Saturday 3/15/2008- Wednesday 3/20/2008:
Our first stop was to Krabi, to stay for two nights at Ao Nang Beach. Our least expensive way out to our hotel was a 2.5 hour taxi ride (for around $80)…in a small and we mean SMALL Toyota Corolla type car. Erin, Michael and Dermot squeezed into the back seat and somehow endured the ride as they listened to rap music that the driver seemed to enjoy. Our 4 bags and 4 people were so heavy, that he driver needed to fill the air in the tires before we left on our drive that included extreme passing on the ‘highways’… Once we arrived safely and QUICKLY we were happy to jump out of the car at The Cliff Hotel. We had our own two bedroom bungaloo with outdoor bathrooms! It was very nice, eco-friendly and peaceful.
We relaxed for the remainder of the day. Erin, Michael and Dermot headed down to the beach, while Katie relaxed in the room. Together we all headed down to the beach for a picturesque sunset and (non) Thai dinner… we had Italian.
The next morning we headed back to the beach and took a longboat to Railay Beach. The boat was only a couple of dollars and a very interesting ride. Arriving on the beach we placed our beach mats and blankets down on the beach near the water and wondering why not one else was anywhere near us. We later realized that everyone else was further back on the beach near some shade. Michael and Erin unfortunately learned their lesson the hard way as by the time we left he beach they were beginning to resemble lobsters. We took the boat back to Ao Nang and on our walk back to the hotel we stopped in at a local spa for some massages and treatments. Dermot and Katie got Thai massages, Michael got a Swedish massage and Erin got the Aloe Vera treatment to help ease her pain from a day of fun in the sun. Feeling refreshed from our spa visit we visited a nearby Thai restaurant and had some authentic food. Katie ordered the magic fireshow dinner which basically meant the waiter lit her plate on fire outside the front door, before quenching it and bringing it back to the table. We all enjoyed our food and then returned home to our bungalow. We planned on watching a movie together, but the sun took a lot of energy out of us, so we went to bed instead.
On St. Patrick’s Day we tried to find an Irish Pub/Restaurant in Ao Nang for an Irish breakfast, but we were not successful. We had some sandwiches in the touristy part of town and then headed back to hotel for our shuttle to our ferry ride to Phuket.
The “ferry” ride was rather eventful. The boat was not exactly what Americans would call a ferry. We got on the boat, left the dock and about 15 minutes into our cruise we latched onto another boat and they had everyone switch to the other boats. The transfer of luggage was a bit primitive as some workers basically just threw our bags from one boat to another. Dermot notice that as they attempted to throw Katie’s bag, they were not prepared for of her bag, though and the throw didn’t make it to our new ship. Luckily it got wedged between the two boats and didn’t fall in the water. Dermot decided not to tell Katie he saw this until they reached their final destination and had the bags secured on dry land.
Our place of rest in Phuket was the JW Marriott. We were really roughing it. The resort was amazing. We never ended up leaving the resort as there was plenty to do there for our two day stay. Luckily for Dermot, the resort had Guinness, so he was able to enjoy one with his St. Patrick’s Day sushi dinner (can’t break with tradition). The rest of our stay at the resort consisted of pool, beach, kayaking, ping pong and eating. We thoroughly enjoyed another session of R + R on our trip. One of the other highlights of the stay was that the resort had some elephants on the premises. Katie, Erin and Michael were able to pet one and Dermot got swim with one in the ocean.