Krabi, Thailand

I spent 5 fantastic days in the small main town centre of Krabi, Thailand. It was unexpectedly devoid of tourists, as most of them cluster around the beach-side area of Aonang or the nearby islands like Phi Phi and Phuket. This made it so much more fun for us, since it was less tourist-oriented. Hardly anyone spoke English and there were plenty of small local food stalls and restaurants to try!

There was a large amount of stress amongst my friends and family when they heard I was visiting Thailand. The general reaction was something like: "But...isn't everything full of peanuts? Won't you...like, die?" Yes there were a lot of things that had nuts in them, but there are always other options!

My Dad organised the whole thing for us and booked us into a tiny family run hotel in the middle of Krabi Town called @Krabi Pura. It was a really wonderful little place, immaculately clean and the owner, Atchara was so helpful-she even wrote a little note in Thai saying that I was allergic to nuts so that I could show it to people wherever I went to eat :)

One of the places Atchara recommended was the outdoor night stalls that were just around the corner from the hotel. We visited these stalls several times, it was a great little place to grab all sorts of nibbles. The first day we went pretty safe and tried a green curry and tom yum soup.

Tom yum soup and green curry

Both are wonderfully fragrant and super spicy, just the way we like it. The desserts at the stalls were fantastic and extremely unhealthy! There were a lot of super sweet desserts such as Nutella pancakes drenched in butter, condensed milk and sugar. My favourite were these super thin, crepe-like pancakes smeared with coconut cream and sweetened shaved coconut.

Fried mussels & pad thai

Making crispy sweet pancakes

Crispy coconut pancakes

The best thing about Krabi Town was the fresh seafood. Everything was straight off the fishing boats and ridonkulously cheap. I pretty much ate nothing but seafood for a week. Oh, and corn ice cream. YES!

Coconut and corn ice cream

Handmade coconut and chocolate icecream with corn, bread & palm seeds

KFC Corn Sundae!

*sigh* Hallelujah, a whole country that shares my love for this dessert! The handmade icecream at the night stalls was so great, somehow the random mixture of corn, palm seeds and chunks of white bread combined perfectly! I stumbled upon the corn sundae one particularly scorching hot day when we burst into the only airconditioned store on the whole street, KFC. WHEEEE it was the best!

A tried a burger from KFC while we were there, a roast chicken burger...it had broccolli in it! It didn't taste too bad for KFC though.

Deep fried crap!

Heehee, yep their English was not the best.

Thai ice lemon tea

Oh my...how I miss these ice lemon teas! Super strong black tea made ultra refreshing with tons of ice and lemon. Perfect for those really hot days. These were had at the touristy area of Aonang beach, which we travelled to on our last day by hiring a motorcycle. It was A's first time riding one and I hung on to the back, scared for my life. We got hit by an ENORMOUS thunderstorm on the way home, the rain was insane! I remember holding on for dear life, yelling in A's ear "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Haha, it was great fun in the end though.

The motorcycle ride around Krabi was one of the many things recommended by Atchara from @Krabi Pura. Her suggestions were always spot on and I am so grateful because it made the holiday completely stress-free and memorable. The restaurant that got her highest recommendation was seafood restaurant around the corner, right opposite the night markets. They served an amazing catfish curry and fresh lobster omelette.

Catfish curry and seafood salad

Lobster omelette

My mouth is watering from the memory of the sweet juicy chunks of lobster meat that were generously dispersed amongst the crispy, golden egg which we drowned in chilli sauce. So. Good.

View from the top of tiger cave temple

I would recommend Krabi to anyone looking for a budget beach holiday with hardly any planning involved. The accommodation only cost us 1000 baht a night (less than 50 bucks) for an airconditioned room facing the river with cable TV and a complimentary breakfast. The only downside was the crazy Thai aerobics class that woke us up at 5 in the morning everyday with it's booming Thai techno music. Will be bringing earplugs next time! The best part is you can organise day trips around Krabi and surrounding islands by booking them as late as the afternoon before. So we would get back to the hotel after an awesome day out and decide what we fancied doing the next day and that was it! We did sea kayaking, snorkelling, elephant riding and swimming in natural pools and hot springs. It was the best relaxing, fun holiday.

Our tour guide at Hong Island after snorkelling

Young monk kite flying outside temple

Emerald pool