As almost everything is closed in Bangkok by now and we had to cancel our trip to Bali, Poppy and I decided to take some “holiday” in the South of Thailand instead.
We decided to visit Ao Naang, a relative quiet place (unlike Phuket which is known for its nightlife) with beautifull beaches, cosy restaurants,…
Ao Naang is located in the Krabi Province, which makes it easy to get at since it’s only about a 30 min drive from the Krabi airport.
Going by plane would’ve been hard. We weren’t sure if flights were still going and if they were, our flight might get cancelled a few hours before departure. That’s why we decided to go by bus. I’m kind of done with flights being cancelled now 😉
The day before we would leave, I booked a room at Anda Sea Tales hotel and we went on our search for bus tickets. We went to a tourist information point and they told us, they could get us bus tickets at a fairly expensive price. I kindly said no and we went to the bus station ourselves with a Grab car.
There we could buy our bus tickets from the Bangkok bus station to the Krabi Bus station. By going to the bus station ourselves to buy the tickets, we saved almost €20/ticket.
The bus would leave at 8 pm and we would arrive around 10 am in Krabi.
I had been wearing my mask almost all the time when in public since I arrived in Thailand. So even on the long bus ride, I kept my mask on. Not necessarily because I think it might actually help preventing getting infected. But because I think, if I’m infected, I might prevent someone else to get infected as well. I wouldn’t wish any Thai person, who don’t have the luxury of a good health insurance/social security as we do in Belgium, to get infected.
Moreover, I think it’s some kind of statement to show people around me that they have to be careful and they have to be aware of the threat that is called COVID-19. And I kind of hope it helps people to respect my social distance.
When we arrived in Krabi and got out of the bus, we were immediately surrounded by immigration/health officers. It was quite overwhelming as we didn’t have the time to get our luggage from the trunk of the bus before we were questioned.
They asked us where we had been and information about our nationality, lenght of stay, hotel we were staying etc.
Good thing the officer knew some English since the form that had to be filled in was only available in Thai. After getting questioned, we were allowed to proceed and we took a taxi to our hotel.
Once we arrived at the hotel, we were offered a refreshing drink while we were checking in. We were guided around the hotel and ended at our lovely room. As a marketeer, I could defintely appreciate the marketing efforts they had done with their mascotte on their pillows, wall drawings,… It gave us a welcome feeling.
But the room wasn’t the reason why I booked this hotel. The rooftop inifinty pool with the amazing was the trigger for me. As well as the location, near the beach obviously. So for our first day at Ao Naang, we didn’t do much more than laying by the pool and relaxing while I got myself a sun burn.
And of course, some cocktails while the sun went down was an absolute must to end the day 😉
