a very local restaurant where we had more wonderful seafood.
Krabi is a lovely location, with incredible views, hot springs, beautiful limestone outcroppings and great food. My job now is to figure out how to use the land that the business now owns.
The Food Porn Issue
The last post of every trip is the food porn issue. This is the post where I provide a taste of the food I have eaten on this visit, particularly at one of the hospital sites.
This post is a bit elongated because of the Krabi trip, but food has and likely will remain the highlight of every visit to Thailand. This trip was no different.
I had mentioned in a previous post that the system was producing 15,000 home cooked meals per day during the height of COVID. Practice makes perfect as the food I was served was, as always, top flight restaurant quality. There are photos of the food I had at the hospitals as well as some shots of meals in Krabi in the longish slide deck above.
Until the next time, goodbye from The Bangkok Blog.
Is it easy to fly from Bangkok to Krabi?
How expensive is Banyan Tree?
There are frequent flights from Bangkok to Krabi. I don’t know what the Banyan Tree price is. I suspect it’s expensive.
Wow, I would not want to mess with those monkey security guards, they are absolutely jacked! Krabi looks beautiful, I’d love to visit.
Those guys are MMA Muay Thai fighters. Weirdly enough their job is to guard the coconuts.
Do you think those guards are the offspring of the students at Monkey University?
Definitely