UPON OUR DEPARTURE FROM RAILAY BEACH, we asked our hotel front desk the night before about the ferry’s departing schedule to Ao Nang Harbor up the coast. Due to the tides, the departures happened early. We caught a longtail boat and in just about 30 minutes, we stepped off at the pier of Ao Nang.
Ao Nang is a busy coastal town in Krabi Province. By this point in our trip, we were looking forward to spending a couple days of relaxing on the beach. We also picked Ao Nang as a jump off point to Wat Tham Suea, or Tiger Cave Temple. This is a 1237 step climb up a steep cliff to a beautiful temple. There is also a main temple grounds and cave for exploration if you’re not looking for a strenuous work out! I would say allow 3-4 hours for up and down if you’re in moderate shape so you have some to enjoy the area and main grounds, too. Those in extremely good shape can probably do it in 2 hrs or less. Keep in mind the humidity and heat is intense so bring lots of water, and also to dress appropriately for the temple. Also keep in mind that there will be a spectacular view!
There is no shortage of places to stay in Ao Nang, from everything from $10 night accommodations to luxury. We stayed at Krabi Tipa Resort which was friendly and accommodating, a quick walk up the hill from the harbor (we used our phone to navigate). Open space, continental breakfast, and there was an outdoor pool which was quite nice. The TV reception was a bit fuzzy but we weren’t there to watch TV.
There are plenty of restaurants and shopping excursions as well. Shout out to Bussaba Thai Restaurant - wow this place was good! My dish came in a woven bowl of noodles, all edible, and the aesthetic quality to the drinks and eats was top notch! A bit more pricey, but worth it. Absolutely delicious. It was pretty close to Krabi Tipa Resort.
We were really impressed with the communication at one stall that sold wood carvings. My spouse stopped by and really liked a dragon candle that breathed smoke when you lit the incense candle at the bottom. Of course, he couldn’t buy it right then since he had to ask my permission! So we returned the next day, and the shopkeeper wasn’t present. We asked the vendor next door if she would be back. The vendor didn’t speak much English, but went off to a neighboring restaurant. He came back with a woman who had been working in the kitchens there. She didn’t speak much English but she whipped out a smartphone and pulled up the shopkeeper on Facetime. It turns out the shopkeeper was off doing laundry, but they all looked out for one other. She recognized my spouse and after laughing about it, we agreed on a price. We gave the money to the lady from the kitchens and departed with our dragon carving. She even gave us a discount!
We found a tourist stall to set up our Tiger Cave Temple trip. There were various brochures available to do half or full day. We did a full day which included the Temple, elephant riding, a lunch at a natural pool, and a dip in a hot springs park. Our mistake was not asking how long we would have at each place. Definitely ask! You’ll need at least 2-3 hours if you want to climb all the steps up to Tiger Cave Temple and not be in a rush. Some of them only allow 30 minutes to just walk around the main temple grounds and not go all the way up to the top. Again, keep in mind you’ll get what you pay for. There are taxis around that you could pay to go just to that destination, and there were a lot of drivers waiting in the parking lot to go back to Ao Nang. There’s also probably public bus options as well for the best deal.
On the tour, we actually had a centralized meeting point near the tourist stall where we boarded the bus. It was quite an operation. We were each given a different color sticker depending on our tour package and then divided into different groups.
The Tiger Cave Temple was so much fun. This is a sacred Buddhist temple in the northeast of Krabi Province. There are tiger paw prints in the cave in the cliffs. We didn’t have much time to explore the main grounds because we wanted to do all 1237 steps to the very top. Come prepared in good hiking shoes and again, can’t stress the water and sun screen enough! Bug spray too, since the majority of this tour is in a jungle. The stairs can be stall and it’s steep, back and forth in short zig-zags up a cliff. Monkeys will be watching you closely – one innocently allowed a group of weary hikers to pass and then made a swipe for one of their hats, so keep your stuff close whenever you pass them!
The view is just breathtaking. There is a large golden Buddha statue and dramatic, plunging views of the nearby valley. There were many other shrines as well and small but intricate carvings that are exciting to explore. We really enjoyed this. Getting back down took half the time, but our legs certainly felt like rubber after! Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to explore the rest of the grounds because we were on a time crunch for our tour. To be honest, having 3 hours here would have been best to really explore/do the steps and not feel so rushed.
We visited Krabi Emerald Pool (Sa Morakot) after where we had a nice stew lunch. There was a boardwalk that led you through the jungle to the Emerald Pool, which quite lives up to its name. The waters were crowded with visitors but everyone was spaced out enough. There were also little fish darting in and around the pool. I really liked the boardwalk through all the mangrove trees and seeing the jungle and birds. It’s quite a unique environment than our colder climate.
The last spot was a stop at a local hot spring park. It was pretty cool, after a short 10 minute walk, we passed by a number of different hot springs. One was more family friendly near a playground, and another natural hot springs with copper deposits overlooked a river. And that water was truly a real hot springs – the temperature was blazing!
Once we returned back, we couldn’t rest too long. Loy Krathong, the Festival of Lights, was the following evening.
Upcoming Blog Post: Loy Krathong
Disclaimer: The above is depicted as fiction not fact.
