krabi & phuket holiday

As a promise made to my children, I took nia, arief and lisa + my wife for a holiday in Krabi and Phuket during the school break in March. Abil n iliya couldn’t join us coz their college session was not having their break then. And this holiday was different coz I was driving my odyssey just for the sake of having a hands-on experience and how it would feel to drive there. The first day of holiday, a Saturday, at 3 am, yes, you read it right, we left home. Konon2nya nak avoid the congestion at the border la.. we reached Bkt Kayu Hitam at half past six and after prayer and breakfast, we had our documents ready by eight thirty. The crowd was so huge since like us, everyone wanted to get across the border early. The crowd at the border was even worse and we took almost two hours to get our passports stamped before we managed to cross over. 

queue at d border

Welcome to Thailand!! It was Sadao, the border town where we had our brunch. By 11 am local time, we headed for Krabi. Oh, before that I bought sim card for my hand-phone. And true to its words, super 4G, Thailand simcard was really superb. There was never a moment when I did not have any connection to the internet and my children could even browse youtube using the hotspot from my hand-phone. Initially the traffic was heavy but once we passed by Hadyai, it got better. But tiredness and lack of sleep were getting to me that I had to stop by the roadside to catch a nap. After half an hour, we continued again.

quick nap!!

jom ke paso malam!

 The scenery that greeted us along the way was a mixture of something we normally had when we drove through villages in Malaysia: peacefulness and driving at a leisurely speed as well as absorbing the feeling of being in Thailand. The villages along the way didn’t look much different from the one back home except that they had their uniqueness which is quite difficult to explain. But I love driving there since most of the way it was straight road, and better still no toll booth in sight!! After what felt like forever, we finally reached Ao-nang, the well-known beach town in Krabi. Once we checked into the hotel, we walked along the street there and had some local delicacies by the mosque. At seven, we took a Tuk-Tuk to Krabi night market, about 15 km away. The night market was definitely different with peddlars selling all sort of stuffs that I wished I could buy everything thay had to offer. When we got there, we were greeted by a girl barely ten years old, all dressed up in traditional clothing preforming traditional dance. There was even a group of children playing a gamelan sort-of. The drinks there were unique, the stuffs for sale were eye-catching. But lucky me, I managed to control my temptation hehe.. Still, I bought a bagpack for my wife and few other stuffs for the children. Before calling it a night, we had dinner at a roadside stall, christened 69 by its owner. I wondered why but later I found out all the food there, a plate of whatever rice plus a drink, cost 69 baht. Okeyy!! 

mrs nk chai

cocktail bamboo !!

- giraffe family -

aiskrim nyiur,,

The next day, we left for Phuket. It was a three hour drive and once we got there, we quickly had a late lunch, changed our clothes, and headed to Patong beach via the town. Phuket was brimming with foreigners. Especially the beach. The mat salleh easily outnumbered the locals. Patong beach had assorted activities: the jet-ski, the parachute-gliding, banana boatride, sandcastle building and the dip in the open sea. By sunset, we headed back to our cozy little apartment. We had kebab, slices of bread with cheese, local pancake and liters of nescafe. The children were dog-tired, so they slept straight away after that, but as for me and my wife, we went for a walk to see the nightlife in Phuket. Just like daytime, mat salleh was all over the place. We went to Bangla road, famed for its exotic pole dancers. Not only that, we also managed to see live bands at the open pub and magician performing tricks there. We bought ourselves a t-shirt each and by midnight, we got to our apartment. 

masjid ao-nang

btreakfast canai n nasi kerabu

paso malam krabi

bangla road  

nia n tintin n friends!!

arief n patong sunset

patong beach

Monday morning, after a quick breakfast, we returned to Krabi. We stopped along the way at a village to buy rare penyapu lidi and few other things. They were so cheap and so different that we couldn’t ignore them. Once we reached Ao-nang, we had lunch and stretched our limbs as soon as we checked into the hotel. In the afternoon, my wife went for a massage while I booked for us an island hopping trip for the next day.

Tuesday morning, we went island hopping as planned. What was great about it because we had the boat to ourselves. The first island that we stopped by was Tup island.  The tide was low and we could explore the place and walk to the neighbouring island. There was quite a crowd there but we didn’t mind. The water was crystal clear and the children were buzzing with joy. Then we went to a more secluded island, Poda island, where we had our lunch and went snorkeling. It was great for my wife and children. Just like Tioman, the fishes were abundant and colorful. But the wave there was quite scary too. By two pm, we went to Chicken island but the boat just stopped at the water for us to go snorkeling again. Since it was deep yours truly was the only person who dived into the water. The experience of being in the water with all sorts of fishes surrounding you, is very hard to explain. It was marvelous and dazzling, to be honest. Lastly, we went to Phra Nang cave, where the beach and water were simply superb. The wave that came crashing down upon us was a joy. After more than half a day being at Andaman sea, it was time to go back to shore. The children stayed in the room, but my wife and I went to the beach to see the sunset. The sight of the sun setting was breathtaking. SubhanAllah. We did some shopping, buying rare and exotic items before having dinner with the children and calling it a day.

andaman sea

tup island

elephant ride for d kids

emerald pool

 The next day, we went for an elephant ride and went for a dip in the emeraldblue pool about 50km away from Ao-nang. The last day was spent buying t-shirts for the children and some mementos. Thursday morning, after having nasi beriani and nasi lemak for breakfast, it was a long journey home. I chose the wang kelian border to avoid the jam and crowd at bkt kayu hitam. By 8pm, we were back at home sweet home, full of memories and happiness, as well as tiredness haha!! It was a different experience driving on your own, driving through villages, stopping wherever and whenever. Maybe I’ll do this again next time. Most probably, in shaa Allah. Alhamdulillah for this sensational experience.

welcome to malaysia!!

ao-nang sunset