A Short Trip To Krabi

After my last trip to Songkhla through the new border crossing at Kota Putra, Zally and I planned our next 'exploration' to Phatthalung. I made some research about Phatthalung, its attractions & so on. The only place that looks ok to me is Thale Noi. A beautiful lake that is good for bird watching with lots of water lilies. Ok, perhaps we'll try to go and spend a night there.

11th March 2015

Received a whatsapp mesage from Zally asking me whether I'm free or not for our trip to Phatthalung on Friday 13th March 2015. Whoaa... Friday the 13th.

I said, "Hey-ho! Let's go!" hehehe

13th March 2015

8.00am

Zally fetched me at home in Butterworth. We stopped at a Shell station near Sungai Dua beside the PLUS highway to fill up his car tank. While he was refueling, I told that from the Bukit Kayu Hitam border to Phatthalung is about 2 and a half hours drive. If we go to Krabi, it will be about 4 and a half hours drive.

Zally said, "hmmm... the 2 hours time difference is like the driving distance from Ipoh to KL. Might as well we go to Krabi. Phatthalung can wait."

Allright then, off to Krabi we go. Well, that's just us, the guys who often changed our plans in the very last minute and could do almost anything without a proper plan. That's what we called 'survival'. hehehe

10.00am

We reached the border at Bukit Kayu Hitam. It was smooth on the Malaysian Immigration side but there was a big crowd at the Thai Immigration side as we arrived almost the same time with many tour buses. 

Luckily the Thai Immigration opened a lot of counters to handle the transactions. The queue at the Thai CIQ complex to stamp our passports and to get the vehicle permit from their Customs took about half an hour.

The queue at Thai CIQ in Danok.

10.30am

Once everything was settled, we walked around Danok for breakfast and to change the currency. Ringgit Malaysia is in a declining trend for the past few months. The currency exchange at that time was RM1 = 8.80Baht. I still remember when I came here in November 2014 which was 4 months ago, the exchange rate was RM1 = 9.80Baht. What is happening to Malaysian economy? I dunno, better leave it to the 'experts'. Hope Ringgit will not decline further and recovers soon.

We had heavy breakfast at a Muslim outlet in Danok as we intend to drive straight to Krabi to save the time. I took the 'nasi campur'. The lauk (dishes) there were nice. I loike. hehehe

These are my favourite dishes in Thailand, but I have to skip that as we were going on a long distance trip and I had to choose a heavy meal instead.

The main road in Danok was undergoing a major repair. It will create a massive traffic jam for vehicle heading towards Malaysia as the Malaysian school holidays starts today.

The main road was under repair in Danok. They were going to replace it with concrete road.

11.30am

We took off from Danok heading towards Hatyai. At the main junction before reaching Hatyai, we turned left towards Phatthalung. The distance to Phatthalung is about 100km and one hour drive.

From Phatthalung, we took another left turn towards Trang. Before reaching Trang, we went though a hilly road at the National Park and Southern Botanical area.

We entered Trang town to seek for a gas station, not for refueling but to empty our bladders and to get some drinks from the convenient store. Normally, travelers driving towards Krabi or Phuket do not have to enter Trang town and use the outer ring road (also known as Trang Bypass) instead.

A normal scene at public toilets in Thailand - the urinals are located outdoor, only covered by fences or plants.

After the second 'pit stop', we moved on towards Krabi and to Ao Nang beach.

4.00pm

After four and a half hours drive, we finally reached Ao Nang. I choose the Ao Nang Grand Inn Hotel cuz I've stayed there before. The location is on the opposite of McDonald's and about five minutes walk to the beach. The rate we got was 900Baht per night.

Ao Nang Grand Inn.

The room was neat and tidy. Bathroom was clean.

While I was dealing with the reception, Zally was still outside the hotel and he stumbled upon a guy on a rented scooter. Zally said "Wow, lawa motor" (Wow, nice bike).

Coincidently the guy on that bike was a Malay and heard what Zally had uttered, he immediately replied, "Murah aja sewa motor ni bang. 200Baht aja sehari." (This bike's rental is cheap. About 200Baht per day).

Zally asked, "Kat mana sewa?" (Where I can rent it?)

The Malay guy said, "Kat kedai Oakley tu." (Near the Oakley store) pointing at the optical shop not far from there.

After we had checked-in and placed our luggage in the room, we went straight away to check for scooter rental. The first motorcycle rental outlet offered us the scooter rental for 250Baht. Zally pointed at me the 'Oakley' store on the opposite side of the road. We went there, the motorcycle rental outlet was located beside the optical shop. They offered us 200Baht per day for a scooter. We immediately took one. They took my passport as a collateral for renting the scooter.

The CBR300R rental is 700Baht per day. Naah... we prefer the scoot. hehehe.

Partners in crime. keh! keh! keh!

Honda Zoomer-X, a 110cc air-cooled scooter with upside-down forks.

The scooter was Honda Zoomer-X. It was not available in Malaysia. I don't know why. Perhaps Boon Siew Honda just wanted to sell EX5, EX5 and EX5 only.

What caught my interest in that scooter was the upside-down forks. Upside-down forks are often found on big bikes and rarely being used on smaller scooters.

Here are the specs:

Engine Type : 4 - Stroke, Over Head Cam (OHC), Air-Cooled

Displacement : 108 cc

Bore & Stroke : 50.0mm x 55.0mm

Starting System : Kick / Electric Starter

Ignition System : DC-CDI

Transmission Type : Automatic

Gear Shift Pattern : V-Belt

Suspension (Front) : Telescopic Inverted Fork

Suspension (Rear) : Mono Shock - Unit Swing

Brake System (Front) : Hydraulic Brake

Brake System (Rear) : Mechanical Leading Trailing

Combination Brake System : N/A

Tires Size (Front) : 100/90 - 12 M/C 59J

Tires Size (Rear) : 110/90 - 12 M/C 64J

Wheels Type : Cast

Over-all Dimensions (LxWxH) : 1,831mm x 759mm x 1,065mm

Wheelbase Dimensions : 1,257 mm

Dry Weight : 103 Kg

Seat Height : 763.5 mm

Ground Clearance : 135 mm

Fuel Tank Capacity : 4.4 Liters

Fuel : Unleaded Gasoline (91+ or above octane rating)

Fuel System : PGM-FI

Engine Oil Capacity : 0.8 Liter

Automatic Headlight On (AHO) : Equipped

Parking Brake : N/A

Key Shutter : Equipped

Side Stand Switch : Equipped

Maximum Horse Power [kW (PS)] : 6.14 (8.35) @ 8,000rpm

Maximum Torque (N.m) : 8.58 (0.87 kgf-m) @ 6,500rpm

This bus was fetching tourists from their hotels to the boats for island hopping.

Some tourists waiting to board the boats for island hopping.

The first thing we did was to find a halal restaurant as our last meal was at Danok, 5 hours ago. I rode the Zoomer-X while Zally on the pillion. It was a very nice bike but I felt a bit awkward when cornering. Perhaps the tyres were not well inflated or the rear suspension was too soft. Therefore, I dare not go fast while cornering but on a straight road, the bike was excellent.

5.00pm

We went further up into the 'kampung' (village) area. The villagers were mostly Muslims. We stopped by at a restaurant near the mosque. Based on the blogs that I've read about travelling in Thailand, to find a halal restaurant, search for a mosque first. Most halal outlets are located near the mosques. Yes, it's a simple logic. Where there's a mosque, there will also be Muslims around.

In the kampung :)

Affordable food outlets are available if you don't mind to venture further a bit into the kampung area.

There were also several halal restaurants located at Ao Nang centre but those were the expensive ones. Just like the restaurants along Batu Feringghi in Penang. I purposely went to the 'kampung' as the food outlets there are more affordable. Even some 'Mat Saleh' (Westerners) also rented the scooters and look for food outlets in the 'kampung' area.

6.00pm

After having our meals there. We went to the beach. The time was right to catch the setting sun facing the Andaman sea. We took some photos there. The sunset was amazing. It's hard to describe with words. You got to be there to experience it. I felt so serene. Far away from home. Far away from the things that messed up my mind. Far away from everything. Yes. This is it. This is the kind of escape that I long so much.

Loving couple.

Love the sunset.

After the sundown, we went back to our room to clean and freshen ourselves up. Took a little rest for a while before going out again to have our dinner and to do some light shopping.

9.30pm
The night strolling at Ao Nang was nice. There were a lot of tourists from all over the world, the streets were lively but unfortunately, the food hawkers along the roadside were no longer there like when I first went there in early 2013. This had left us with no choice but to eat at one of the halal restaurants there. We ordered some simple dish, which was a bowl of tomyam, two fried eggs and two plates of plain rice. Simple but enough to fill our tummies. The tomyam was good. What else can I say, it's originated from Thailand.

Some pubs with live band.

Can you spot anything weird with this t-shirt?

Messy power cable lines is a normal view in Thailand.

After the night stroll by foot around Ao Nang, we stopped by at a massage centre to get a foot massage. The rate was 200Baht for one hour.

After we had done with the foot massage, we went back to get some sleep. 


14th March 2015
9.00am
We slept soundly till we were woken up by a housekeeping staff who wrongly opened our room door. Luckily there was a latch on the door that prevented it from being fully opened. The staff apologised, "Sorry, sorry..." and closed the door. After that, I couldn't go back to sleep.

10.30am

We rode the Zoomer-X around Ao Nang and into the kampung again to look for breakfast. We finally stopped at a food hawker by the roadside. The dishes look interesting. We tried the Phanaeng Kai for the first time with plain rice. It's a mild curry with chicken, more like "kari masak lemak". When the dish arrived, wow, it tasted really good. I even ordered additional plate of rice. Absolutely delicious. It was considered as brunch as the time was getting near noon.

It's easy to order your food as all of them were displayed with images. No language barrier, just point your fingers to the ones you want, pay the money, have a seat and the food will be served shortly.

Chicken nuggets in cups.

When I went back home, I Googled to find out more about the Phanaeng Kai dish. The funny thing was that the name Phanaeng was probably originated from Penang. I am from Penang and I never found this type of curry in Penang. hahaha

I guess it's the same as "Mee Bandung", "Mee Jawa" and "Ais Bandung" which were available everywhere in Malaysia but you can't find any of them in Indonesia. hehehe

A sample of phanaeng kai photo taken from the internet.

...and it was said that it originated from Penang. hehehe

11.30am

We went back to the beach and took some more photos before going back to the hotel to pack our things and check-out. I returned the Zoomer-X and they returned my passport. Oh, I forgot to mention that when we took the Zoomer-X, the fuel was half full. We were lucky that we only used the fuel that's available in the tank without having to top it up.

Ao Nang Mosque under renovation.

Her name is Hasnah. She could speak Malay but not quite fluent. She had worked at restaurants in Sungai Petani and Changlun before, that's where she learned how to speak Malay. She's from Ao Nang.

Various type of 'kerabu' (local salad).

The McDonald's in Thailand is non-halal as they serve pork burgers.

12.30pm

Our next destination was the Krabi town. It was located about 18km from Ao Nang, about 25 minutes drive. The town centre was located near a river and we took some photos there. We were tourists what? hehehe

Creative design of traffic lights in Krabi town.

V-Power here uses RON95

This is not Langkawi :)

3.00pm

After we were done at Krabi town, we moved on to Phatthalung. This time we did not enter Trang and used the outer ring road or the Thais called it 'Trang Bypass'.

Lipton iced lemon tea.

Trang Bypass.

The newly completed highway somewhere on the hills near Trang national park.

The highway is similar to the Gerik highway in Perak.

5.30pm

We reached Lampam beach at Phatthalung. There were quite a crowd there as they were having some fair or celebration. We walked around, took some photos and headed to Hatyai.

Lampam Beach in Phatthalung.

Behind me is the Songkhla lake. Initially I thought it was the sea. So vast as you can't see the other side of the lake.

Zally trying the exercise facility.

Heading towards Hatyai.

7.30pm

Upon reaching Hatyai, we went straight to Ocean Residence & checked-in there. There were two types of room, one is 750Baht without Wi-Fi and another 1,000Baht with Wi-Fi. We chose the one with Wi-Fi. Most of us nowadays will have to face the hard truth - we cannot live without the internet, right?

Hatyai was full with Malaysians as it was the school holidays season. There were lots of Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indian and Malaysian Malay. The Hatyai 'centre' is located at Lee Garden Plaza. With that kind of crowd, I felt a little uneasy because Lee Garden was being bombed by a car bomb before. I told Zally, let's get away from the crowd.

Hatyai centre, outside the Lee Garden Plaza.

We went to look for a small halal restaurant away from Lee Garden and away from the crowd. If you're looking for a cheap food, go for the hawker food or the small restaurants that were situated away from Lee Garden area. 

The halal restaurants (not the food hawkers) near Lee Garden are quite expensive. Some of the dishes' price are similar or higher than in KL. At that time, all the food hawkers were packed with Malaysian tourists.

8.30pm

After walking for a while, we went to a small outlet called Rocky Muslim Restaurant. We just ordered simple fried rice and drinks. Settled. Janji kenyang. hehehe

Let the picture speak for itself :)

After that we strolled around Hatyai for window shopping. There were lots of things you can buy at an affordable price there but they just didn't manage to attract our attention.

11.00pm

Then we went back to our room to get some rest. Today's travelling was really tiring.

12.00am

Around midnight we felt like going out again to get some supper and 'teh tarik'. We went downstairs and asked the reception staff to call for a motorcycle taxi. The motorcycle taxi took us to the 'Pasar', yes the big bazaar and market in Hatyai is called Pasar. The bazaar was closed but there were lots of food hawkers outside the Pasar.

The street hawker outside the Pasar is similar to the ones outside Chowrasta Market or at Chulia Street in Penang at night.

Pancakes and breads with various flavors.

100% Halal :)

With the motorcycle taxi driver. We offered him to drink with us.

I ordered a french toast and teh tarik while Zally ordered banana pancake (it was actually roti canai pisang). It was served without curry but with sweetened condensed milk instead. My french toast was being served with the sweetened condensed milk too, I wonder what's the diabetic cases rate in Thailand? hehehe

Even though it was past midnight, the locals were seen everywhere having meals at the street hawkers. Just like in Penang, KL and other major towns in Malaysia.

The scene is just like in Penang at night.

To get cheap meals in Hatyai, you should eat where the locals eat.

1.00am

After we have had our supper, the motorcycle taxi driver came back to pick us up even when we forgot to ask them to. They really know how to take care of their clients. This what makes me love the Thai service and hospitality.

A street in Hatyai after midnight.

Once we reached our room, we went straight to our beds and off we zzzzzzz....

What a day!

15th March 2015

9.30am

Rise & shine.

Morning view from our hotel window.

Ocean Residence, that's where we stayed.

10.30am

We checked out and went to have breakfast at a Muslim restaurant (I forgot the restaurant's name) located near the Sakura Grand View Hotel.

12.00pm

We went to look for some outlets selling sports shirts as Zally was looking for some football jerseys. After that we went straight to the border. As Danok was jammed due to the major repair works on its main road, we turned to Padang Besar to get across Malaysia.

2.30pm

There was a heavy crowd in Padang Besar CIQ as many travelers were trying to avoid the massive jam at Danok.

Thai CIQ in Padang Besar.

One thing I hate about Malaysian drivers is that many love to cut queues when driving. I just don't understand why can't they queue up like the rest? Does queuing makes them 'lose' something? From what they did, they had already lost their morale and dignity.

4.00pm

The process to cross the border at Padang Besar took about one hour and a half.

After that, we drove straight home to Butterworth.

Hope this blog can help those who wish to travel with a tight budget. You don't have to spend a lot on shopping, eating at fancy restaurants or stay at luxury hotels. Holidays can be cheap, if you know how to spend wisely.

Till then, cheers!