Eat and drink in Krabi

Thai cuisine has always been our family’s favourite cuisine. This is also one of the reasons why we favour Thailand as one of our top choices of traveling destinations.

As mentioned in my previous Krabi traveling post, in this episode I will cover the story of the food that we savoured in this little Southern Province of Thailand.

During our stay in Krabi, most of our lunch meals, if not covered by the day tour operators, were decided by exploring the local street food along our lodging area in Ao Anang. We would simply sit down and ate as and when we came across some street food that looked palatable.

Among those street food Ray and I favoured the most was the BBQ chicken! It wasn’t KFC, but it was still finger-licking good! If BBQ is not your cup of tea, then Banana pancake is another “must eat” not to be missed in Krabi!

Krabi’s night market was another great place to taste their local street food. Similar to other Thailand tourist spots, Krabi also had a walking street night bazaar which operated in the evening of Friday-Sunday in Krabi town.

Krabi town is located more than half an hour driving distance from Ao Anang beach. We went on a Friday night taking their public bus transport, essentially a bigger version of Tuk Tuk. I was a bit disappointed as the Krabi town walking street night bazaar was much smaller in scale than what we experienced in ChiangMai and Bangkok.

In Ao Anang beach area, there were lots of Thai and Western restaurants. Authentic Thai Cuisine and Western food were easily available. We also noticed many locals in Krabi were Muslims, hence halal food was just as common. Many of the Thai restaurants were operated by Muslim owners. This explained why so many Malay Muslim tourists from Malaysia liked to visit Krabi.

The following were some of the Thai authentic rice meals we ate.

May I introduce a beverage to quench your thirst in Krabi? My number one choice definitely was their fruit shakes! Sorry, to those who thought it might be beer

During our time in Krabi, other than plain drinking water, we simply tried out every flavor of fruit shakes available.

Basically we just shake, shake, shake away our thirst with all sorts of fresh fruit smoothies that we could find, Mango, mixed fruits, strawberry, coconut, dragon fruit… The top rated shake to both the father and son was still their forever loved banana shake while my pick was mixed fruits which varied from stall to stall, a combination of any mixture of fresh fruits they had on hand upon order made.

So, remember if you happen to travel to Krabi, after the spicy Thai food, as the Taylor Swift’s song goes "Shake It Off" to shake the heat away!

So, remember if you happen to travel to Krabi, after the spicy Thai food, just like what Taylor Swift song "Shake It Off" to shake the heat away !

Sea Sand Sun @ Krabi, Thailand

 

Since Ray started schooling, we could only plan our annual family trip to coincide with his long school break. It has become kind of a family tradition to have at least one island trip per year. Last December we picked Krabi, Thailand as our destination.

Shared in the following are the highlights of the trip.

We started our action in the water on day 2 of our trip with a full day Island hopping itinerary covering 4 island - Phranang , Chicken, Tup and Poda Islands

The Tup Island has its own unique phenomenon commonly referred to by the locals as Talay Waek which means divided sea. During high tide, the island is divided into 2 islands, 400metres apart. At the peak of low tide, a sandbank emerges to connect the two islands together allowing you to walk across freely between the two islands on a strip of sandbar seemingly dividing the sea to two.

Well, I must say that Krabi may not have as white, as fine sandy beaches and as good snorkeling spots as compared with other islands we visited in the past such as Koh Lipe, Thailand and the Peninsular Malaysia East Coast Islands, but Krabi still has its own attractions.

On day 3, we had an inaugural experience with a new water sport – kayaking. It was the first experience for Ray and myself. Later, Ray rated this kayaking experience at Ao Thalan as his most fun and enjoyable activity out of all the activities we had in Krabi.

After a full morning of kayaking, we were taken for an hour elephant trekking through a rubber estate rather than a jungle as stated in the tour brochure.

Our final destination was the Tiger Cave temple. So, you might think we did not have enough of wild animal that we went for another close encounter with the tigers again? Sorry, your guess never come close.

The hidden attraction lies behind this temple façade, is a total of 1,237 steps to the summit of the mountain temple where you get to have a magnificent panoramic view of Krabi town.

We counted the steps as we were going up the strenuous flight of stairs. It was actually 1260 steps. After about of 25 minutes of hike, Ray made it to the top first.

Panoramic view over Krabi from Tiger Cave Temple.

After the tiring climb, up and down, we were delighted to have a great dip in a natural Mineral Hot Spring Waterfall.

We ended our final fresh water activity at the famous crystal pool or Emerald pool. The pool was located 1.4KM from the entrance of the park. We got to enjoy the lush foliage of the forest and fresh air along this trail.

The pool to me was overrated. I found the pool as merely a cloudy green color pool with overly crowded tourists in it. This was also due to the not so right timing we visited on that day. It was a Thai public holiday and we only arrived after lunch when the tour group crowds had already built up.

To enjoy the claimed crystal Emerald pool view, it was advisable to go in the early morning when the water of the pool is still and the sediment in the pool is not yet kicked up by swimmers to cloud the water.

While Ray was having his fun time in the pool, I decided to venture further to discover the legendary Blue pool which was another 15minutes trek away from the Emeral pool. Less people visited this pool as no swimming was allowed there due to the many quick sands in that pool.

This blue pool lived up to its name, the water was crystal clear that one could see through to the bottom of the pool.The water was really amazingly blue, like a very clean swimming pool.

The above were some attractions that we covered during our short 4 days 3 nights trip in Krabi.

For the next post, I will share the deliciously authentic Thai food we had in Krabi.

Korea eat, shop and play

Annyeonghaseyo! Hello to all!

In recent years, the influence of Korean drama (Kdrama) and Kpop created strong Korean wave swept across all over Asia especially in the South East Asia. Being one of the Kdrama followers myself, I must admit I have been longing to visit Korea after watching those dramas.

However, I failed to convince HB to include this country in our travel destinations, as he regarded Korea as merely shopping heaven for ladies, crowded high tech cities with little surprises and nothing much for an adventure seeker. Hence, I had to find other companions to go with.

Finally at the end of April 2014, I managed to gather 2 of my 30+ years’ primary schoolmates Wai and Joyce to join me. With the addition of another close friend of Joyce, LI, we formed the Malaysia A4 Ajumma (Auntie) team. Instead of going with a travel agent, we decided to brave ourselves for an 8 days 7 nights DIY tour to Seoul and Jeju.

Being the main organizer of the team, I started to plan and book air tickets since last year. I was pleased that it was so easy to locate so many useful and detailed Korea DIY travel sites via internet such as Tripadvisor.com and by just reading thru them and I had no problem to come up with our own itineraries. Hostel booking was also hassle free by referring to the famous Booking.com.

I enjoyed the trip very much. However, traveling on our own in Seoul by using public transport, some intensive walking was unavoidable. Even for myself, who was more used to running long distances among the 4 of us, found the walking trips we had in Seoul strenuous, not to mention for the other 3 Ajumma members, who were not as sporty and were so used to travel with travel agencies with fancy tour bus to hop on and off throughout the entire traveling period, these walks were overly taxing.

Every night, when we returned to the hostel, our calf muscles were so sore. Luckily LI brought muscle pain relief gel and it was the life savior to us! I guess, after this trip if I were to organize another DIY tour they would not dare to join me again hahaha……

After completing the tour, I have to concur Korea is one of the safest countries to travel on your own even if you do not speak their language. Tourist information and directions are easily available especially in big cities like Seoul, Busan and Jeju Island.

What follow were some of the highlights of our trip:

The ancient side of Seoul : Palaces and Hanok village  

The urban side of Seoul

Spring in Seoul:
  

The Nature side of South Korea: Jeju Island

Following were the food we devoured during our trip in Seoul and Jeju.

Seoul Signature dish : Ginseng Chicken Soup

Food in Gwangjang Market, one of Korea's largest traditional markets:

Food in Insadong shopping area:

Rice and Noodles set:






Famous Namsan market Noodle:

Seoul Street food:


Seoul fast food


Beverages:


I had to say that throughout the trip, the food we had in Jeju was the best especially the Abalone seafood.

I had to give credit to our Taxi driver cum guide we chartered in Jeju Island, who brought us to local restaurants patronized by the locals to taste the authentic local delicacies rather than the other restaurants catered to foreigners and tourists traveling in packaged tour with travel agencies.

Jeju Abalone Seafood Steamboat




Jeju BBQ Black pig


Jeju famous Sister Noodle house


Check out also the video clip of the Seoul Night Food at Pojangmacha, small tented street food stalls.

Seoul Night Food at Pojangmacha

Pulau Aman Mee Udang (Prawn Noodles)

Care to have a bowl of Prawn Noodles?

Following up from our recent trip to Batu Kawan,Seberang Perai to Auntie Chun Li’s house, we found out her house was only 2km away from Jetty Batu Musang, the gateway to Pulau Aman. 

We decided to take a ferry excursion trip to take a look at this small island. The island was merely a 10 minutes boat ride from Batu Musang Jetty, at RM6.00 per adult and RM4.00 per child for a two-way fare.



Nothing much of sight seeing to expect from this small Malay fishing village island. We expected to finish venturing the island within 2 hours. The absence of good beaches on this island was made up by the fresh seafood available.

 

At the beach the main activities we saw along the beach were clams digging and fishing.

This island was well known for its giant mantis prawn and the island was famous for its “Mee Udang” (prawn noodles).


There were a few Mee Udang restaurants on the island, the famous one was Restoran Terapung Pulau Aman. which was the one we patronized that day.



A plate of normal Mee Udang priced at RM6 and special with extra prawns priced at RM10.

 

While we had spicy mee udang, we ordered Prawn fried rice for Ming Ray.
 

Sun, Sea,Sand and Thai food

Escape to Koh Lipe

This year instead of our yearly routine family island trip to Redang Island, we decided to try out new island since we noticed Redang island was getting overly crowded and so commercialised that the nature of the island was deteriorating quickly each year and it was no longer as secluded as our past experience.

A few years ago, we started to hear about Koh Lipe, one of the islands in the Tarutao National Marine Park located in the Andaman Sea, off the coast of Satun Province of Southern Thailand. At that time the island was still pretty deserted and the accommodation choices were limited, not so suitable for family with small kids. Last year when JS’s Canadian residing sister and hubby spent a holiday there and came back with good comments highlighting to us that the island had since been developed with various choices of lodgings from budget to lavish to accommodate family travellers, it prompted us to reconsider this option again.

With the island only a stone’s throw from Langkawi Island in the North of Malaysia and within easy reaching distance in the high season from May to October, we decided we would give it a try this year. Hence we planned the trip to coincide with our half marathon race at Penang Bridge International Marathon on 18th November which was also in the North of Malaysia. We made the journey to Langkawi island the day after we completed the race by travelling on a 3 hours ferry and spent a night at Langkawi. The very next morning, we embarked on another 45 minutes high speed boat ride at Langkawi Telaga harbour across the Andaman Sea to Koh Lipe.

Telaga Habour @ Langkawi

The weather in Koh Lipe for the 4 days we were there wasn't very good but we had luck. Weather was sunny on the day we arrived, 19th November. Our resort was located at a pristine beach (Pattaya Beach) just next to Satun Immigration Check point.


I was thrilled to find out the resort was well above my expectation, with modern air-conditioner, water heater for shower and satellite TV channels (albeit only one channel HBO in English, the rest in Thai). The power supply wasn’t stable and we experienced frequent power trips but overall I would say it was very decent accommodation for family stay.

Bundhaya Resort

 

We spent 4 days 3 nights with 2 full days of chartered snorkelling trip on our own.

On the 2nd day of the trip, when we started our first daily boat trip, it was a gloomy morning. But luckily the weather slowly cleared up as the trip went on. We had good time the whole day. Sunlight could be better for underwater photography in the morning but in the afternoon it was excellent. At the first snorkelling spot we anchored, it was really wavy; I hesitated to dive in. But once we got in the water, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the underwater world we saw. Lots of sea anemone and soft corals, I would say much healthier marine life than in Redang that we admired so much before.

Anemone and clown fish

That night, it rained heavily from 3am. It was still drizzling the following morning at 8:30am when we were about to start our second daily boat trip. The weather looked really bad out in the sea, with many patches of dark clouds in different parts of the horizon, some of which were heavy rainfall we could tell. The only spot that was still clear with sunshine was the first spot we were heading towards, Koh Hin Sorn. It was a 45 minutes boat ride and we were traveling in the only sunny spot in the entire horizon, really weird! Throughout the entire morning, as we moved from one spot to another, we were chased by rain clouds left, right and centre. The good thing was that it was never really windy and the sea remained calm all the time.

Rain cloud

 
We had light drizzle for a short while having lunch on the beach of an uninhabited island but other than that we had pretty good sunlight surprisingly the whole day. Near Koh Hin Sorn somewhere in the middle of the sea, we saw the best snorkelling spot - a site with patches of stunningly colourful and healthy soft corals. It was wavy and the current was strong but we still spent a lot of time there enjoying the rare underwater sights.

The corals garden

 


Our auntie remained on the boat while we snorkelled and she would only get down when we were on beaches. Sometimes she fed fishes with some left over rice from our lunch packs. Surprisingly, she seemed to enjoy very much too for the 2 days of boat trips. I reckoned she must be one of the oldest Asian tourists at the Island.

Ming Ray was impressive for his age to say the least. He handled the current and wave so well it seemed like second nature. He had totally no fear even when he choked at times and at places where we had a bit of concern. He had so much fun we almost always had to reprimand him every time we wanted to move to the next spot as he was always unwilling to get back on the boat. It's very difficult to find good mask/snorkel/fin set for his age. The set JS got him was not very good in quality but he still managed to handle well.

On the second day, he just ditched the mask for his swimming goggles instead as the mask just kept leaking due to poor workmanship. This was also the first time he used a snorkel. And for a first timer, he could skin dive to a depth of 13 feet to mess with things underwater quite naturally with his snorkel and still managed to clear his snorkel easily when resurfaced. We were a bit stunned with his ability to be honest. Whenever he found something interesting in the water he would be so proud and excited to show to me and JS.
 

Ray the Stingray 

Other than snorkelling, we had great dinners every night. Seafood was fresh and relatively cheap. And for a family who loves Thai food, it was just great.

BBQ fish, Thai fish cake and squids

Besides the food, we enjoyed so much with the drinks too. We enjoyed fruit shakes every day. They came in a wide variety of fruit choices including mango, banana, watermelon and coconut. Not only it satisfied our taste buds but kept us cool for the day, a big thumb up

We left Lipe to return to Langkawi in the morning of the fourth day. We were drenched by heavy rain when we were boarding the boat. Our luggages were also wet. Nevertheless we were pleased it didn't happen to us during our 2 days of snorkelling trips. The high speed boat left the rain behind within 10 minutes of the boat ride. Turning back we could see Lipe totally devoured by rain clouds. We left with a pleasant memory of the experience we had on the island, some serious sunburn marks on our bodies, the kind blessings of the weather and dozens of great photos for sharing here.