Phang Nga, Krabi, Spiders etc

CathyP · #1 (**permalink**) 07-26-2007, 10:09 AM

A couple of weeks ago we decided to go for a drive on the mainland again (without a map) and came back 2 days later.

What an adventure it was.

First stop was at one of my favorite places Mai Kao Beach, not far before the Sarasiri Bridges, there’s lots of nice little beach restaurants and most of them are open no matter what time we have been there.

We had no plans on where to go so decided to head for Phang Nga town, the roads are fantastic (wish Australian highways were as good). About half way we wondered why everyone on the other side was flashing their lights at us, and then we saw him, hiding behind his police car with his radar gun. Didn’t realize they used them in Thailand. It wasn’t a problem as we were only doing 80kph.

Then a couple of hundred meters down the road they had one lane blocked off, 5 police cars on the side of the road and loads of police waiting to pull over all the cars etc. How exciting ha-ha, after 5 weeks of driving everywhere here, through numerous police checkpoints we are finally going to be pulled over.

The policeman waved us in, Gary put down the very dark tinted window; he looked at us, laughed and waved us on. Damn could have been some good photos there with the Highway Patrol of Thailand!!! Oh well, on to Phang Nga town.

Phang Nga town is in a valley among huge rocky limestone mountains covered with greenery and the entrance to town is very pretty with parks and gardens.

Its not a huge town there’s fresh food markets, lots of little restaurants, Buddhist monasteries, a market selling clothes etc plus all the normal little shop houses you would see in any town.

There are also many caves and waterfalls around Phang Nga and the area is still primarily rubber plantations and forests.

From here we decided to go back a bit to the turnoff to Phang Nga Pier, soon we are driving past mangroves, then someone runs out onto the road and stops us, my god, he is trying to sell us a tour to James Bond Island (rock) a few meters down the road and another one runs out and stops us, same thing.

After traveling about 50 meters and being stopped (or we would have run them over) about 5 times the same tour has gone down to 400baht for the both of us!!

Gary has had enough, he has that look in his eyes that says Road Kill coming up, so we turn around and head back to the main road. I’m sure if we had kept going to the end of the road to the pier we could have gone to James Bond Island (rock) nearly for free with a set of steak knives thrown in.

Off we go again, we are on the Krabi road, it’s a great scenic drive through lots of little villages, and there are lots of stalls set up on the road selling food. One little village had numerous stalls near the road cooking chickens on a rotisserie and each stall had a cord with a light bulb, some of the lights were on, we figured this was to let passing traffic know that the chickens were cooked and ready to buy.

Eventually we end up in Krabi town, it’s pretty big but we didn’t see anything worth stopping for so we kept going.

We are now heading for Trang (remember we don’t have a map with us) After a little detour off the main road we end up down a little track where we came across a small Muslim village, lots of kids on motorbikes, a huge food market and that was it.

A dead end road. Back we go and Gary decides to head back to the beaches of Krabi so we can check into a hotel as its now after 3pm and we have been on the road since 9am.

We checked into the Krabi Resort and decided to splurge on their Luxury Villa with Jacuzzi, the resort is lovely and our villa was nice, but that’s about it, (the so called Jacuzzi was just a sunken bath). (Since this report we have been back to Ao Nang and stayed at another hotel in a fantastic bungalow at under half the price – more on that another time).

The beach area is lovely here, nice and quiet, no jet skis or parasailing and after a drive to magnificent Noppharat Thara Bay we decided this place was definitely worth coming back to.

Dinner that night was at Bernie’s Place – an all you can eat BBQ, Thai & Western buffet (plus ice-cream). Food was good and cost 220baht each.

We left early the next morning to head back to Phuket but the 200k trip took us all day due to stopping off at a few places.

I wanted to go to one of the many caves that are all around the area, so after awhile Gary decides to chuck a righty and head for the Phet Cave. After quite a few kilometers down a small road we turn onto a track and follow it to the end, hoping we are going the right way.

We see a large shrine with lots of Buddha images in what looked like a big open cave, oh well it looks pretty!!. A monk then came out pointed to some torches and then over to the right, oh-oh there’s a small opening in the mountain. The monk must have been on a vow of silence as he didn’t say a word. We put some money in a donation box and off we went.

It started off so exciting, down the little rocky steps we went which then opened up into a huge cavern sparkling with diamonds – real ones of course!! (Phet is Thai for diamond)

We kept going deeper (luckily we had noticed a cable running about 6ft above the ground and kept following it as that’s our way out) there were turnoffs everywhere and it was very beautiful and eerie, large ponds of water, strange shuffling noises, we seemed to go into many caverns and so far so good until we came to an area where we had to get on our hands and knees to crawl through, no problems, after a few meters we can stand up again.

I’m sure Gary is thinking by now that this is not fun as it’s getting hotter and hotter.

Well the fun was about to start.

There was a small section where we had to walk extremely close to the cave wall as the actual floor area was very rocky, Gary was a few feet in front of me telling me to just follow him when he stopped and said something like “my god did you see that – the biggest spider I have ever seen.” I’ve stopped dead in my tracks and I’m just looking at him saying “tell me where to put my feet as I’m not looking down at all”.

I knew if I saw that spider that would be the end of me (I absolutely hate spiders). I focused on Gary and put my feet where he said and got to him. The worst part was knowing we had to pass it on the way out. I wouldn’t even let him describe the monster to me.

Now I know what lives here I want out, I keep following Gary but now I’m boiling and puffing (probably out of fright ha-ha) We have been going down into the bowels of the earth for about 30mins, I think that’s enough, then we notice the cable we are following has ended, ok that’s enough – I want out of here right now, if I could run I would.

Once we had passed the spider again on the way out Gary kindly lets me know my foot was about 4 inches from the spider.

Yikes soon we have to crawl again, what if I put my hand on one, I tell you the best thing I saw that day was when we went round a corner in the cave and I saw daylight, I virtually sprinted out of there.

We spent about an hour in the Phet Cave and it was beautiful with about 25 caverns (except for the spider which Gary said was the size of both of his hands!!)

It was so nice to get back into the car but we looked a sight, after crawling around the cave we had mud and dirt everywhere. Ok off we go again; let’s see where we end up this time.

After driving for what seemed like ages (again) instead of stopping at one of the garages to buy a drink, we decide to get off the main road and head down a little road on the left.

Soon we have mangroves and fish farms on both sides of the road, this is snake country, one little section of the road had dead snakes everywhere plus a big live one that Gary managed not to squish.

Then its time to dodge all the goats running over the road. After about 10 kilometers traveling down this road – it finishes – dead end.

We are surrounded by water and it’s beautiful, across the water we can see a fishing village, we haven’t yet realized that this village is also surrounded by water.

There’s a footbridge (built since the tsunami) crossing the water leading to the village so off we go. We have arrived at Bang Pat, there are a couple of little local restaurants so we thought we would also have something to eat.

No such luck, they are closed, actually they looked like they hadn’t been open for a long, long time, we did manage to buy a couple of drinks from a local and it was fantastic being where there was not another English speaking person

Now its time to turn around and head back to the main road, we are tired, hungry, need a shower and still have about an hours drive before Phuket.

I’m sure Richard had no idea where his nice new car would travel with us, in 5 weeks we have done just over 2000 kilometers. Best thing we have ever done is hire that 4x4!

Tuesday we came back to Phuket after going back to Ao Nang for another 3 days, so there’s another small report coming with things like, walking to a small island from the mainland at low tide, the beautiful Noppharat Thara Bay, going to Gastropod Fossil (amazing), the shell cemetery and lovely restaurants.

For the shopaholics, my shopping came to a standstill quite awhile ago.

There’s a couple more handbags on the Shopping photo page (nice one from the Jim Thompson shop)

One of my favorite shopping places has been demolished. They were on Rat-U-Thit road, not far from Nicky’s Handlebar, lots of little shops with many fixed prices. Absolutely boiling hot in there and you walked on planks, they use to have a tarp roof, though this trip we noticed it had been replaced with tin. We have been in there a few times this trip and one day it was there, two days later – totally gone and the land has been cleared, probably for another hotel!!

Stay tuned for another 3 day adventure, then a very interesting one from yesterday, Marks Sunset Sailing Tour complete with smoke bombs, fire crackers, Mark trying to kill me with exploding bomb type crackers, instructions on how to wear a life jacket, and how not to get on a floating foam cushion in fathoms of water.

Photos from this report are on this link
Picasa Web Albums - Cathy - Our 2 day drive

Cathy

markadmin · #2 (**permalink**) 07-31-2007, 07:01 PM

Actually the fire ants worry me more; these things swarm and if you are in the wrong place....... I once took on two nests of these things and my G, they are nasty. Although the camel spiders in the Arabian Desert do come a close second as they come up and inject you with an anesthetic first, then wait 20 minutes and eat the area of your flesh without your knowing! Plus the jellyfish in Thailand can be a real pain in the a and elsewhere; vinegar or pee anyone?

I like Krabi very much. Is the Krabi Resort the hotel on the beach in Ao Nang, or the big place in Krabi Town? I think in Ao Nang right? I was there before the tsunami; are the stilted restaurants still there next door / rebuilt?

jaxw17 · #3 (**permalink**) 08-01-2007, 07:09 AM

In a way Cathy I was glad when you said that you are frightned of spiders as i was begining to think that you were really Lara Croft. LOL
Lovely report and the 2 day wander was just what we love to do. Its the best way to see anything.
I have loved following these adventures. How long have you been away now?

CathyP · #4 (**permalink**) 08-03-2007, 01:21 PM

HaHa J. Maybe Lara's granny no hang on - mother.
Yikes Mark, I will never go where those beasties are, agree with the jelly fish sting, one got me in Khao Lak, plenty much pain. Kept me out of the ocean for many weeks as I was to scared.
Cathy