A Slice of Paradise

Ao Nang beach

This week we have been in Ao Nang. It is on the coast of Thailand's southern Krabi province.

We rented through AirBnB a little two-roomed cottage which is about an hours walk from the beach. We've really enjoyed seeing a different side of Thailand this week. Aonang is a small town consisting of a main road and the beach front which has some fancy resort places and the more expensive touristy type shops. Right down the end of the beach near where the National Park begins there are rows and rows of huts that are set up for giving Thai massage (most of them for around $10-$20).
The house we were living in was right up the top of the main road and down another, among rows of small houses occupied mostly by Westerners living there long term. It was nice and quiet there, with a view of a beautiful jungle clad hill not far away. And the nicest surprise about the place was that they had just recently put in a pool! We spent many happy hours luxuriating there as it is so hot during the day that one needs some way of cooling down at least once an hour!

We walked most days to the town for lunch and dinner, finding some great stalls where we could get a plate of fried rice or Pad Thai for about $2 each! It made eating out for the first time in our lives cheaper than cooking at home! And no dishes to wash! 

Some days we walked to the beach to have a swim, and one day we walked to a beach further around to rent kayaks for the morning where we paddled out to some islands further out. We found some beautiful beaches to pull up in and swim and snorkel, and the water was so warm it was like being in a bath! But sadly there was so much rubbish everywhere. It has totally tainted all the beaches out there - bottles, plastic, polystyrene, plastic rope, drinking straws, cans. You name it, it'll be scattered all over the beach. Yesterday, our last day at Ao Nang, we walked down to the beach again, stopping for lunch luckily just as a massive storm hit where we could wait it out. But once it had passed out to see we spent a few hours on the beach picking up all the rubbish we could find up and down the beach. Sad to think that tomorrow it will be filled again with what the tide brings back in. But every little bit can help we thought.

Rubbish at the tide line. So awful to see! This was on our first day there. Though when we went back on Monday afternoon a lot of this had been washed out to see again.

When we went kayaking we pulled up to a beach for a swim and once we got out of the boat we noticed a monitor lizard walking around only a few meters from our boat. Not long after that, I spotted some movement in the trees and we were thrilled to see a gang of monkeys coming down from the hill to eat. They eventually came quite close to the shore where we got to have a close up look at them pulling leaves off one of the trees, folding the leaves in three and then having a good meal of them. They were not scared at all of us humans, but they certainly weren't as interested in us as we were of them! Luckily Esmae got a couple of great photos. They are called Spectacled Leaf Monkeys which describes them well because of the rings around their eyes. These monkeys are on the near-endangered list.

This was the first time I've ever seen monkeys in the wild, and I think they have got to be the cutest type I have ever seen via other people's pictures and videos. Look at those eyes! 

Beautiful little dried fish that Fern found in a cluster on the beach. They were luminescent blue with tiny mouths opened in surprise.

Our walk along the busy main road to town passed by mostly businesses, garages and small vendors, not to mention the rubbish scattered everywhere. But all of a sudden we came upon this beautiful abandoned house where the jungle was reclaiming it. Quite a nice surprise to see in a suburban place. It looks like it's the middle of the jungle doesn't it! But actually it's surrounded by humanity. I wonder what its story is.
Our accommodation was situated just behind that hill in the distance. 

Ferny relaxing while I was relaxing even more - getting a massage!

Fern and Esmae at our spot on the relatively quiet beach. It was quite a surprise to see how quiet it was there after being on the beaches in Italy and Spain! In the early morning and evening this is the spot that the monkeys come down to hang out on the beach.

This man was deaf, and he had this stall which he hoisted onto his shoulders and walked around the beach selling corn. He was very sweet and could communicate very well without words. It looked like he was well loved and cared for by the locals who let his patrons sit at the chairs of their own restaurants.

We bought some corn off the man, who proudly told us that he only uses coconut coals to cook the corn with because of the flavour it gives the corn. He cooked it over hot coals that he fanned to keep going as he turned the corn.

The beach street with the resorts lining them.