Week 1, Krabi Town

Travel blog week 1

Wednesday, June 21st

After a long flight, I’ve finally arrived at my new home in Krabi; The Orange Tree House. It’s a lovely guest house in which I’m staying for the next ten weeks. My room is actually quite large and very cosy (despite the fact that I’m on my own), I’ve got a large closet to store all of my clothes and I’ve got a small bathroom.

After a well-deserved shower I thought it was time to do some exploring. My mentor, R. Clarke, who picked me up from the Airport and took me to my new home, gave me a quick tour through a small part of Krabi. Something that stood out to me immediately was the scenery; mangrove forests, cliffs, the river and so on and so on. I walked by the river for about half a kilometre, almost at the end of that, I encountered three young monks. They were playing some sort of game, as I passed them they greeted me with the traditional “wai.”  You slightly bend your head and your hands are held together “Sà-wàt-dee-Krab.”

When my walk along the river was done, I went back to my room to freshen up (yes, again). Because of the hot and very moist weather it’s impossible to stay clean for longer than half a day. After my second shower I was looking for a place to drink something. My friend at the Orange Tree House pointed me towards a small pub where some of his friends were, He said something in Thai and I was allowed to join the men. I sat down and the conversation started going rather quick. I asked what beer they’d recommend; “Chang!” “Leo!” and some other beers that I cannot remember the names of. I tasted a few of those beers, the Thai beers actually taste quite good!

At about half past twelve I thought it was time to go to bed, I went back to my room and concluded day number one.

Thursday, June 22nd

Unfortunately, this hasn’t been a very productive day. My mentor took me for lunch at eleven o’clock. We were joined by two other teachers. It’s interesting to see how many different nationalities come here to teach, one teacher was from South-Africa, one from the US, and one British.

We went out for lunch at a Dutch baker! A Dutch baker in the heart of Krabi town! We sat down and I immediately heard his Dunglish accent, “ai riecentlie keem bek frum Amsterdam,” I replied: “En heb je een geode reis gehad?” “Ja joh doe normal gozer jij spreekt gewoon Nederlands.” I had a short conversation in Dutch with the baker and then continued in English.

After lunch, one of the teachers had to be brought to Ammarpannichnukul School, we drove there and the continued our way back to the guest house. Ammart is quite larger than I’d expected; over three thousand students and a very large building with multiple sports fields. When the short tour at Ammart was over, I was given a small map of Krabi with some points of interests. I was pointed out some of the best bars/pubs in Krabi, some landmarks and some other hotels/guesthouses.

Once arrived at the guest house, I went for a shower and wanted to go for a tour through the mangrove forest. Unfortunately, when I came out of the shower, rain was pouring down like I’ve never seen before. Needless to say, I didn’t go for a tour this day, the rain forced me to stay inside until six o’clock.

But I didn’t want to sit in my room all day so I went to the market. It was a small market packed with lots of stands. Most of these were food stands, some food looked good, some food….. did not. I’m still quite cautious with what I eat, but I do intend to try some later on. I bought some apples and went back to my room. Goodnight!

Friday, June 23rd

Good morning, I can see clearly now the rain is gone! Yesterday the weather was quite bad, lots and lots of rain, but thankfully the rain has gone now. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. I drenched myself in mosquito repellent and sunscreen and went out to the pier. It was funny to see that on my first day I got offered seven boat trips, while today I had to search for someone to take me! After about ten minutes I encountered Mahmut, he told me I could do the trip for about 500 Baht. I thought that that was a little too much, so I offered him 400, he accepted and he told me to wait for him.

He came around the corner in a made-shift boat and told me to get in, I hesitated for a short while but got in. We went upriver and made way to the cave and mangrove forest. First Mahmut took me through the mangroves, we went in until we couldn’t go any further. “Me turn here now yes” And before I knew it we gently hit some trees and he ran to the front of the boat to push against the tree to turn the boat around. “we go cave now yes!”

We had a short tour back to the cave, we arrived on a small island and there I got off the boat. What Mahmut didn’t tell me was the fact that I had to pay thirty Baht to enter the cave, very clever. I paid the fee and entered the cave, it wasn’t long until I saw my first monkeys, lazy as they were, mainly eating and just sitting on a branch. After that I finally entered the cave…..

It was an incredible view with stalagmites and stalactites, in the background you could hear the bats flying and screeching. It was also nice to see how the light fell into the cave. I was done with my exploration and went back to the boat, Mahmut brought me back to the pier.

In the late afternoon I went to visit a temple. Normally it would’ve been a five-minute walk but unfortunately Thai traffic is quite chaotic. Usually it take me three minutes to cross a road (I’m still working on a trick to cross the road quicker). After I crossed the road I got to a rather large staircase, decorated with golden-coloured dragons. At the top of the staircase was a beautiful temple, all in white! I wanted to go in but then I noticed a sign which stated that everybody should dress properly; no tank tops for men and no skirts, tank tops or shorts for women.

I asked a local about the “dress code” she told me to go to a store, there you could borrow a sarong. A sarong is some sort of cloak to cover your body, I took one for my shoulders and arms. Wrapped up in my sarong I was able to enter the temple, I’ve never seen something like it before, all the decorations and the ornaments (see the added pictures). I stayed in the temple for about ten minutes before I thought it was time to move on.

During the evening there was the so called “night market” which started at five and ended at ten, luckily for me, the market was right in front of my room! The market was surprisingly big and covered the entire square and some streets. There were lots and lots of food stands and at the other stands the locals sold their home made goods. I ordered two spring roles at one stand, “do you want sauce”, “yes please!” what followed was instant regret. Incredibly spicy food. After that I ordered some sort of rice dish at another stand, this time I politely declined the sauce. After walking by a few stands, I saw a man making cocktails using a bamboo cup. I ordered one cocktail, got my bamboo cup and went back home.

Saturday, June 24th

Rainy season. I still have to get used to it, also I still have to find a way to get rid of my jetlag. I usually go to bed at about twelve o’clock but cannot sleep until four. Today I haven’t been very active, a video call with the home front and I’ve done some grocery shopping.

In the afternoon my mentor called me and said that there would be a party at a pub called “arty bar,” I accepted the offer and at around half past seven I went there. It was a very cosy bar, with a Rasta theme. I went in and it wasn’t long until I met one of the teachers I’ve met before at de Dutch bakery. I sat down and at first I was taking it all in; Thai bars are quite different than Dutch bars, much smaller and much more cosy, friendlier people and so on.

It was a great night out with nice people, nice cold Thai beers and before I decided to leave, there was a man who was executing a fire dance! About twelve o’clock I went home and got some sleep.

Sunday, June 25th

I woke up at nine o’clock this time, I think that the jetlag is finally wearing off (slightly). I stayed in my room until one o’clock to work on my journal and my blog. I also went out for a walk to get to know the way to Ammart. It took me about twenty minutes to get there.

When I got to Ammart, I walked down the road a little further. Then I saw something familiar; the temple I visited on Friday. While the temple was only five minutes away from my guest house, I managed to take twenty minutes go get there…

Once I got home, I took a shower, went to the night market (which is here every week, three days of the week….)  It’s easy access to some decent food, but the music already got a little bit tedious. Off to bed, and tomorrow it’s my first day at Ammart, bring it on!