After a week in Bangkok it was time for us to explore the south of Thailand. Debeli was all about Bangkok’s street food, humidity, traffic chaos but I wanted to experience those white sand beautiful tropic beaches.

We took the morning hour flight from the second (smaller) Bangkok airport Don Mueang International Airport with Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia to Krabi province down south in Thailand.

We landed in Krabi, the main town in the province of same name, and we got to a local minibus transport that drives you directly to your accommodation for a small price of 80 – 200 bht depending on your final destination.

We spent couple of nights in Ao Nang just 20 minutes walk from the touristy beach. Right away upon arrival we were stunned by abundance of greenery in the surrounding area. Even our bungalow was situated in the thick ‘’jungle’’ of palm trees and flowers.

The importance of the Krabi province came to the light in the late 1700 with the establishment on an elephant kraal that were to supply the rest of the country with elephants, so Krabi soon had a large community in three different boroughs.

Much of the Krabi province belongs to several national parks very popular among tourists and native Thai people. We have visited two of the nearby islands but we started by exploring the long Ao Nang beach.

The town of Ao Nang consists of a main street dominated by restaurants, pubs, shops and other commerce aimed at tourists. The main beach is used by sunbathers to a certain extent, but it’s mainly the starter point for a large number of long-tail boats that offer access to other beaches on the mainland and nearby islands.

Noppharat Thara beach is a long beach adjacent to Ao Nang and split into two halves by a river and the local ferry pier.

The beach is known for its shallow waters and picturesque sunsets that we got the change to enjoy as well.

It took us around an hour to walk the full length of the beach because we spend half of that time soaking in fresh water and admiring the public art that was part of the first Thailand biennale.

Opened last in November of 2018, this biannual international contemporary art exhibition was initiated by the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture and Ministry of Culture of Thailand. The first-ever art biennale in Krabi province was curated by Jiang Jiehong and ‘Edge of the Wonderland’ as the artistic concept, promising for an exciting and challenging outdoors display of site-specific installations amidst majestic natural attractions in Krabi.

---

 

KRABI

Nakon tjedan dana u Bangkoku bilo je vrijeme za pokret i istraživanje juga Tajlanda. Debeli se napalio na Bkk uličnu hranu, vrućinu i vlagu, dok su mene zanimale duge pješčane plaže i tirkizno more.

Jutarnjim letom, koji je poletio s manjeg gradskog aerodrome Don Mueanga, stigli smo u južno tajlandsku provinciju Krabi.

Prednost malog turističkog mjesta kao što je Krabi, jest što vas njihovi lokalni minibusevi za neku sitnu paru razvezu po okolici, drito do vašeg smještaja.

Bili smo smješteni u Ao nangu samo 20ak minuta od glavne turističke plaže, u drvenim bungalovima usred džungle. Ili gotovo usred džungle.

U prvih pola sata u Krabiju vidjeli smo valjda više zelenila nego u svih sedam dana u Bangkoku. Zelenilo se ne samo vidjelo nego i osjetilo. Bilo je znatno svježije na jugu nego u betonskom gradu.

Provincija Krabi na važnosti je dobila krajem 18. stoljeća kad je tamo ustanovljena velika kolonija za uzgoj slonova korištenih za prijevoz i teže fizičke radove.

Veliki dio Krabija pripada nacionalnim parkovima koji su popularni među brojim turistima, ali i lokalcima. Mi smo posjetili dva obližnja otoka, no počeli smo s istraživanjem Ao Nang plaže.

Istoimeni grad, Ao Nang, sastoji se od glavne ulice kojom dominiraju restorani, barovi, trgovine i druge pizdarije namijenjene turistima dok se glavna plaža više koristi kao pristanište za lokalne taxi brodice nego za kupanje.

Noppharat Thara plaza nadovezuje se na Ao Nang, dok je negdje na pola puta siječe rijeka i dok za trajekte.

Plaža je poznata po plitkom moru i slikovitim zalascima sunca koje smo se potrudili uhvatiti.

Trebalo nam je oko sat vremena hoda od Ao Nanga do krajnje točke doka, jer smo se pol sata kvasili negdje na pola puta. Bilo je toliko vruće da bi se samo sparkirali negdje na plaži i ušli u vodu ohladiti se. Ostali bi dok nam se prsti ne bi smežurali je je more bilo ugodnih 29°, a vani samo par stupnjeva razlike.

Cijelim putem nailazili smo na skulpture koje su bile postavljene u sklopu prvog tajlandskog umjetničkog bijenala.

Bijenale je otvoren u studenom 2018. pod pokroviteljstvom Ureda za suvremenu umjetnost i kulturu i Ministarstva kulture Tajlanda.

Neke od skulptura su bile poprilično zanimljive poput ovog nestabilnog nogostupa gdje je beton zamijenjen s nefiksiranom kamenom podlogom koja se ljulja kad stanete na nju, praćeno istovremeno glasnim krikovima.

Na suprotnoj strani Ao Nanga, u pravcu Railay plaže do koje se dolazi brodom, ide puteljak kroz šumu u kojoj borave majmuni željni bilo čega što turisti imaju u ruksaku; čips, sendvič ili čak šareni šešir 🙂