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| Probably the best marketing in Langkawi. |
June 18th
We went to the Langkawi airport via taxi and used machines to print our boarding passes. Due to a quirk somewhere in the system, I wasn't given a seat yet, so had to go to the ticket counter to get my pass and ultimately this put me at the back of the plane while Christian rode at the front.
We flew from Langkawi back to KL and then marched over to the international departures side of the airport. We had a few hours to kill, got our boarding passes, ate lunch, had a coffee. Then we boarded another flight destined for Krabi, Thailand.
On landing there, we were herded through customs and immigration--the usual fare, though here they scanned our foreheads with laser thermometers as a fun local treat. We bought shuttle tickets into Krabi Townand then waited on the bus for twenty minutes or so as more people climbed aboard.
The shuttle bus ride was fairly short, but brought us very close to our hostel, the Pak Up Hostel. A short walk from the bus stop took us through the beginnings of a night market. We arrived and checked-in, arranged for our ferry ride in the morning (which came with a pickup from the hostel at 8 AM). The hostel was clearly geared as a party hostel, with an associated bar in the back, and another on the roof which was closed for the time being.
We ate dinner at the restaurant in the back and then wandered out to that night market.
If I might backtrack a moment, I think I'll mention the "Black Cock" mystery. On the blackboard behind reception were the words"Black Cock" inscribed in beautiful handwriting among many other reasonable offers such as "Free Towels with 200 Baht deposit and such. Then, written on a piece of paper we were handed was the wifi password: "freeblackcock". Huh.
Ultimately, when we bought our ferry tickets, the Black Cock emerged again, as we got a tiny piece of paper entitling us to "Black Cock + Mixer" at the back bar. Ah, so it was clearly some kind of alcohol. Whiskey, as it turns out. And the mystery was solved.
At the night market, we witnessed some kind of local dance showcase...perhaps a competition. The dancers looked like school-aged girls (preteens and teens) and I'm pretty sure there was a judges table. Regardless we walked onwards after a while and passed the many local fruti, veggie, and other food stalls. Ultimately we reached the end of the market and stopped in the exotic 7-11 there where we bought some large waters. Also here's a great place to mention Oreos, which we have eaten in abundance on this trip for some reason. Christian has fallen in love with a special Oreo variety which swirls peanut butter and chocolate cream. We've probably eaten 5 packs of them or so since the trip began.
We redeemed our free black cock drinks at the back bar later.We were the only people there...it was about 8:00pm, and we left about 30-40 minutes later, still no one else had come (we figure they're all Europeans who start partying late and party until 5 in the morning). We went to bed andhad fitful sleep until 7 something when we got up and dressed, dropped off our key and waited for the ride to the ferry which came in due time--a fairly nice van relative to many vehicles we've ridden.
The ferry departure dock was a confusing place. There were three different waiting areas with seats and no indication which was the best to sit at, it was barely 8:15 when we arrived and the ferry was scheduled at 9. Eventually by mainly following the crowd, we sat in a spot and even more eventually some guy yelled to the crowd to exchange our tickets at a counter, which we did...handed over one ticket and got a shinier one back. Then this ticket was given to a gate guard who tore it in half and we walked down the dock and got on the ferry. The ferry was full of young white people, probably about 75% of us, but mainly from Europe I'd guess (though we did sit next to two guys from Canada).
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| View from the dock |
There on the ferry we sat for 45 minutes baking in the sun, it departed at 9:15ish and the AC kicked in, but throughout the ride there was an omnipresent smell of fuel exhaust so that I half worried everyone on the lower deck would peacefully die of carbon monoxide before the trip was out. They did not, and in due time we landed at the dock in Ko Phi Phi. It was hot, and it took ages to get off the boat, but once we did we were eager to trudge off and find our hotel.
This eagerness brought us through the little town and helped stave off the heat, but did not aid our navigation...which sadly missed the mark and we walked too far. You see, we are staying at a place ostensibly called simply "The White," however...in town there are two locations called The White. One is the White 2, and the other was far too close to the ferry to be right. There is a third place called something like the White House, way up a hill. Christian wisely called the hotel, and had a scattered confused conversation, but ultimately he determined we needed to go to the White 2,which we had passed a few minutes ago back in town. We easily snaked back through the pedestrian streets and arrived at last.
We checked in as they were cleaning, and after paying and whatnot we were let into the room and dropped our stuff. Then we went out to eat, we were starving! After eating, we were still kinda hungry, to be honest, but we went for a long walk, looping around the town area. Along the way I bought a banana Thai pancake.
We came around to the nice beach on the north side, which is lined with bars--here must be the party scene, we thought. We stopped and christian had a second lunch and we bought cold drinks. Then we went back to the hotel to take a nap. It is now some time after 6:00 pm, and when we get around to it, we'll be going back to those bars/restaurants on the beach for dinner and soak up the ambiance.
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Till next time!
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