Shortly before journeying southwards, Rachel and I said goodbye to Wes. He was headed to some islands off the coast of Phuket whereas we had decided to travel to Krabi despite the fact that we too were flying into Phuket. This choice of airport vs destination proved to be quite the headache in the end. Krabi happens to have it’s own airport that is about 30 minutes away from the hostel we had booked, however, since the tickets from Chiang Mai to Krabi were a bit more expensive than tickets to Phuket, I decided flying into Phuket and taking a 3 hour bus ride to Krabi would be worth it. I was sadly mistaken. The main issue is that from the Phuket airport one must take a taxi or other private transport an hour south (away from Krabi) to get to the bus which will then drive you right back the way you came and onward to Krabi. Therefore, even after 3 hours (including down time and finding tickets) of traveling after leaving the airport we had made exactly zero net ground toward our destination. Needless to say Rachel and I were both fried after the long bus ride, and we promptly went to sleep after taking a second cab to our hostel. The next day we both cut our losses and changed our outbound flights to be departing from Krabi International Airport.
The days in that tourist laced beach town blur together in my mind as I look back. I remember vividly the heat, the noise of those outboard motors buzzing tourists off to rock outcrops and back all day, the taste of 2 dollar pad thai on the beach, and unfortunately I also vividly remember that one mango smoothie that seemed to have a significant amount of mango skin blended in. All in all, the place was not all that notable. If one wishes to have a very similar experience, they need only go to Mexico, stay at a low end tourist resort, lay on the beach and read Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” while they get sun-burnt.
It was here on the beach in between bouts of Kerouac that I realized I had been doing my trip all wrong. Up until this point, I had been seeing things; visiting temples, seeing architecture, viewing murals, observing cities, vendors, markets, people, monkeys, monks, cafes, boats, government buildings, palaces, universities, schools, bars, tattoos, convenience stores, garbage on the streets, scooters, old men smoking cigs, cats, dogs, rats. I don’t like just seeing things! For me that is quite a mundane experience no matter how hard I try to liven it up, I just want to be doing something more. I decided from then on I would endeavor to pursue more than just the ticking off of sights from some travelers checklist and actually get out and do something rad.
Fortunately, during my time in Krabi, I got the opportunity to do something rad. Rachel looked into a snorkel tour to some of the nearby islands and, after squirming at the cost for a minute, I said I would join. The tour was between four different islands and would take up the whole day. We only snorkeled at two of the islands which was somewhat disappointing but I was stoked to be swimming through crystal clear water with a bunch of neat tropical fishes and such. My gopro was dead (I think its truly dead at this point) so I didn’t get any pictures underwater but I can assure you it was quite beautiful down there.
The snorkel tour was the highlight of my time in Krabi and a good reminder of the fact that I really enjoy doing things as opposed to simply looking at things. Which made me excited for my next destination: Kuala Lumpur. In KL I would be going rock climbing with a family friend which is exactly the kind of thing I want to be doing over here!
