Krabi – Day One
So, this day actually started with a 5:45am Taxi ride to the domestic terminal at the Bangkok airport. Uneventful taxi ride, got us their quick at that time in the morning, and we sat down in the airport to have a bit of breakfast before jumping on our plane.
We flew Thai Airways from Bangkok to Krabi, and I just don't know what to say. We had more legroom in this plane then I knew what to do with. Not that this is a very impressive statement since I have short stubby legs. But Carly happened to also have more legroom than she knew what to do with. This was something of a strange miracle, and we both kind of 1) stared at each other, then 2) looked at our knees, then 3) looked at the distance between our knees and the seats in front of us, then GOTO 1.
We got food on this flight, it was pretty yummy. Got off in Krabi and we had to go down the little stairs attached to the plane and got off on the tarmac where we jumped onto a bus. Now, you have to understand that the Airport in Krabi is small. Like really small. Um, it's about as small as those 380 square foot apartments that they're building on the West Side these days and charging $4 million dollars for (maybe not that small).
I think that the bus drove for about 13 seconds (maybe 100 meters, MAYBE) before it dropped us off at the door to the Arrival's entrace. Once again Carly and I were reminded how most everyone here is deathly afraid to use their pedestrian abilities to walk from point A to point B.
At any rate, there was a friendly Thai guy there to pick us up and take us in a little van to our hotel. So far, we realize right away that Krabi is the complete and utter antithesis of Bangkok. It is quiet, quaint, relaxed, beautiful, and not densely populated. The drive from the airport to the town where we stayed (Ao Nang) took about 30 minutes, and the scenery was fabulous. Lush trees everywhere, limestone cliffs and rolling hills. Absolutely fantastic.
We arrived at our Hotel which had a really cool open-air reception area just on the side of this very small road. Just walking / driving on the road was an experience in itself. Very old-skewl small town homey feel to it. At any rate, the reception was great, a couple of super friendly Thai ladies checked us in, one brought us something yummy to drink (it was red, other than that, I have no clue), and then walked us down to our room.
We stayed at the Emerald Garden Resort, and the whole grounds here is absolutely stunning. They have two pools, trees and flowers everywhere, and well, yah. It was super.
Sad to say, this is the ONLY picture we took on our first day here (it's a picture of our room, upon our arrival), because we were tired. Walking around Bangkok for three days made us want to do nothing but sit by the pool and read a book. So that's what we did.
After several hours of maintaining a semi-vegetative state, we decided it was time to go get some food. Even though the hotel gave us 16 vouchers for free Tuk-Tuk rides town to the beach (where the food was), we walked. People couldn't believe it. We walked. We walked TEN minutes down to the beach. But anyways.
We noticed right away that the little shop-owners (well, not really the shop owners, but the tailors) were a bit too pushy. Carly got a lot of "Hey lady, tall sizes, long sizes... HEY. Lady!" and I got a bunch of people with outstretched arm shaking my hand, calling me their "friend" and wanting to get my outfitted in a custom-tailored suit on the ASAP. After we passed all the tailor's things were stellar. Very quaint little strip of restaurants and shops, ice cream and coffee places, a 7-11 (yes, a 7-11 here too) on one side of the street, and the Andaman Seaon the other side. The beach was beautiful, trees and cliffs, almost situated in a large bay. Several islands in the distance, and facing almost directly West, so it was an absolutely fabulous place to watch sunsets.
We grabbed a bite to eat at a Swiss/Italian/Thai place, and once again jumped into some "other" food that we were craving. We both had spaghetti and garlic toast. 
I think that just about concludes our first day in Krabi. Very nice and relaxing compared to the busy-ness of Bangkok. Still more to come!
