Krabi, Thailand – 1-5 May 2025

We land into Krabi International airport 27 minutes early on Thursday 1 May at 11.13am. My first time to Krabi!

As I’m staring out the window waiting for the bags to come out I notice the baggage trolley come around the corner and some suitcases come flying off. One of them is mind. Grrrrrr! I’ll be most displeased if the gin bottle is broken.

Gin bottle is not broken but suitcase is. FFS.

Jason is waiting as I walk out of the passenger only section. We head upstairs to departures to find Thai Lion Air to complain about my suitcase.  While they are helpful, all they offer me is THB 500 (just less than USD 15). I guess better than a punch in the eye.

We take the scenic route back to Kate and Jason’s house. Krabi is definitely a lot more tropical and hillier than I expected.

 When we arrive home Kate is back from her work. I get a tour of the house before we head to a beachside restaurant for lunch.

Lunch is tasty!

 

As the thunder gets louder we decide it’s time to head back to the house.

Thankfully we are sitting outside undercover when the heavens absolutely open!

We head to another beachside restaurant for dinner.

 

The lightning is crazy. It was extremely bright, red like colour and stayed for longer than it usually does.

I wake before my alarm on Friday, 2 May.

Kate and I have breakfast before the three of us leave the house. Kate had arranged her boat driver to take her and me to a couple of islands.

 

As we arrive at the beach on Ko Hong (Hong Island) we realize we’re not the only people who had the same idea. But it’s absolutely beautiful.

Aah the sea is nice and refreshing and even better is super clear so you can see all the fish.

Sitting here drying off while listening to the waves is very peaceful.

We have a few hours on the beach relaxing, chatting and people watching.

 

Kate decides we need to visit another island.  We now have the fun task of locating our boat.  Once located we cruise around the other side of the island to the lagoon.

 

 

We leave Ko Hong behind and head off to Koh Daeng (known also as Red Island).

 

Kate and I both jump into the water immediately.  We have a good half hour snorkelling.

Back at shore we are picked up by Jason.

We had the rest of the afternoon at the house relaxing, me swimming, and chatting. When the rain started it actually got cool.

For dinner we headed down to a restaurant on the beach.

 

 

Saturday 3 May I wake again before 7am, definitely no sleep in here. It’s nice though having a slow start.

Kate and I enjoy breakfast sitting under the fan chatting.

Mid-morning we head off to Klong Root (Clear Water Canal) where we can kayak. It’s been at least 30 years since I last kayaked so this will be interesting!

Once in the kayak I’m good to go. That is until we reach the part where other people are. Eeks this is going to be interesting.

The water is very clear - amazing really. Thankfully as we go into the mangroves we are protected from the hot hot sun. Does mean tighter spaces to go through though.

I do get stuck twice on tree stumps.  The lake / reservoir is full of tree stumps so it’s like a very pretty obstacle course. The second tree stump that I got friendly with a local thankfully came and pushed me off.

I’m pleased to reach for the shore without going into the water.

Just as we are finishing lunch the heavens well and truly open!! Talk about crazy loud rain.

About 10 minutes drive down the road it’s dry.

We spend the afternoon back at the house, at times being undercover from the rain. I spend some time doing some research for an interview I have on Tuesday.

After happy hour drinks at home we head to the town area for dinner. This time a more western restaurant. The food and cocktails are good!

 

Sunday 4 May I wake before my alarm. Opening my curtains it’s not the blue sky I’ve been waking up to the last couple of mornings.

Kate and I head off for a walk along the beach.

 

 

Back at the house we have breakfast sitting outside under the fan (I will miss this!) then it’s time for me to pack up.

We leave Kate and Jason’s place and head to Khao Thong Hill.

When we arrive there are people for Africa!!!! After finding a park and buying a ticket we have a wait before it’s our turn to get into the truck. I did ask if you can walk, yes but its very steep. 

Less than 5 minutes later we are at the top.

Wow the views are absolutely amazing!!! I know my photos won’t do it the justice it deserves.

Getting down isn’t as straight forward as there are people for Africa everywhere!!!!! So much worse than it was to get up. We have a longer wait before we manage to get on a truck. As we are waiting Kate discovers today is a public holiday in Thailand. Well this explains why there are so many people around.

Time to head to Into the Forrest (a restaurant).

 

We certainly aren’t the only ones with the same idea! Thankfully though it’s not packed and we have a friendly whistle blowing man “assist” with the parking.

 

Getting a table is nice and easy.

Just as we are finishing lunch the thunder increases and the rain drops start then quickly increases. The blue sky has gone away!

 

Thankfully it’s an easy drive to the airport. I say goodbye to Kate and Jason then head inside.

As I’d already checked in online and am doing carry on I head straight to the gate area.

As expected its chaos boarding - first because the gate changes then second because there are people everywhere!

Surprisingly the doors are closed 2 minutes prior to our expected departure time. Didn’t see that happening.

Goodbye Krabi, it’s been a lovely break away. Bangkok here I come (for about 18 hours).

One of the joys of traveling domestically, and with carry on, is I’m able to walk straight out of the terminal. No waiting needed! The hotel airport shuttle isn’t for another 45 minutes so I decide to order a Grab instead. This way I should be at the hotel before 7pm.

Excellent, I arrive at the hotel 7 minutes before the shuttle was due to depart the airport. Check-in takes a little time but we get there in the end.

I enjoy happy hour and dinner in the lobby bar.

I wake just before my alarm on Monday 5 May.

 

Breakfast is a slow affair - no need to rush!

Cheek-out doesn’t go smoothly as they make a mistake on the payment type - honestly zero idea how it can be stuffed up! And even worse that it happened on check-in as well.

The 9.30am shuttle to the airport departs a few minutes late due to 4 people arriving late. I’m now very glad I decided to leave on the earlier shuttle.

As I walk into the terminal, I decide to head straight to the check-in counters to see if there is an earlier flight. Woo hoo, there is one seat on the next flight (1.5 hours earlier than my one). I made it within minutes to spare!!!

With my APEC card immigration and security are nice and easy.

I have a good 10 minutes in the lounge before heading to the gate.

Back to reality I go!

Bangkok, Thailand – 29 April - 1 May 2025

As I arrive at the airport express platform (on Tuesday 29 April) the train is there – talk about timing! I’m off to Bangkok for two nights / one day before heading down to Krabi to see friends.

Of course when you aren’t pressed for time everything always goes smoothly.  I have close to 2 hours in the lounge before going to the gate.

 

As I arrive at the gate boarding begins. Excellent timing!

2 minutes before our departure time the pilot announces air traffic control has delayed us and the earliest time we will be in the air will be in another half an hour. Fun times! We now sit at the gate. So annoying that they just didn’t delay boarding, but here we are.

10 minutes before we are due to land the pilot announces there had been heavy rain and strong winds at Bangkok airport for the last 20 minutes and no planes were allowed to land. So, we are now in a holding pattern to land. Ooh my!

 

As soon as we get to the gate everyone starts to get up. The pilot then announces due to an operational issue we need to remain seated with our seatbelts on as one engine is still running. We are told it will only be a minute.

Let me tell you it wasn’t just one minute. Ridiculous how a 2.5 hour flight has turned into a 3.5 flight.

A good 6 minutes later the seatbelt sign goes off. Honestly Cathay, you need to do better (yes, the weather is out of their control).

It was good to stretch the legs to immigration where I went straight through. Then it was a short wait for my bag.

Given I was arriving at rush hour I decided to take the train into the city (instead of a Grab). When I got to the counter I was told it’s THB 45….all I had was 42.05. Eeks! The man kindly gave me THB 3. I have a ticket to the city! How I’ll get to the hotel is beyond me….a problem for 30 minutes or so.

I manage to get a seat – amazing as the train was packed.

Ye ha there is currency exchange at Phaya Thai station and even better is the rate is "much more better good" than at the airport. Have money, can travel!!!

As I couldn’t connect to any wifi I decide to just walk to the hotel - Google maps had told me it was 9 minutes but I know from other stays it’s definitely not that long.

Check-in is relatively painless but I always question why a physical credit card is needed for a deposit when (1) if I don’t turn up I would be charged from the card on record and (2) if I had selected check-in via the app I could have gone straight to my room.

I drop my bags and head straight out to a Mexican restaurant. I had walked past it on the way to the hotel and saw that happy hour ends at 7pm (which is in 10 minutes). I had been here last March when I had two nights in Bangkok and really liked it.

 

Wednesday 30 April (how??!) I wake just after 6.30am. Too early to get out of bed. I take myself off for a walk, while it’s H O T the sun is behind clouds most of the time so it makes it bearable.

Breakfast is a slow affair. No need to rush!

As I’m enjoying breakfast I get a WhatsApp message about an interview next week. Great! Shortly after the recruitment agency contacts me about having a call to prepare. There goes my pool time.

I have a couple of hours in the room researching and relaxing before packing up and checking out.

Lunch is absolutely nothing to write home about it, it does its job of filling a hole.

As expected the Grab takes forever to arrive – always an interesting game of not booking too early but not too late either.

Only in Bangkok – we pull off the motorway to get petrol. Ooh my!

It takes well over an hour to get to my hotel for the night. I’m so pleased to be doing this now rather than tomorrow morning.

Check-in takes far too long and I have zero idea why. When I get to the room I can’t get in so head back down to reception, thankfully it’s an easy fix and a few minutes later I’m in the room. It appears I wasn’t given access to enter my room.

I decide to walk over to the terminal to see where I need to go tomorrow morning. It’s nice and easy walking over the sky bridge.

A few minutes later I arrive at the Thai Lion Air aisles where I’m told I am at the wrong place and that I need to head to the domestic terminal. I didn’t even know there was a different terminal at this airport. So glad I’m finding this out now and not tomorrow morning!

For dinner I head down to the restaurant in the hotel.

I wake before my alarm on Thursday 1 May. Before checking out I get a coffee and boiled eggs to take away.

Check-in is super easy – then I’m told I need to wait while my bag is screened before going to the gate. No problem, nice and easy.

I pick up a coffee then head to the gate.

As soon as boarding is announced people jump up – I decide no need to rush given we need to get on a bus to the plane.

Once on the plane there are at least 4 announcements that the plane is refuelling and that we need to not have our seatbelt on. I’m unsure why it takes soooo long to refuel but hey ho.

We finally drive off from packing spot 11 minutes late. Krabi here I come!