Ao Nang Krabi 8 deg 00' N 98 deg 50' E 23 January , 2008



In the month since Christmas we have spent most of our time around the beautiful islands of Phang Nga bay, visiting hongs, eating prawns and swimming. Phang Nga bay is the area between Phuket Island and mainland Thailand. The sea gets shallower in the north of the bay so we( Jean in particular) have learnt not to be too nervous when the depth gets down to less than 2 metres under our keel.

The scenery is spectacular, huge orange, grey limestone cliffs towering above the water, sea eagles circling on the thermals. At the base of these vertical sea mountains the grey stalactites reach down to the sea which has worn away the limestone to provide a shady over hang ideal for kayakers. In many of these island are hongs, (Thai for room) which can be accessed through caves or wide openings over reefs. This area is a kayakers paradise. Once inside the hong the vertical cliffs open to the sky, birds hop around the edges pouncing on little fish hiding from the sun in the shadows. Caves and passage ways open out along the edge.

Everyday hundreds of tourists arrive by tour boats stacked with multi coloured kayaks. The people and kayaks are off loaded and paddled through and around islands by fit young Thai men. The first group I saw was when I was out on my kayak paddling under the huge overhangs. A trail of blue boats came around the corner towards me, I couldn't believe what I saw, young and old reclining as they were paddled past. But then I thought about it, it made sense for the paddlers to be used, the group stays together, no stragglers to hold up the itinerary, there are many hongs to be paddled through and tides have to be considered. The currents have kept my kayak on board more often than not. Sometimes the hongs are hard to find so we keep an eye on the tours to see where they go, waiting for a quiet time to go and explore without the crowds. The advantage of being able to anchor and stay right beside the places we want to visit. Although one time we waited too long , the tour had gone, we went to find the opening and couldn't.

Ko Phanak has 3 hongs, the most popular is one that is accessed through a long dark bat filled cave. I got part way through the cave and we had to turn back, my claustrophobia got the better of me when I could not see the exit or entrance. Alan went back with other yachties and said it was spectacular but I couldn't be persuaded. I did go to another hong on Phanak , this one just meant ducking down for a few metres as the dinghy floated under a rocky ceiling. All the other hongs we have been into have been easy no more dark caves thank goodness. The hongs are all circular with vertical cliffs, huge chimneys opening to the sky. Most have water, one on Koh Roi is filled with trees and mangroves, a small stream of water enters at high tide to feed the mangroves.

Beautiful meals of prawns have also made this a memorable area for us. Koh Phanak is on most cruising yachts itinerary so fishermen in their longtails lay in wait around Phanak with buckets of fat fresh prawns. Motoring up to us they hold up their biggest , we stop and bargain, the price comes down or the bucket fills with prawns until both sides are agreed. Our best deal was when we had Colin and Val visiting, 53 prawns for 500bhat (10bhat /NZ40cents per prawn) not overly cheap but delicious. Cheaper back in Phuket but the fishermen know that here there are no shops or restaurants around for miles. One of the most memorable meals, well days really, we've had involved mussels and prawns bought from these fishermen on New Years Eve

Lunch on Matariki, on New Years Eve, a kiwi barbeque at the beach. The beach being the back deck of Matariki anchored near Koh Phing Kan, the island famous for appearing in the Bond film, Man with the Golden Gun. BBQ prawns, some with Julie's beautiful chilli sauce others just BBQed , mussels on the BBQ, special recipe from Tom, Mussell chowder to finish. Thai beer to wash it all down. Then a swim and a rest so we could enjoy our pot luck dinner 3 true blue kiwis and one kiw/aussie boat saw in New Year together. Geoff provided Durian icecream, an unusual choice and taste. He had bought a sachet of Durian flavoured premix ice cream in Singapore and decided that now was the time to try it. A tiny bit with a large spoon of plums was not too bad. A Durian is a very large fruit, bigger than a bread fruit which when cut open has the most disgusting smell. The smell is so bad that Durian are not permitted to be carried on any public transport in Singapore, there are No Smoking signs and No Durian signs. We discovered that the taste through the ice cream and then kept rediscovering the taste as it kept repeating on us all evening. Still it all added to the evening and the fun. The charter boat next to us let off a couple of flares so we decided we could too, some old ones we dug out and let off, some went with a fizzle, others with the desired burst of colour. We felt a little guilty letting off flares but no one came to our rescue, there were only a handful of boats in the area, all too busy with their own New Year Celebrations. We had a great New Year, we will remember it as the one with the prawn and mussel lunch.

After New Year we went back down to Phuket , went around to the west coast to Nai Harn bay. Nai Harn is a popular bay for cruisers, so was full. We found a spot near the NZ boat, Silver Fern, we met Bryce and Martha in Fiji in 2005. Bryce and Martha had done the Indonesian rally in 2006. We had a good catch up and were able to question them about the pros and cons of staying another year in SE Asia as we still had to make up our minds as to what our plans were for the year. Their experiences gave us something to think about. Silver Fern left for the Similan Islands and we picked up Colin and Val, friends from Hamilton and headed up to the eastern side of Phang Nga bay.

We had a good week with Colin and Val, no wind and so no sailing which was disappointing. At the end of the week we dropped them at Yacht Haven marina for their flight to Bankok. 3 days there then over here to Krabi via the Muslim stilt village in the North of Phang Nga bay. One night there, one very average tourist priced meal out and that's me down for 3 days with dysentery. The first time since leaving home, considering some of the places we have eaten we've been lucky. This restaurant was one the better presented ones too. We went down to Koh Roi, a lovely island and stayed put until I felt better. The Stilt village is an interesting place to visit. Nearly 3000 people live and work in houses built on stilts joined together by concrete pathways also built high above the water on stilts. The whole village extends out from the end of Koh Pan Yi another vertical sea mountain. We arrived late in the afternoon after the tourists had left so went for a guided wander, saw kids playing on a concrete soccer pitch, hope there are plenty of piles under that. All the tourist shops were shutting so we were not hassled. All transport was by boat, even some boy racer boats called Rapides, brightly painted with smart shiny longtail engines. One person boats with pointed bow and square stern making it look like a cut in half boat. I think they may race them, we saw a couple hooning off up the river.

We are now at Krabi, rock climber heaven. Soaring limestone cliffs and challenging overhangs provide finger grips and toe holds for hundreds of tanned muscular rock climbers of all ages, male and female. Bars and restaurants line one end of the bay where the climbers come out to play, some til 5 in the morning if the music is anything to go by. The golden sand at the other end of the bay was covered with tanned and sunburnt Europeans escaping the winter. I admire the European women they have the confidence to wear a bikini no matter what size or shape they are, although not always nice to look at, it seems compulsory to wear one. I wanted to go up to the beautiful young girls who lay with their faces soaking up harmful rays and say look at my wrinkles, don't do it!! The beach sellers wandered through the scantily clad bodies in their long pants and jerseys selling donuts, BBQ corn, dresses, snorkels, massages, feet scrubs, jewellery, those are the ones we saw there were probably many more things for sale, some we didn't want to know about as well! The donut seller was popular with our group selling us fresh banana donuts and juicy pineapple. Krabi another tsunami hit area back on its feet, tourists back enjoying the rock climbing and golden sand, the beach sellers working hard in the heat. I hope they are getting their share of the tourist bhat because what they do looks like darn hard work

Alan and I have just had a Thai massage each. These ladies knew what they were doing. Alan complained when his lady walked on his legs and elbowed her way across his back. The lady laughed and carried on!! They wanted to know how old he was, I said he sounded like a baby!! They talked about the tsunami, how they heard the noise and ran for the hill behind the village, one said she could remember her money floating all around her. The disaster is still on their minds and all we could say was we hope it never happens again. These woman had re-established their business their building still being finished around them. Life moves on but memories are still sharp.