Day One
We woke up early at the Aminjirah Resort in Koh Tao and headed to the pier to boat back to the mainland. The boat had one stopover on Koh Phangan, where we transferred to another boat. Once that boat got back to the mainland, we split from Kristen and Josh and boarded our bus to Krabi as they boarded their bus to Phuket.
Once we arrived in Krabi, we had to wait for a transfer van to Ao Nang, where we were staying. Even though I showed our driver our hostelworld reservation, we were still dropped off at the wrong hotel. Luckily, we eventually figured out where we needed to go. We walked for about 30 minutes, stopping at a hotel to connect to wifi and load a map. It started to rain but fortunately, our hotel was located just down the street.
@ Aonang Guesthouse
Great Wifi
Friendly staff
Excellent location
Free movies
Free bottled water, refilled daily
Very comfortable beds
Motorbikes delivered to hotel
Difficult to find at first
Nico and I checked in and dropped our stuff off. Then, we walked up the street to Jungle Kitchen (found on TripAdvisor) for dinner. The restaurant was very busy. We were asked if we had a reservation when we arrived. Since we did not, we were luckily able to wait at the bar. For dinner, Nico and I split pad thai and yellow curry. It was the best pad thai I'd had this entire trip.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel to relax. There were free movies to watch and having just watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean in Koh Tao, we decided to continue with that and watch the second. Eventually, we were too tired to watch and fell asleep.
Day Two
For breakfast, Nico and I went to the restaurant next door, Ton Ma Yom. It was also highly rated on TripAdvisor. I had French toast and a blended coffee. It was okay, a little eggy for my taste. We decided we'd come back later and try dinner since it was most-likely rated highly for Thai food.
After breakfast, we went back to the room to grab our things and head to the beach. We stopped at a store along the way to buy some sunscreen but as soon as we were back outside, it started pouring rain.
We waited in front of the pharmacy for the rain to subside. When it finally did, we thought it would be best to bring the drone back to the room. After dropping it off, the rain continued to clear and we began to see patches of sky again. We headed back to the beach to give it another try.
So, Nico and I walked down Ao Nang beach until we found a water taxi that would take us to Railey Beach. We bought round trip tickets (100 baht each way) and boarded the longtail boat.
After a bouncy ride on the longtail boat, we arrived at Railey Beach (really Prah Nang Beach on the Railey Peninsula), a beautiful place surrounded by limestone cliffs. Nico and I walked down the beach to find a nice place to sit in the sand. We took some pictures and then swam in the water. Unfortunately, there was a lot of trash floating around, which kind of put a damper on the beautiful scenery.
We soon got hungry for lunch, so we walked over to the restaurants. Nico and I stopped at a kebab stand (at first not noticing the flies swarming around the meat). It wasn't until we walked back to our towels that I found out the kebabs were cold and I decided not to eat them. So, we walked back to the food and I had roti and Pringles for lunch instead.
For the rest of the day, Nico and I laid out on the beach and listened to Harry Potter, waiting for the sunset. However, when the sun did go down, it was hidden behind a mountain. Still, we waited to see if the sky would light up with different colors, but the clouds at the horizon were too thick.
So, we made our way back to the taxi boats, wanting to leave before it got too dark. We handed the man our ticket but he shook his head, saying that it only worked before 6pm. He told us that a water taxi after 6 would be 150 baht. So, we asked if we could each pay an additional 50 baht (the difference of our round trip ticket) but the man told us that it was a separate company. The company we bought tickets from wouldn't be back until tomorrow morning. Annoyed, but having no other choice, we agreed to pay for a ticket. The man told us to pay the boat driver when we got on but we had to wait for a full boat (6 or more people) in order to leave.
So, we waited, but nobody else seemed to be leaving the beach soon. Most people were sitting and eating dinner at the restaurants. Nico and I began to wonder if they were all staying the night on the peninsula. As we continued to wait, Nico bought us beers to drink on the beach. The man told us if we wanted to leave now, we could pay 400 baht each (which really wouldn't have been that much money but we were so used to Thai prices at this point and it felt like a complete rip off). We decided to wait.
Finally, two other guys walked down onto the beach. Nico went over to listen to their conversation with the taxi drivers. It seemed like they had already worked out a deal with one of the drivers to leave at 8 (in about 10 minutes). The driver wanted to wait for more passengers. When it was finally 8 and no other people had joined, we left with the two other guys, making the fare slightly cheaper for us all (300 baht per person).
We were dropped off at a location slightly further than Ao Nang Beach. Not wanting to pay for anything else unnecessary this night, we walked back to the hotel.
Ton Ma Yom, the restaurant next door, unfortunately wasn't seating anymore. So, we consulted TripAdvisor once again and walked to Taj Palace for dinner. The restaurant offered both Thai and Indian food but we picked Indian since that's where the owners seemed to be from. We ordered chicken tikka masala and chicken tawa with garlic naan. It was way too much food but we took the leftovers home with us.
Day Three
When we woke up, it was raining outside. The plan had been to go on a hike, but we decided against it with the weather being the way it was. Instead, we got breakfast at 7-11 and finished watching the second Pirates. We also extended our stay for two more nights.
When the rain finally started letting up, we decided to head to Ao Nang beach to fly the drone. We walked along the beach in the direction of the limestone peaks that surrounded Railey. Just at the end of the beach, we noticed a trail disappearing into the jungle covered hills. We decided to follow what we later found out was called Monkey Trail, which led to Pai Plong Beach.
The beach was fronted by the Centra Resort. Upon arrival, we were told by security that we could walk along the beach but not enter the resort area. We also asked if it would be okay to fly my drone, which it was.
We flew it out between the limestone cliff that closed off the Railey Peninsula and a stand-alone rock in the middle of the sea. It was absolutely breathtaking. After the drone flight, we headed back to the hotel to shower.
We went to Ton Ma Yom for dinner. We ordered chicken wings (which were amazing), pad see ew, and red curry. Everything tasted great, it was conveniently located, and was well-priced.
After dinner, we drank beers on the porch. Nico saw fireflies for the first time in his life.
Day Four
The weather was better this morning so we decided to try the hike. We first needed to rent a motorbike so we asked Tin (whose family owns the hotel) were we could get one. He told us he'd call and have one delivered. Sure enough, just a few minutes later, a man drove up on a bike and had us signing the paperwork.
We filled up with gas and started the drive to Ngorn Nak Mountain. It took about 20 minutes to drive there. We checked in at a desk and then began the hike. The trail started off pretty nice. It wasn't too steep and a creek flowed next to us. That soon changed... The path became slippery with mud, and we sometimes had to grab onto roots and tree trunks to hoist ourselves up the hill. At least the trail was mostly shaded. That didn't stop us from sweating profusely but I couldn't imagine having the sun beating directly down on us.
It took about an hour and forty-five minutes to reach the top. There was an impressive view of the surrounding rainforest and all the way out to sea. Nico and I took pictures on a "diving board" rock and then I flew the drone.
I captured the pretty view and Nico sitting on the rock. The wind was a bit strong and worried me, so I decided to cut the flight short. I pressed the auto-land button and prompted the drone to return to my controller (rather than the take-off point because it was a little closer to the edge). The drone flew overhead but came a little close to the rock behind me so I edged it forward. It was now positioned where I wanted it but coming down abnormally quick. I couldn't slow it down in time. It hit the ground too fast and bounced once, right over the edge.
I screamed and then burst into tears. I leapt to the edge, peering over to see if it was reachable, but I couldn't even see it. At this point, Nico was next to me, hugging me and trying to calm me down. For a moment I felt a bit hysterical. I followed the path around the rock cliff, looking for any sign of the drone. I never saw it. Eventually, I ran back up to the controller, seeing if there was any way to still fly it, but the arms were no longer extended. Then, I tried to see if I could retrieve the media. I was able to pull everything up on my controller but I knew that as soon as I was out of range, everything would be gone.
We sat on the cliff for awhile as I cried and we both asked ourselves why we hadn't done something differently (Nico thought he should have been there to grab the drone out of the air). I looked through the footage I would soon lose forever. It included the beautiful drone flight from the previous day, everything from Koh Tao, and everything from Malaysia.
Eventually, I was able to pick myself back up and we had to hike back down the mountain. The hike back, although quicker, was more tormenting. All I wanted was to curl up in bed and cry. It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to get back down.
We stopped at 7-11 for some beers before going back to the hotel to shower. By this point, I'd already decided I wanted to buy a new GoPro because the thought of not being able to record the rest of the trip made the situation so much worse. So, we walked down the main strip along Ao Nang Beach, looking for anywhere that sold GoPros. We couldn't find one but we did book a trip to the Phi Phi Islands for the next day.
For dinner, we decided to go to Jungle Kitchen again. We had to wait for a seat when we got there but we ordered our food ahead of time and it was ready as soon as we sat down. We got pad thai again, tom kah, and a Thai omelette with rice.
After dinner, I looked up where to find GoPros in Krabi. Someone said to check Tesco Lotus so Nico and I got back on the motorbike and headed that way. Tesco Lotus was kind of a grocery/convenience store. We looked at the electronics, which consisted of phones and sim cards, but no GoPros. I did, however, find peanut butter, so I bought that and a pack of oreos and we headed out.
Back at the hotel, Nico and I watched the last Pirates of the Caribbean, "On Stranger Tides" on Amazon Video. I ate some oreos with peanut butter, which helped comfort me in my time of 'loss'.
Video
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