Travel Blog: Hop, skip and climb in Krabi

Anna Kainberger is taking a year-out from her career to travel in south-east Asia, Australasia and the South Pacific, along with Hawaii and the USA. This month she is reporting from Thailand. Here is her tenth blog entry:

After my little break in Ko Chang I made it back to Bangkok for a bit of retail therapy before travelling further down south to the peninsulas and islands of the Andaman Sea coast.

Bangkok in mid-January was a lot busier compared to when I first arrived early in November last year. The high season has kicked off and it was more difficult to find budget accommodation.

But as the area around Khao San Road and Soi Ram Butri are packed with budget accommodation I did find a cosy place to stay for three nights before boarding an overnight bus to Krabi.

This peninsula on the Andaman Sea side of southern Thailand was a must see for me as I am a massive James Bond fan. The area was featured in 007 flick 'The Man With the Golden Gun'.

So it was obligatory to see Tapu Island, which nowadays is simply referred to as James Bond Island - probably the best tourist marketing name change ever made.

The bus from Khao San Road took ten hours and cost 450 baht. I shopped around for a bit, as the prices in my Lonely Planet were 100 baht less, but I did not find anything cheaper and so got onto yet another bus, reaching Krabi Port at 08.30 in the morning.

Krabi Port is the place where you can catch ferries to Ko Lanta and Ko Cham and the bus travel operator was very keen for all the tourists getting off the bus to get onto his mini bus to go into Krabi town.

But if you just walk out the front door you can catch a normal taxi and as always in Thailand - negotiate your price.

Ten minutes later I had arrived in Krabi town, which lies in the midst of the most wonderful limestone karsts and peaks, surrounded by green leafy jungle.

It has a lovely black water river running into the sea and a very cute port town vibe to it.

For me - a backpacker on a near non existent budget - it was time to find a clean room for 150 baht per night. It was above a travel agent with shared bathrooms downstairs.

As the whole place only had five rooms and two bathrooms that was totally acceptable.

I could have gone to Rei Leh beach or Aonang beach for more expensive and more crowded accommodation but I preferred the very cute town centre, which boasts a night market, a day market and many many cheap cafes, restaurants, bars and pubs.

The other nice thing about staying in Krabi town is that you can decide on a day to day basis what you want to do.

For instance a shared taxi to Aonang beach will cost you 40 baht each way, they just drive round all day and you hail them when one comes around the corner.

It's worth going to Aonang if you are after some well deserved lazing around in one of the most beautiful settings around.

However, if you like me prefer your solitude at times, you might make this a one-off day trip.

Let's put it this way: Aonang beach boasts a MacDonalds, a Burger King and a tonne of other westernised facilities, which I personally can live very well without.

This area was hit by the Boxing Day tsunami so do go and see what the place has become in the three years since then.

I found that things are back to normal, in fact better and busier than before. Aonang is still one of the most beautiful sea view settings in this part of Thailand.

From Krabi town you can also hire a boat from the pier and go to the famous Rei Leh beach. It is a 25 minute ride on one of the traditional long tail boats and the views ashore are certainly worth taking in.

Rei Leh is a rock climber's paradise and Krabi is the place to be if you are a climber. From beginners through to experts there are so many options available you can easily fill three holiday weeks with different climbing routes.

I personally do not climb but it was certainly fun to watch the Thai professionals doing their spiderman-like acrobatics against the beautiful backdrop of the limestone karsts.

Krabi town is located right by the river, so you can also take a boat trip for 200 baht per person and explore limestone caves. These put anything seen in Europe to shame, apart from the famous Ice Cave in Austria.

It's also a great way to see the inner town from the boat and you can go and visit a fish farm on your way back. The local guide here will show you his favourite specimen of fish living in the area, or let you feed them. It's all fun and holiday games.

Believe it or not, going out in Krabi town provides great night time activities. Oh yes, there are places with great live music where you can enjoy the famous Chang beer whilst being entertained by local talent.

Or you can go and sing karaoke in a private karaoke room, which is what I did with a couple of travel buddies.

A lovely ladyboy served us our drinks and helped us with the song selection before we belted out Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All" until the wee hours.

Another fun day activity is to rent a motorbike and go explore the area. We drove to the Tiger Temple. No, it's not THE Tiger Temple, which is located near Bangkok.

It's a temple on top of a mountain and you have to climb 3,000 steps to get to it. So bring water, sugary energy boosters and a camera.

The view over Krabi is absolutely stunning. It's worth taking a few pictures of the green jungle, the limestone karsts and the blue sky to help preserve the memory of aching calves forever.

I did all of the above and a few more holiday activities, before I remembered my itchy feet and moved on to Ko Lanta for a bit of island time.

As my time in Asia was coming to an end I wanted to make the most of it and so I boarded the ferry on day four, reaching Ko Lanta 2.5 hours later.

Anna Kainberger