It was a holiday we had been waiting for since ages. Somehow in the past, Thailand as a holiday destination had always managed to allude us, but not this time.

Courtesy the cost effective and reliable services of Tiger airways, we reached Krabi Airport on the 13th of september at 13.30.The bus ride from the airport provided a scenic 45 min journey to the PEACE LAGUNA RESORT & SPA at Ao Nang.

At the resort, we received a warm welcome by the staff in form of welcome drinks and wet towels. The resort boasted of natural and artificial pools, villas and a gorgeous backdrop of scenic mountain greenery. 

 The Rooms were neat and clean to our satisfaction.

Normally the first day of the trip is the most challenging for us since we never have a planned agenda as there are really a  limited set of activities that we can do from afternoon to evening. The Ao Nang beach was just a 100 m walk from the resort and was really not a fun beach. It was just a 3m  strip of sand along the andmaan coast line. After spending a couple of minutes at beach, we hit the streets to explore more about Krabi. We met a travel agent and nicked a great deal for island hopping on speed boat(750 bhat) and an adventure package comprising of flying fox, rafting (level 2-3), ATV, elephant ride, fish spa and animal shows for just 1800 per person. With our plans set for day 2 and day3, we rented a bike for the rest of the day for 150 bhat.

With courage in our heart, petrol in the bike and no clue about the area landscape we embarked the scenic journey that took us from the remote locales of Krabi district to the heart of Krabi Town. Luckily for us September is not a tourist season for Krabi and hence most of the roads were enchantingly deserted. 

By late evening, we reached the night market, which  offered great varieties in terms of local cusine and local street artifacts. 

We got a chance to taste the yummy coconut milk ice-cream served uniquely in the shell of the coconut with the toppings of your choice.

By 9 pm it was pitch dark and most of the roads did not have street lights. To make the matters interesting, we thought that we were completely lost on our way back to Ao-nang even though we were not.

The only disappointment of the day came in the form of the Indian restaurant where we had our dinner.

Overall it was one of the best 1^st day of all trips  for us.

 DAY2

We got up early next day and took trip on the bike along the coast line.

 After shower we had breakfast at the resort. We were pleasantly amazed at the variety of vegetarian options  they had.

After breakfast, we headed off to our tour of the day ‘Four Island Hopping’ with our guide ‘Sha la la’ . We were taken to the Noparatarah Beach,  where our speed boat was waiting for us. The first island in the tour was the ‘Tup Island’ where the landscape was beautiful where there was a link of sand between two mountain stretches surrounded by the sea. 

The water was super clean and the surroundings were not very crowded as it was an off-season. After, Tup Island , we were taken to ‘Chicken Island’ where we saw a mountain in the shape of the chicken.

 

 We did snorkelling here and after 45 minutes we were at Poda Island where we an authentic Thai cuisine  lunch served by our guide.

The last island on the list was the Phra Nang island, which boasted of a small cave shrine dedicated to some indian princess.

 
  We spent the evening browsing the shops and clicking snaps that the beaches. The outing was followed by awesome foot massage and then a thai dinner by sea shore.

 DAY3

The journey to the island safari, was an arduous 2 hour long. The first activity of the day was the flying fox. it was a 100 m ropeway over the tree tops. We already had experienced it in Bintan, but this one was far too fun since they keep oscillating you between the two ends.

The second activity was the white water rafting. The flow if the river seemed very disappointing at first and it made us rethink whether level 2 rapids would provide enough adrenaline rush. We topped up 850 bhats more to upgrade it to level 2 and level 3 rapids. It was then they opened 2 dams simultaneously which made the experience truly exhilarating.

This was followed by thai lunch by the dam side.

 After a thai lunch by the dam side,we tried our hands on the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV). My husband had the misforture to ride a vehicle so dilapidated, that it closely resembled a human skeleton and it broke midway. Finally it was me, to rescued my husband in distress :-).

Then we were taken to Phang-Nga for elephant safari. Apart from siting on top of an elephant, there was not much to do in the safari. 

The mahout, who was from burma, build me a nice grass necklace and bracelet. 
 This was followed by an elephant show during which me and my husband got a massage from the baby elephants.

  

 The fish spa was just fine. 

This marked the end of island safari.

We spent the evening enjoying a full body thai massage in a nearby  spa.

The dinner at a newly opened authentic italian outlet marked the finale of our awesome Trip to the land of white elephants.