Adventures with Jack and Julia

Krabi

We decided to combine the next two places because unfortunately, it was raining pretty much the entire time for both places. October is the end of the rainy season and November is a shoulder season before the dry season starts, so it was a bit of bad luck. We had a whole array of things planned that we were excited to do like a hike, go to the various beaches including visit Railay Beach but as it so happened, Jack also got a really bad bout of food poisoning that put him out of commission for two days of Krabi anyways. We made the most of the time in both places, and still had a blast nonetheless!

Day 1

We booked a slow ferry boat this time leaving Koh Jum after the terrifying speed boat experience. The waves were much calmer today and being on the more stable vessel made the passage much more pleasant. Once we made it to Krabi town, we had to transfer to a bus that would bring us to Ao Nang. Our hotel was a bit outside of the main Ao Nang beach area, so he wouldn’t take us all the way there. Right away we almost got scammed by taking a taxi as she wanted to charge us 500 baht (about $22 Canadian), which was absolutely insane considering it was only a 20 minute ride. Another taxi mafia is present in this town but this time Grab does operate. We booked a Grab for 130 baht (about $6 Canadian), which was much more reasonable, but we learned from the driver that it can be really sketchy for them to pick people up in certain places as a result of the taxi mafia. Drivers often get yelled at and abused for taking business away from the taxis. We stuck to Grab anyways as we feel much safer in them.

It stopped raining for the afternoon today, so we freshened up and decided to head back to Ao Nang to walk around and check out the scene. It was lucky that we decided to go back on this first day to check it out because little did we know, the rain was coming back and it wasn’t going to stop, plus Jack’s sickness was looming on the horizon.

Ao Nang is a very busy and touristy zone and as such everything is marked up in price. We counteracted that by spending the majority of our time walking around, having a cheap smoothie, got a budget massage and Jack bought a new bathing suit from a local supplier. After doing a little digging and walking an extra couple of kilometres, we were able to source some great deals and still stretch our dollars further than we would’ve been able to otherwise. We went to Tops Restaurant for dinner and the owner was so kind and lovely to chat with. Her place was a little off the main road which meant we had some leftover budget to spend on some coconut ice cream down at the beach to end off the night. A bunch of kids were putting on a fire spinning show as the sun set on another perfect day in paradise.

Day 2

Today was when the real storm hit. As soon as we woke up, Jack’s stomach was feeling really uneasy. We ate our homemade overnight oats for breakfast and had coffee then took the morning slowly. As the day progressed, his stomach started feeling worse and worse, and took him out for the remainder of the day. It so happened to be raining the entire day, so it was a good day to stay indoors and rest. Meanwhile between moments of taking care of Jack, Julia went for a run in the afternoon, ordered some light food for us for dinner that turned out to be less than great, and then we went to sleep early with hopes of feeling better for tomorrow.

Day 3

It rained all day again today and Jack was still not feeling 100%. Julia took a Grab to the gym in the afternoon and then walked around town a bit before picking up some delicious pasta that fit each of our dietary requirements respectively and brought it home for dinner.

Day 4

Jack was finally on the mend today! As luck would have it, it also wasn’t raining as hard as it had been for the past 2 days. One of the main tourist activities in Krabi is to visit Railay Beach. We didn’t end up going because of the weather, but we did visit a closer beach called Pai Plong, which you can access by walking along Monkey Trail. True to its name, and there were many silly monkeys playing and hanging out all the way along the path. Unfortunately, and despite there being a plethora of signs about not feeding them, we saw quite a few people giving the monkeys food, which didn’t sit right with us.

On the way back to town, Julia ordered a delicious corn on the cob from a deaf street vendor who is known for selling amazing corn heated using coconut charcoals. It was delicious! Jack wasn’t up for testing his luck with any risky food tonight so we picked up some higher end Thai food for dinner and brought it back to enjoy at the hotel.

As you can see, we didn’t get up to a whole lot in Ao Nang. Krabi is actually a rather large province and Ao Nang is merely a small part of it so we really didn’t have the chance to take it all in this time. From what we saw, it seemed to be an awesome place to hang out and we’d love to come back some time. Sure, it’s touristy but it’s touristy for a reason. Lots of great food, beautiful beaches and sunsets, and a mix of local and international amenities to enjoy. If you’re on the way to the Thai Islands, we’d recommend making a stop on your way even just for a couple of days to check it out.

Phuket

Day 1

To get to Phuket from Ao Nang, we had to make yet another ocean crossing. The waves weren’t quite as bad as some of our previous days, but the sea was still claiming its fair share of sick casualties this time. The employees were passing out sick bags to everyone and more than a couple of them were being used which made for an especially uncomfortable experience for us. Thankfully, Jack was all better before today and we made it to Phuket town in one piece. Phuket is also a huge area so we then hopped into a van to take us to our accommodation near an area called Karon Beach. Karon Beach is one of a few main zones where tourists usually stay (Karon, Kata, Patong Beach are all close together – Patong is the busiest zone). When we finally arrived, the first thing we did was our laundry at the Otteri where you have to sit and wait for the machines. As we like to do on our first day, we walked around our zone to check everything out. One thing that struck us right away was just like Nha Trang, the Russian travellers are very fond of Phuket. All the signage and menus include Russian and the beach was filled with travellers from the country. As we walked along the beach, we also noticed that the sand was different from all the other beaches we’ve been to. It had an almost brown sugar consistency which was lovely to sink your toes into. We finished off the night with some delicious Thai food for dinner and got ready for day two.

Day 2

The weather was not in our favour again and it rained for most of the day. We wanted to do a hike while in Phuket, but because of all the rain, the trail was not safe to do. This also meant that we wouldn’t be able to do it throughout our time in Phuket for fear of lingering mud and dangers so we opted to go to the gym instead. The one closest to us was so quiet, it was just us and the owners working out. Later today, we did some more trip planning and then went out for an early dinner.

Day 3

Being from Vancouver, we couldn’t let some rain get in the way of seeing the sights even though we had high hopes of more sunshine. Today, we took the public bus to Old Town Phuket, and we were really glad that we did as it had so many cute pastel buildings, murals and quaint little stores to check out. While wandering through the streets, we walked past a café that advertised having a lion cub that you could pay to pose with and take pictures. We knew this kind of exploitation of animals existed around Southeast Asia but it was really disheartening to see in person. We also walked past an owl café, and although Julia loves owls, it was terrible to see them with chains around their legs, unable to fly around freely and merely being used as tools to advertise a coffee shop. We sat at a different café to warm up with some hot tea, to play cards and to get a break from the storm outside and to debrief on what we’d seen.

After fully exploring the area, we took the bus back and went for another early dinner at a restaurant called Mama Jin’s which was so delicious that we went back again the next night.

Day 4

Not a whole lot today unfortunately. We went to the gym again, walked around town and went down to the beach one last time before Mama Jin’s for dinner and an early night in.

Nov 27

Phuket was our final destination in Thailand and we are off to Indonesia now! We spent one night in Bangkok before our flight the next day to our first city there: Jakarta. It was just named the world’s biggest city with 42 million people and we’re excited to experience what it would feel like if the entire population of Canada lived in one metropolitan area.

Thailand Tier List:

It is difficult to make this list because we didn’t really get to experience Krabi and Phuket to their fullest due to the bad weather. They are beautiful places that we would like to visit again someday (hopefully in the sunshine)!

Julia’s top 5 favourite places in Thailand:

1. Chiang Mai – perfect mix of cultural sights, amazing food, cute cafes, adventures in nature and markets (our favourite market so far has been the Sunday night Chiang Mai market)
2. Koh Lanta – really fun island that was busy but didn’t feel too crowded. Really nice beach with lots of fun cafes and restaurants to sit at and enjoy the water. The national park was a highlight for sure
3. Kanchanaburi – this was a surprise as we hadn’t really heard of this place until recently, but it was a nice spot to visit for a few days. The Erawan waterfalls were another highlight of the whole trip
4. Koh Phangan – the most beautiful beach that we have seen so far was on Koh Phangan
5. Chiang Rai – really enjoyed seeing the modern and new temples, plus trying their amazing teas

Jack’s top 5 favourite places in Thailand:

1. Chiang Mai – for all the same reasons as Julia but also because you have Amman right there. The mix of culture, historical sites, modern, vibrant and upscale areas all in one zone makes for such a beautiful city. Plus you can’t forget the elephants!
2. Chiang Rai – beautiful nature, world-renowned tea and coffee, super kind people, and a real peaceful feel to it. Northern Thailand has some of the best food in the world!
3. Koh Lanta – what I wanted in the Thai islands. Lots of places built with driftwood that will sell you a coconut on the beach while you soak in the sun. Lots of delicious restaurants and a laid back feel to it that’s hard to beat.
4. Koh Phangan – same reasons as Julia. There were a bunch of places we wanted to go still so I know we’ll be headed back there some day in the future. It’s also close to Koh Samui so I’d love to check that out one day too. I also saw there’s this old guy who runs a Reggae bar in the middle of the forest called “Inna me Yard” that looked excellent. You’ve also got the full moon party, the Eden Garden and various other events to check out that we didn’t get the chance to as well.
5. Karon Beach – sure, it was very crowded at times and you could tell a lot of the locals were not thrilled with the crowd that has descended upon them there, but it was such a beautiful place and I want to go back to explore more of the beaches and surrounding areas there in the future.

Thank you for continuing to follow along on our journey! We are excited to take you along to a new country and can’t wait to share what we get up to in Indonesia! If you want to help support us, please also consider buying us a coffee 🙂