Manow found us at breakfast and wanted to make sure we understood that they'd be helping get us to a fantail boat for our trip to Ao Nang. I think she still wondered if we were a bit crazy, passing up on their standard mode of transport: Private boat that beaches and sends down a staircase so you don't get your feet wet. But we didn't want to taxi from the Krabi Town pier to Ao Nang. AND we wanted to ride a fantail boat. So Rayavadee went above and beyond, again to make sure we were safely aboard a fantail. Our porter even carried our bags about 100 yards down the sandy beach, helped us get boat tickets and then loaded our bags onto the boat for us. All done with a smile.
The fantail ride was fun!
It took us about 10 to 15 minutes to reach Ao Nang. It is a lot smaller than I expected. Not in a bad way, I just thought the beach would be about 3 times the size that it is. It's tough to tell by looking at Google Maps. Our boat anchored and everyone began to disembark. Being the person Eric is, he immediately went to the side of the boat and began helping people off. I love my husband. You get on and off a fantail boat in water. Sometimes to your knees and sometimes above your waist. We were getting off above our (or my anyway) waist, and most people had luggage. So Eric would help them down and then hand them their bag. What a guy.
We were last and Eric delivered a bag to the sand and I was waiting for him to come back so I could give him our suitcase and my backpack that had this computer in it. This is where the culture shock began. The boat captain, who is currently holding onto the anchor and line at the bow of the boat, which I'm sure was NOT easy yelled at me to hurry up. No smile, no Kop Kune Krup (thank you in Thai). Just a hurry up and a scowl. I laughed and said I'm not jumping in with a computer. All the other passengers were still watching and smiling, now helping Eric transfer our bags. One guy caught my flip flops as I threw them ashore. The whole thing was just funny and I wish I had it on video.
Hey, Mr. Captain, even Ronald McDonald wai's in Thailand.
Here's a video of another group coming ashore to give you an idea. A storm was brewing at this point so they had a LONG walk in. And no, this is not a fantail they're disembarking from, but you can see one in the background :).
We were both soaked up to our waist and covered in sand when we took the 10 or so steps from the beach onto the main drag of Ao Nang. We needed to hail a tuk tuk to get us to our hotel. We found one and I'm pretty sure we were a bit gouged on price, but she saw 2 wet people ready to get a ride and we didn't barter. It was 150 baht for the trip ($4.50). It WAS a fun ride though, so we had an entertainment factor too.
We arrived at Hula Hula and were greeted warmly with wai's and Sawasdee Kaa. Ahhh, back to the kindness we had already decided we preferred. They brought out a cool drink and cookies while they showed us our options for transportation into town, etc. She then took us around the building to hose off the sand, because remember, we're still soaking wet and sitting in their welcome area. Funny.
Then a porter took us to our room, which is very comfortable. We needed to go to Sea Gypsy divers to pick out BCD and fin sizes for our dive the next day. IF we dove the next day (storm's a brewin').
So we took the shuttle, which is a van with an open air cargo area with 2 benches running the side, into town. There was a couple who didn't say a word to us. Two very fun loving people who were "living the dream". These 2 ladies were obviously ready to laugh, have fun and party. Aussies. Every time. It doesn't matter where we travel. Anytime there is a group of people laughing, drinking and generally partying we know they are Aussies.
Another lady, Gwen from Amsterdam, was on the shuttle as well. She was here with her husband, son and daughter in law. Her story was a bit different. 2 nights ago, not long after arriving her husband was complaining about abdominal pain. She kinda poo poo'd him and was thinking he ate something that didn't agree. A few hours later he woke her up in the middle of the night saying, NO, something is wrong. They took him to the hospital which isn't too far away and they did a CT scan. His appendix had burst and he was running a 108 fever. YIKES!!! I'm not sure if she couldn't use a credit card or what, but she said the doctor said it'd cost 250,000 baht (7000 euro) so she ran to the ATM to withdraw the money. Maybe he needed cash in hand prior to surgery, not sure. But ATM vs. Visa? Anyway, they performed the surgery the day before we met Gwen and he was doing well. She said it did end up costing them about 21,000 euro. She has no idea how long they'll have to stay here as he recovers, but she's TRYING to make the best of it. VERY nice person - we saw here several times throughout the day - down in town and around the property. But wow... what an experience.
We walked down the street to Sea Gypsy divers. The jungle is right behind downtown and Ao Nang is just this small piece of ocean front.
We let Joel know we were a bit hesitant to dive due to weather, visibility, etc. He said he understood so he pulled up the ocean forecast for us and then called the dive boat that was out to get dive reports. Their first dive was poor visibility, their 2nd had been not too bad and they were getting ready to go on the third, which was most likely a location we'd go to the next day. Joel said he'd call us when he got that dive report and we'd figure out if we'd go or not. I said great, if we don't talk with you, let's plan on us going as the default. We parted ways feeling really good about how Joel was NOT pushy and was just interested in us having a good dive. By the way, Joel is an American from Pittsburgh. He did end up calling about 2 hours later and let us know the 3rd dive had 15 to 30 foot visibility (normally 60). He said it wouldn't get any better and possibly worse, so we decided not to dive. A bit of a bummer, but we're OK with the decision. AND Joel refunded our deposit (about $120). I did not expect to get that back at all!!! Way to go Sea Gypsy.
Eric had developed a couple of blisters on his feet so we went to the pharmacy and picked up some bandaids and then walked around town., had a drink, had a snack, and a FISH SPA! Ao Nang is a bit of a melting pot. Business owners are Indian, Persian, Italian, and some Thai. Not exactly what I was expecting and we're hoping we can find good Thai food. Most places advertise, pizza, burgers, and Thai. All in the same restaurant... Hmmmmm
I love how Eric looks so bored in this video - like he does it every day. ha ha ha
It's Eric's mother's birthday so we had to go down the to beach and sing her a birthday song with the fantail boats in the background. We noticed that the ocean was much rougher than it was earlier in the day. It'll be interesting to see what weather brings for tomorrow.
After all this we went back to the Marlin for the 5:00 pickup. 5:25 rolled around and no shuttle. I guess the pickup only happens if they're dropping off. So we decided to walk to the hotel - not a terrible walk and we saw some sites. It was only about 1 to 1.5 miles.
We then cooled off in the pool and had a drink at the swim up bar. Our bartender, Mad (Mott) was very friendly and we had a nice chat with him, being as how we were the only ones in the pool. It started sprinkling at this point so we decided to grab some dinner - I was HUNGRY. The restaurant at the hotel sounded good to us, so that's where we went. The food was really good and cheap, which is always nice. :) We had some Pad See Ew, Pad Thai, Veggie spring rolls and an omelet (fried egg). Then we went to bed. Long day! But another great one. You can check out Eric's vlogs for more fun video here: Eric's Vlog
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