We flew from Bangkok to Krabi for the last 4 days of our trip. Krabi is SW of Bangkok across a bay from the well known resort of Phuket. Our hotel was quite a way outside of town and accessible only by boat. The resort was magnificent but a little difficult for us. Our "bungalow" had the bedroom upstairs. That coupled with the fact that the distances were long from one place to another in the resort. This meant we had to wait for a ride to go to dinner, or go to the pool, etc.
The first adventure was getting to the resort. We were transported from the airport to the pier where got the "water taxi" to the resort. Apparently they operate on a schedule and the boat was soon full, including luggage, From there it is about a 20 minute speed boat ride to the resort. However, when you get to the resort, you can't pull into shore because it is too shallow. So, we were transferred to a "cart" like vehicle which is towed to shore by a tractor.
Water taxis aren't the only form of transportation between the town and the resort. Most of the travel seems to be by long tail boat. At least that was our experience.
The first full day, we went to town on a long tail boat and then on another long tail boat we went on a tour along the river.
The cruise along the river gave us a glimpse of life here. Along one bank there appeared to be a jungle environment. Every once in a while we would pass signs of an active fishing industry. On the other side of the river were houses built on stilts to overhang the water. And you can't get by without your tie to the modern times - the satellite dish.
We got off the boat on one of the islands and went for a short tour including a visit to a woodworker. The transport for this excursion was a multi-passenger tuk-tuk.
An interesting fact about this area. While most of Thailand is primarily Buddhist, this area around Krabi is primarily muslim. We saw a number of the women riding their motor cycles and wearing their hijabs.
Our second morning in Krabi we were scheduled to go into town for a cooking class. The only problem was it was low tide. This meant a VERY long tractor ride from shore to our long-tail boat. Click on the picture below to see a video of the ride to the boat.
There were about 8 people in the cooking class. We were introduced to a wide variety of ingredients, herbs and seasonings used in Thai cooking. In addition to some basic dishes like sticky rice, papaya salad and spring rolls which we all made, there were about 4 main dishes that were made - 2 people to each dish. These were dishes like massaman curry chicken, stir-fried chicken with basil and stir-fried chicken with cashews.
Of course after the dishes were completed, we had to partake of our creations.
All that's left now is the 36 hour trip home. It's been a GREAT trip. We saw a lot, ate a lot and enjoyed a lot.
