Thailand - Krabi
Photo Gallery of Krabi in Thailand.
Krabi is one of the southern provinces in Thailand on the coast of the Andaman Sea, about 820 km south of Bangkok. Phuket and Pang Nga, the popular places for tourists, are neighboring provinces of Krabi. (Phuket is in front of Krabi over the ocean, though.)The capital of the region is the city of Krabi.
(You'll feel that when Thai people say "Krabi", it sounds like "Gabee".)
In my case, almost every time I visit southern places in Thailand, it's
not a fine day but cloudy or rains. However, it was really cleared up this
time. (How wonderful ! :D) About one hour flight from Bangkok. (Around the end of January, 2014)
As the neighboring province, Pang Nga, Krabi has many islands, more than 130 islands, big and small. A lot of tourists from all over the world visit here to enjoy the beauty of the archipelago which have white sandy beaches, clear sea, and coral.
(I recommend islands tours !)
I heard that Japanese tourists visit Phuket more than Krabi. (I guess there are direct flights from Japan to Phuket.) I got to know later that Phi Phi island I visited before belongs to Krabi.
I stayed at a hotel in a district called Ao Nang on the coast. When I walked around to enjoy the scenery along the beach, I found a board telling a local legend about the islands as follows:
Krabi is one of the southern provinces in Thailand on the coast of the Andaman Sea, about 820 km south of Bangkok. Phuket and Pang Nga, the popular places for tourists, are neighboring provinces of Krabi. (Phuket is in front of Krabi over the ocean, though.)The capital of the region is the city of Krabi.
(You'll feel that when Thai people say "Krabi", it sounds like "Gabee".)
In my case, almost every time I visit southern places in Thailand, it's
not a fine day but cloudy or rains. However, it was really cleared up this
time. (How wonderful ! :D) About one hour flight from Bangkok. (Around the end of January, 2014)As the neighboring province, Pang Nga, Krabi has many islands, more than 130 islands, big and small. A lot of tourists from all over the world visit here to enjoy the beauty of the archipelago which have white sandy beaches, clear sea, and coral.
(I recommend islands tours !)
I heard that Japanese tourists visit Phuket more than Krabi. (I guess there are direct flights from Japan to Phuket.) I got to know later that Phi Phi island I visited before belongs to Krabi.
I stayed at a hotel in a district called Ao Nang on the coast. When I walked around to enjoy the scenery along the beach, I found a board telling a local legend about the islands as follows:
Ban Ao Nang, Muang District, Krabi consists of numerous beautiful beaches and caves.It was the end of January when I visited Krabi. Fortunately, I was blessed with a wonderful weather this time, and I enjoyed the scenery with the beautiful ocean and islands. I recommend islands tours as you'll see below. Krabi is the place I really want to visit again someday.
In front of this bay lays 83 islands of large and small sizes. There are hill rocks of spectacular shapes like boots, a junk, bird's head and others mostly named from the Yawi southern dialect.
A local legend goes that a fisherman living in the area went to meet the king of Naga, the guardian of the sea, and got a request from the king to offer a baby girl. The desperate man promised to marry his daughter to the Naga's son when she grew up. However, the fisherman did not keep the promise as he married his daughter to a young fisherman. The Naga was really upset, destroyed the ceremony and a fighting broke out. A powerful hermit came to calm them down but in vain. He then cast a spell on everyone to become islands as appear nowadays.
(Oh, the islands were fishermen ....)
- Four Islands Tour !
- Mud Crab Sculpture - The giant crab statue in the town
- Susaan Hoi - 75 million year shell cemetery
- Wat Tham Suea - The tiger cave temple
- Etc about Krabi
[Krabi] 4 Islands Tour ! |
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I really wanted to go and visit islands in Krabi, and if I found an islands
tour, I would like to join that ! Now, let's go on a 4 island tour with me ! There seem to have some kinds of island tour. Choose which is good for you. Wonderful sceneries and beautiful ocean will be waiting for you. Now, what kind of islands are waiting for you this time ? Let's go with me. :D
The tour picked us up at our hotel around 8:30 in the morning by bus, then left the beach where tour guests gathered for the islands past 9:00. We had lunch on Chicken Island on the way and came back to the beach before 2:00 in the afternoon. |
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| The early morning beach in front of our hotel. | A bus for the tour picked us up. Packed already. It took 10 minutes to a beach to gather. | Now we got to a beach nearby for the island tour. A lot of customers were waiting. |
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| A lot of boats left here one by one for a tour. | Now our turn. Have fun ! :D |
1. Pranang Cave |
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| The first place is Pranang beach ! There is a cave called Pranang Cave. Visit there and pray for a safe trip ! :D After leavening the beach, we got here in 15 minutes. The ocean is clear. (By the way, Pranang means Princess Goddess.) |
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| See ? Pranang Cave is over there. The rocks above are wild shaped ! | Goddess is enshrined in the cave. This is the place where fishermen pray before they go out. |
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| The goddess is offered lingams or lingas (male organ). | Curious shaped rocks around. I want to know how they were made like this. | A dog on the beach. A big black dog was relaxing there. |
2. Poda Island |
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| Now, after visiting the shrine, Poda island is the next. It's a small island but you'll be impressed with the beautiful sea with a huge rock. (By the way, a boat in the picture above is called longtail boat.) | |
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| A lot of visitors here. | I was moved with the blue of the ocean. |
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| A lot of boats are in a row. They've carried a lot of visitors here. | A huge rock over there. | You'll see a private beach if you walk further from here. Looks like you have to pay to enter there though. |
3. Chicken Island |
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| After Poda island, the next is, the shape is funny, Chicken island ! | This is a snorkeling spot ! Wow. |
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| A lot of boats gather here and they enjoy snorkeling. I was enjoying this scenery on the boat because I'm not good at swimming ! :D | |
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| After that, lunch time on the island. | A beach of Chicken island. This place is beautiful also. How nice ! | |
4. Tup Island |
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| The last island is Tup Island ! The picture above was taken with my back against Tup island. The left
island in the picture is Chicken Island we visited before this island,
and the right is Mor island. This place is well-known for Talay Waek which means divided sea, one of the world famous sand bars: Chicken island will be linked to Tup island and Mor island with a sand bar emerging from the clear sea at low tide. I was afraid I couldn't see that ! So sad ! This scenery reminds me of Tao island. |
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| From a different angle. Wow, the scenery is fantastic. The ocean is really clear. I really hope they can maintain and keep this scenery forever. | |
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| Tup island again Mor island. It has a small shop. You can walk up to the top but the view for there is not so good with a lot of trees. |
Rocks on the beach. Made of lava ? | They sell some snacks and something to drink. |
[Krabi] Mud Crab Sculpture - The giant crab statue in the town |
The landscape in the Krabi town, Mud Crab sculpture, along Krabi river.
An explanation board says, the Mud Crab sculpture implies the fairly from
Aesop's fable "The crab and its mother" that the parents must
teach their children to be well-behaved, have self-discipline and respect
the elder to suit the motto of Krabi province "Krabi Lively Town,
Lovely People.Hmmm, it's maybe just my imagination but the crab and its mother story is a little different ,... isn't it ? :D |
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| A close-up. A huge crab and a kid. | Krabi river in front of the sculpture. Very wide space. | |
[Krabi] Susaan Hoi - 75 million year shell cemetery |
| 75 million year shell cemetery, Susaan Hoi. The explanation says that this place used to be a swamp area long long time ago and many species of shells appeared and occupied the swamp, breeding into millions, then later, the swamp area was submerged in the sea water killing the shell population. Silicic matter form the sea water cemented them together forming a structure of rock about 40cm thick. The layer of rock below it became a type of coal called lignite, and is about 10cm thick. Below the lignite is a layer of shale. There are only three of this type of shell cemeteries in the world, one in the state of Chicago, U.S.A, one in Japan and this one in Ban Laempoh in Thailand. Hmmm, in Japan ? Where ? |
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| They are fossil beds of shells. There are three sites around here and this is Site 2. Someone is walking in the picture but it looked like you were not allowed to get in here. I was afraid I didn't go and check over there. |
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| This is Site 1. You'll see this a little further away. | Some samples of shell fossil are displayed in front of Site 2. |
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| A sample of shell fossil. A lot of shells gets together and makes a layer of rock. The right picture shows coins on the rock. Maybe they are offerings like in a shrine. |
Gift shops ! They sell gifts with sea shells. | |
[Krabi] Wat Tham Suea - The tiger cave temple |
| Well, you maybe don't feel at ease if you don't visit a local temple when
you go to a new place, especially if you respect Thai religion. This is a temple, Wat Tham Suea, in a valley surrounded by mountains. There were a lot of caves in which wild tigers lived around this area and this is why the temple were named Wat Tham Suea (Wat: temple, Tham: cave, Suea: tiger). I thought at first that this temple kept tigers because of the name, but actually not ! :D They have a mediation place, Tham Seua Khao Kaeo Vipassana Centre, in the forest park. |
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| The way to the main hall. A lot of flags along the way. (Because the Chinese new year was coming ?) | Wild monkeys ! I didn't feel dangerous but a little scared of them because they were a lot. |
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| The main hall is located at the end of the way. Looks like it's in Chinese style. Kanji characters written on the flags also. | |
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| A Buddha statue, Kannon - Goddess of Mercy, is housed. | They have electric chanting a Buddhist sutra machines on the way. | Other Buddha statues can be seen after going up stairs. |
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| You can go to a mediation center by going up long stairs near the main hall. | A huge chedi around the entrance of the temple. Still under construction. |
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| Tigers are welcoming everyone. | Information of donation for the construction of the chedi. | I don't know why but you'll see air plains displayed. ... |
[Krabi] Etc about Krabi |
| How was Krabi ? For me, Krabi has become the place I really want to visit
again. I visited there around the end of January this time. I guess it's the best time to visit there with fine days. |
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| Krabi international airport. The roof is white all over ! | Around the hotel I stayed. A lot of shops. |
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| The beach in front of the hotel. The scenery was great around sunset ! | |
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| Another scene around sunset. | Early morning. The sun light is coming. |
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| Various cars You'll see various cars on the street. The red bus is cute like a post office car in Japan. I didn't see tuk-tuk here but instead I often saw easy taxies like a sidecar. |
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| Taxi fee. Well, well, this is maybe quite expensive, isn't it ? They have a taxi to go to Hua Hin. (Who will go there by taxi from here ... ???) | Thai sweets. She beat an egg and put banana pieces on it. We took it back to the hotel for a night snack. | Fried rice in a pineapple at a restaurant. It was colorful with other vegetables on the rice in the menu but ... |
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| Around the restaurant. A lot of bikes. The street was kind of busy. | |
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| A doll at a shop. I liked her very much. :D | Lunch time together ! It was yummy even though some of them were too much spicy for me. |
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