Krabi and Ao Nang…A holiday from our holiday
March 16, 2017
Krabi and Ao Nang
I will get back to our visit to Siem Reap shortly but for now we are in Krabi, Thailand. Our hotel is in the Ao Nang area. We came here to experience the beach life of Thailand, to escape the smoky air of Chiang Mai and best of all to meet with our daughter, Melissa, who came for a visit. It’s a 2 hour direct flight from Chiang Mai and cost us about $175 return for the flight.
There are lots of beach towns and islands to visit in Thailand. We talked to many people before deciding on Krabi. It is not as popular with the party folk and is fairly well-developed for those of us who can backpack, but don’t necessarily want to. It was easy to get to for a 5 day visit.
Accommodation
Finding a place to stay was more challenging than I expected. Agoda, the Thai on-line booking company, showed lots of places as not available, although word is that they had limited rooms, not the hotels. The majority of places only have beds for 2 people, either 2 twins or 1 double. We would have needed to book 2 rooms for the 3 of us.
We found a place called Oscar Villa that had a family room with sleeping space for 4, a little kitchenette and a pool view for about $65/night. It was about 4 km from the beach so it took us awhile to figure out the transportation. The hotel provided free shuttles to and from the beach 3 times a day. You could call the office and go or be picked up any other time for 200 baht (about $7.50) per family. They had a restaurant at the main office which was a couple of blocks away.
Customer Service
We didn’t take advantage of their activity planning until later in the visit. Peter and Melissa went kayaking the last day. They arranged the booking for them, the transportation, stored our luggage for the day and picked us up at the beach for our trip to the airport in the evening.
The customer service was very good. They really want you to have a good experience. Pete got bit by some caterpillar thing that was sharing the back of the bench with him. The gardener made a big show of killing it with his shoe, then brought over some ointment to rub on his arm to prevent any itch.
Ao Nang Beach
The Andaman Sea is warm and clear. A peninsula protects the beach at Ao Nang from the Bay of Bengal. Phuket is on that peninsula. The area has recovered from the tsunami, although many big resorts rebuilt along the coast and took over some of the nicest public beaches.
The view is dotted with limestone cliffs, stone karsts and longtail boats. It really does look like the views you see in the travel books. The islands that you can visit may have promotional pictures of their beaches from 10 years ago but they are considerably busier now. They are still so beautiful though.
Things to do in Ao Nang
- Sit on the beach. There are trees to provide shade until afternoon. There are hawkers for bamboo mats, cold drinks, dresses, jewellery, massage deals, and even fresh cooked corn. That man even had a charcoal bbq with him.
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- A drink? or a mat?
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- Ao Nang Beach
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- corn and fruit seller
- Swim in the ocean. It’s sandy on the bottom and clear. Watch for jellyfish. Someone thoughtfully fished one out with a big palm leaf and left it up on the sand where it was easily seen. Roped off areas protect the swimmers from the boating area.
- Take a long tail boat to another beach. You buy the tickets at the beach access. Railay beach is about $7.75 or 200 baht return and takes about 10-15 minutes in the boat. It was low tide when we got there so the beach wasn’t that nice, but the cliff views were worth the trip. There are lots of shops and eating/drinking spots there.
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- Long tail boat
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- Railay Beach
- Find a rooftop bar for happy hour. That’s all day for many places. We really liked the Tom Yum restaurant near the big sailfish statue. It’s upstairs on the roof next to the Family Mart. The staff made sure we had cushions to sit on, shade or a fan and the view of the water is through the trees that give the shade. Their mojitos are delicious and are on sale for 90 baht or less than $3.50 each. They put fresh-cut pineapple on their Hawaiian pizza. The places on the beach that are south of the main drag are more expensive.
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- Happy hour rooftop
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- view to the beach
- Have a massage or mani/pedi along the beach. Head south along the beach and keep going until you find the row of massage places. They are open to the beach and most have mattresses on the floor. We had picked up a flyer earlier in the day on the beach so we went looking for #12, Jan’s Massage. Peter had an hour aloe vera massage plus his nails trimmed. Melissa and I had a mani-pedi which included having our feet scrubbed and nails painted. The entire process occured with us lying down on the mattress. The women moved themselves to where our nails were. We spent 1100 baht which is about $40 for an hour of bliss for the 3 of us.
mani/pedi by the beach
- Book a table at the Hilltop Restaurant. It is at the northern end of the beach up in the hills. The food was quite good, the service was fine and the sunset views behind the islands were spectacular. We also enjoyed the live music. One other highlight was witnessing a wedding proposal while we were there. They offer a free shuttle service to/from several local hotels. Ours was not in their zone, but they picked us up at the Sailfish statue by the beach. Sunset from the beach is pretty nice too.
- Watch the clam diggers at low tide…moms, dads and kids.
Island Tour
The highlight of most people’s trip to Krabi is a day trip to some of the islands. There are many options so I am glad we talked to others who had been here. You can book a tour to the closest 4 islands, a tour to the Hong Islands or a tour to Phi Phi Island. You can travel by long tail boat or speed boat. To read more details on the pros and cons of the tours and the mode of transportation, check out these two sites. Travelfish boat and kayak tours and YourKrabi. We found them quite helpful.
Although this is still high season here, it was not as busy as we expected. We didn’t want to spend our island tour day on someone else’s schedule so we opted to book our own private long tail boat to the Hong Islands, just for the 3 of us. It cost 3000 baht which converted to $114 CAD for the day. The group tours cost 700 baht each but include lunch. We came into town early, had breakfast, and bought a couple of take away sandwiches for our lunch. We bought our boat ticket when the booth opened at 8 and were taken to our boat right away
Thoughts for next time
Although the day was fantastic, I know a couple of things I would do differently. I understood that the drivers travelled the same route as the tours, just on our time schedule. I should have been more familiar with the tour route as I would have liked to spend a little time snorkelling at one of the off shore stops instead of just along the beaches. When I asked what was next, he just replied, “whatever you wish, madam.” I should have known better what I wanted.
The other thing we learned for next time is that we could have bought our boat ticket the night before. Then we could have left even earlier and beat all the crowds. Regardless, the day was terrific.
Hong Island
It took about 45 minutes by long tail boat to get to Hong Island. The water was like glass so it felt more like a lake than the ocean. We saw other long tails and speedboats as well as some dive boats and large catamarans. We had benches to sit on under a shady cover. The motor is loud but the ride was smooth.
Our boat was the 3rd to arrive for the day. We paid our marine National park fee of 300 baht each and ogled the smooth white sand and teal water. The cliffs were steep around the bay with a large rock formation splitting it into 2 parts. The background was all jungle. Areas for the swimmers had ropes and there was a big boat parking lot. The driver told us to stay as long as we wanted and let him know when we wanted to go. He recommended about 3 hours if we wanted time to see the other areas.
Hong Island Facilities
This is the largest area on this tour so the facilities were good. There were lifeguards and parks people to remind the idiots not to feed the fish. Toilet facilities were clean and included a water filled area to walk though to remove the sand from your feet. There was also a restaurant and a place to buy snacks and drinks. You could rent kayaks to travel around the island, or into the cove.
Although we stayed for 3 hours, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the dock had people coming and going, but the beach or swimming area never felt crowded. It was a good place for families with children.
We swam and snorkelled. There were bottles of vinegar in posts along the beach to use as an antidote in case of a venomous jellyfish if necessary. There were also signs with warnings of what to look for. The water was clear and I saw several varieties of fish.
Other stops
We left about noon and travelled around the island to a lagoon that is in the center the opposite side. It was high tide so the boat could enter. The water was a beautiful green color with high cliffs all around. We toured around the inside at a nice slow pace and took lots of pictures. At low tide you can only enter in a kayak, but apparently, the colour is even more intense.
We travelled to 2 more islands. One had a small beach with more cliffs and more fish to see. The other had a long sand section joining 2 rocky sections. There was a mushroom looking rock in the bay that had a lot of coral just past it. The textures and fish were worth the sunburn I got on the back of my legs. Much of the other coral I saw was dead. I don’t know if this is still a result of the tsunami, or from development and all the boats in the area.
It took about an hour to return to the beach in the long tail. It was 4 o’clock and we so appreciated our tropical paradise.
Kayak Tour
Melissa and Peter took a half day kayak tour north of Ao Nang at Ao Thalane. The trip in the back of a songtaew to the boat launch was uncomfortable, but the time on the water was just what they hoped it would be. They paddled in a group of 10, led by a guide. Included were water bags and drinking water.
The current took them along for much of the ride. They travelled through mangrove trees, over a small stretch of open water and into steep canyons that had once been limestone caves until the tops caved in. Stalactites were still visible. They spotted some monkeys in the trees, but fortunately none came for a closer look. This route is only available at high tide. Coffee and fresh fruit were available after the trip concluded. At a cost of 500 baht, or $20 CAD, it was a fantastic time.
Holiday from our holiday
It was a great place for a holiday from our holiday. It was also nice to choose a late flight home where we could get a quick ride home and not have the 2 hour drive through the snow and darkness we usually experience after a tropical holiday.
I have included some photos here in the blog but look for others in the travel menu.
Siem Reap Area Temples known as Angkor Wat
March 11, 2017
Angkor Wat
The Siem Reap Area Temples are generally all referred to as Angkor Wat and encompass 400 sq km. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the actual Angkor Wat temple is the largest religious monument in the world! To help put some of this into perspective, many of these structures were built before or at the same time as the massive cathedrals of Europe, by a people living with limited tools in the jungle. According to some web sources, they completed the construction in only 35 years.
We spent 4 days in this area. I’ll begin with some background and history. The next post will continue with descriptions of the other places we visited besides Angkor Wat temple itself.
Getting to Siem Reap
We took a bus from Phnom Pehn to Siem Reap which takes about 5 1/2 hours on pretty good highways. They picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the Giant Ibis bus terminal. We transferred to a big charter kind of bus and had a chance to see the countryside of Cambodia. There was no toilet on board, but we stopped for a break after about an hour and stopped for lunch in about 2 hours more. They even switched drivers halfway through. This trip cost us $15 each.
Hotel Choice
We stayed in the city of Siem Reap at the Golden Mango Inn. It was a great place for us for a few reasons. It was a away from the high energy part of town, it had its own restaurant and the pool was shaded and cool in the afternoon after a morning of touring.
We arrived to register and were led to the couch seating and given cold lemonade and towels to refresh ourselves after our journey. They helped us plan an itinerary for the 4 days that we were there. Breakfast was included and the day that we went to see sunrise at Angkor Wat, we were given a breakfast to “take away.” We upgraded to the deluxe room by the pool and paid $217 for 4 nights. Their customer service was outstanding.
This price included pick up at the bus and delivery to the airport when we left. Our tuk-tuk driver at the bus became our driver for the whole week. Chatting with him at the bus station gave us a chance to check out his English, which was great. You can find him on Facebook. The set fee for the driver was $15-$20/day, depending on the distance. The hotel booked him for us for 3 days, and we arranged to have him take us to the Angkor National Museum on the 4th day ourselves.
Travel Tips
- Hire a guide unless you are an expert on Buddhist and Hindu legends and symbolism. They know the stories, the history and where it’s best to take pictures. There are few signs showing the names of the temples, there are no descriptions on site, and no wifi to look things up yourself. We had the guide all to ourselves for $45/day. The hotel booked the guide for us for the first day. We booked her again for the fourth day of our visit.
- Hire a tuk-tuk driver. They will drop you off at one gate and pick you up on the other side. Ours also drove us on a loop of temples without our guide, then accompanied us on the boat trip to Tonle Sap.
- Get some local advice for planning. It’s hard to remember all the names and to know the distances between them. Our hotel was excellent at providing that information. There are many travel offices in town to help as well. There is lots of information on line, but it was difficult to make our own itinerary, just because there so much.
- Wear a big hat. There is not much shade in the temples
- Take lots of water-see above
- These sites are large and there is lots of walking.
- Wear sturdy shoes. The temples are not very accessible. There is lots of climbing over high sills between rooms and large steps to get up to the other levels. There are no railings or warnings about low doorways.
- Take a camera, or your phone at least.
- Stay at a hotel with a shady outdoor space.
- If you can’t walk it, check out Google street view–Angkor Wat
Background Information
There is a great museum in Siem Reap called the Angkor National Museum. It has many artifacts, historical context and a room with 1000 Buddhas. Their audio tour is very informative. We spent 2 hours there, but I could have spent longer. We visited there on day 3 after a day with a guide and a day with just our driver. Some other travellers recommended going there first, but this timing worked for us.
History
Great Kings who ruled in the area from about 950 to 1180 AD are responsible for these monuments. Kings were not always crowned because of their birth, but often because of victory in battle. The temples and City of Thom were built for the gods, to commemorate battles, and honor family members. The interesting thing is that some of the Kings were Hindu and some of them were Buddhist, although both religions originated in India. The gods they worshiped were different. The Buddhist Kings left the Hindu statues but the Hindu kings removed the Buddhas from the temples. Some of the carvings showing Buddha sitting in lotus position were re-carved by adding a beard and moving the knees up to a new, higher level. Others were removed altogether leaving an empty Buddha silhouette.
Angkor Wat Temple
Angkor Wat temple represents the gods in the center, the walls are the mountains and the moat is the oceans. The outer walls of the temple complex are huge and completely covered with carvings that represent Hindu legends and great battles. It is hard to imagine a society so advanced that they can employ and feed so many workmen to not only build these monuments, but cover them with beautiful art and stories.
The temples were built with a kind of brick called laterite. It looks volcanic but when the clay is dried in the sun, small holes form but the blocks are strong. They were faced with sandstone that had to be moved 30 km to the area. Some of it was covered with a kind of stucco and even painted.
What’s next?
I will include the names of each temple with the pictures. There is lots of information on line if you want to know more about these temples and the history. I found the Travelfish site the most useful for me.
After visiting all the amazing structures, the idea that stayed with me was that these were powerful leaders who built cities and temples as well as conquered large areas of southeast Asia. Cambodia is very proud of this history.
Some pictures can be found within this post. I will also add them and others to the travel page found at the top of my webpage. If you are reading this blog by email, click the link to the site, found at the bottom of the email.
Have a look at some of the comments shared by other readers. Thanks for the interesting conversations.
More medical services…Dermatologist visit
March 6, 2017
This is just a quick post about another of the medical services available in Chiang Mai. Â Now, don’t get me wrong, I am generally quite satisfied with the medical care in Canada, but they just do some things really well here. Peter and I wanted to get our skins checked by a dermatologist for sun damage. Â I had tried to do that before I left, but couldn’t get an appointment. Â My nurse practitioner told me to email her in a few months so she could get me in after we returned.
Appointment
I got the name of a dermatologist last night  from a friend in the building.  The doctor is Thai, but trained in Boston for 3 years so came recommended as a capable English speaker as well as a good dermatologist. She works at a new skin clinic at Chiangmai Ram Hospital, about 2.5 km from here.
I filled out the appointment request on line when I woke up this morning. Â Within 30 minutes the office phoned and offered us an appointment at 10:15 today. Â I gave our names, birthdates and nationality.
Services
We got a ride to the hospital and were met at the door by a woman in a suit and heels.  She was the greeter.  When we told her we were looking for the skin clinic she told us it was in another building and to wait in a seat.  Within  3-4 minutes a golf cart shuttle arrived to drive us to the new clinic.
shuttle
The nurses, who still wear uniforms and white hats with a black stripe, met us as we arrived. Â We completed information sheets that included our address here as well as at home. Â They asked if we needed a receipt for insurance purposes. Â This clinic is obviously used to dealing with medical tourism.
We were called in to have vitals taken-weight, height, temperature,blood pressure and blood oxygen. Â After about 15 minutes we took our turn with the doctor.
Peter
After a complete check from head to toe, most of the growths are attributed to aging. Â She asked him about any serious sunburns to his face, which he had when high altitude climbing. He did have a couple of spots of sun damage on his face. She removed them immediately with liquid nitrogen and assured him that they would heal easily and the damage was gone. Â She reminded him to use sun screen on the beach but that a hat with a big brim was the most helpful thing in the city.
Wendy
I was also checked thoroughly from top to bottom. Â Any spots that I obviously knew about, she reassured me that they were normal, without even asking. Â She let me know that the scrape on my knee from November could take 6 months before the color disappears. Â This getting older sure has lots of unexpected side effects. Â The rest of me was fine. Â Since I had a suspicious mole removed a few years ago, she recommended getting checked again in 6 months. Â I guess I’ll have to get back to Chiang Mai in time for my next appointment. Â She also gave me a couple of sunscreen samples to try.
Cost
We had heard that the cost was reasonable but we weren’t sure. Â We just hoped that Alberta Health Care might cover the cost of what it would be at home. Â Here are our bills:
Wendy  Doctor fee  $30.38
nurse and office fee  $4.69
total $35.07
Peter  Doctor fee with procedure $38.22
nurse and office fee  $4.69
liquid nitrogen $11.47
Total $54.38
We were out the door by 11:00 am, reassured, treated and enough money left for a coffee at Starbucks.
Cambodia… A Country of Contradictions
March 5, 2017
Cambodia is an amazing country, even though it is full of contradictions. The people are very poor, but they smile so much. The countryside is green, but deforestation is occurring in the more populated areas. They ruled a mighty empire in the 12th century, but have been controlled by communism and the military in the recent past. They lost 2 million of their citizens in the 1970’s to disease, starvation and execution. These numbers included all the educated people as well as a generation or two of grandparents. The support of an extended family was eliminated. Those who survived feel great shame for allowing this to happen. And yet they still smile. We spent just over a week in this neighbor to Thailand and I learned so much about a country that I had been pretty ambivalent about for my whole life.
I was invited to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia by Bernice Pollock. I taught with her for 20 years in Rocky Mountain House. She is a brave traveller and is responsible for convincing me that we could live in Chiang Mai for a winter. She now teaches at the Canadian International School, along with Nancy, another colleague of ours from Rocky. Bernice invited me to come and spend a day helping their teachers with some planning strategies. Since this school teaches the Alberta Program of Studies, it was an easy match. It is a private school, owned by a Chinese family. Wealthy ex-pat’s children, who are mostly Asian, attend. They want a “Western” education for their children. The children are taught in English, or French and also receive some training in the Khmer language. It was another good reason to go and visit Phnom Penh.
Some contradictions in Phnom Penh
- really nice home next to yards filled with garbage
- wind trio performance in a luxury hotel garden while children are begging in the streets
- mostly empty office and condo complexes advertising lavish living near people subsisting in tin shacks
- master tailors creating clothes from a picture in a magazine working from a tiny booth in a market
- although most people have little and work hard, they gather in the parks every evening to exercise and eat together They play soccer and badminton, walk, do Tai Chi and Zumba. People filled the parks.
- they use the American dollar as their primary currency. They don’t use the coins, but instead have a local paper money called riel used as change.
- beautiful French Colonial architecture next to bare cement block construction
- traffic drives wherever it wants. Scooters travel in packs and take over a lane or sidewalk if necessary. There are few traffic lights and those wanting to turn against the flow just wait until there is a critical mass and start to turn, hoping that the other traffic will stop and wait.
The Killing Fields
To understand Cambodia, you need to visit this memorial. It is not easy, but it is necessary. It is recommended to also visit the S-21 Museum also known as the Tuol Sueng Genocide Museum, which is a meticulously documented torture location. We were not emotionally able to go there, although I did some reading about it.
We hired our airport driver to take us out to the Killing Fields (Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre). From the entrance it looks like a nice park with trees and chickens wandering around. It was early in the morning with few other people. Once we started listening to the audio guide, (an essential part of this tour), the atmosphere of the place completely changed.
Khmer Rouge
After some years of civil war in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge took control in 1975. Their leader, Pol Pot, wanted a classless peasant society where everyone was completely equal. He eliminated money, banks, religion and the right to own property. He sent all the people from the city to the countryside to grow rice where many died of starvation and disease.
All the teachers and educated people, as well as those with defects like needing glasses were taken to centers where they were forced to admit their crimes against the people. They were then taken in the dark to one of the hundreds of “Killing Fields” around the country where they were beaten to death and buried in mass graves. The genocide ended in 1979 when 60 000 Vietnamese troops invaded Phnom Penh. Although the people of Cambodia now hold elections, it is a one-party system as the opposition leader was exiled and has recently resigned after a law passed that would not allow him to participate in politics.
Our driver came in and walked quietly around the area. On our way back he told us he had been a young boy during this time and his job was to look after the cows used in the rice fields. His father was a blacksmith and they were allowed to survive. He told us that they were only given 2 bowls of rice to eat each day. If someone found a chicken and killed it for food, they would be killed. “Everyone was very thin,” was the comment made by Mr. Saran.
Killing Fields Tour
You can see the areas where the mass graves were dug. They have opened many of them to study the cause of death and to memorialize the victims. There are still sections where bits of clothing or bones or teeth resurface on their own during the rainy season.
There was a tree there that had such horrific purpose that I couldn’t even take a picture of it. They would swing toddlers’ heads against it while their mothers watched. The Khmer Rouge believed they had to, “kill the root so they would not come back for revenge.”
There has been a stupa built as a memorial to many of the victims of this genocide. It is filled with 500o skulls found in the graves here. They are categorized by age and cause of death. It is difficult to see but makes it so real.
What is my responsibility?
It is impossible for me to deny that such a thing happened in my lifetime. Yet, I was oblivious to it. Rwanda, Syria, Somalia and others all tell similar stories. What is my responsibility? I was born in a time and place that protected me from this kind of violence. I am hoping that at least by sharing this story, others will question our responsibility to the people of the world who have no voice. People making racist or bigoted remarks about others is an example of this on a smaller scale than genodice but is a situation that I can no longer tolerate without action. We all need to speak up!