KRABI JEWELS

I always hoped to visit some exotic islands so discovering them in Thailand was finally a dream come true 🙂

Approaching Koh Poda

We have planned to visit two of the islands in Krabi province, but one of those had to be replaced with another one. No less beautiful.

Both of the islands are in a close proximity of Ao Nang beach and they’re part of the Mu Ko Poda, or Poda Group Islands, which are under the administration of Hat Nopharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park.

Koh Poda

That means that the islands operating hours are between 8am and 4pm and that longtail boats can take you to and from the islands.

Too white of a sand at Koh Poda

Two way ticket and the entrance to the park is around 300 bht (10$) and the ride is less than half an hour one way.

Koh Poda

The tickets for the park/islands are sold in the tourist information offices that are actually just the selling tour agencies.

Tourist information boots

It took me some time to get through the operating mind set of the Thai people and the fact that what they call the tourist info point is nothing more than the mere ticket selling point. They share no more infos than the internet and since there are several tour operating providers all the prices are already fixed and there’s not even a chance for bargaining.

Art installation that was part of the Krabi biennale

Our first exotic destination was Koh Poda, about 5 miles from Ao Nang that we have visited on our second day in Krabi. We took a hammock, books, water and some fruit and we completely surrendered our selves to the sun and the sea. The good side was that the island is rather big with a thick pine forest so it’s easy to get some privacy.

The sea was crystal clear and the sand was white and small. Found its way everywhere 🙂

The waves were small and the beach long with a shallow sea, which means only soaking in the sea rather than proper swimming. Especially when you’re aware of the sting rays, jelly fish and occasional shark. No warning about them, but still….we were not in a mood for the close encounters 🙂

Koh Poda

The sun was strong regardless the fact that the temperature was around 95F, so we got a quite nice red crab colour. Me especially. To that intense that I continued to walk around covered in a shawl and to take a swim in a white t-shirt.

Koh Kai

The second island was supposed to be the Koh Hong, but it happened to be that the driver for the route got sick on that day so we were destined for another island, of a very cute name; the Chicken island.

Coming to the Chicken island

The name comes from the fact that the big stone rock of the island looks like, guess what – a chicken 🙂

We were celebrating our 10th anniversary that day so Koh Hong seemed perfect for that occasion, but same as I didn’t plan to fall in love with a chef I didn’t plan for the Chicken island. Both turned fantastic at the end, so I have no complaints. 🙂

Chicken island

Because of the morning low tide, the long tail boats are not in the ability to come close to the Chicken island, but they leave all the passengers on the nearby island. From there you just walk across the long sandbar.

Imagine our surprise when we took of our shoes to walk through shallow sea to find a nice spot in the thick pine shade just next to the Italian family of three with a way too adult daughter 🙂

We took a bag of exotic fruits to the exotic island that we’ve enjoyed in between soaking in the sea.

Longan (Lam-Yai) tasted like grapes on a branch- With a thin but hard shell they were easy to break open. The flesh was clear and very sweet with a pit inside. Very delicious but not recommended to eat too many at one time, as you can get cold sores or even a fever
Salak or snake fruit is a species of palm tree
The fruit inside consists of three lobes with the two larger ones, or even all three, containing a large inedible seed. The lobes resemble, and have the consistency of, large peeled garlic cloves. The taste was sweet and acidic. Not the best I had

The open sea was not too friendly and the heavy waves made it impossible to take a swim, so the view on the deep blue and soaking up were more appropriate.

Chicken island

It’s hard to describe the greatness of the Andaman sea, that counts around of 800 000 km², 746 miles of max length (north-south) and 400 miles of the max width.

Chicken island

The sea is part of the Indian ocean and has max depth of 13,773 ft and water volume of 660,000 km³.

Running in a rough north–south line on the seabed of the Andaman Sea is the boundary between two tectonic plates that results in high seismic activity in the region.

The same sandbar in the afternoon….not so much walkable
High tide on the Chicken island

Driven by the horrific effects of the 2004 earthquake, the government has posted evacuation routes across the islands. As if that would help if a tsunami wave hits you at zero meters above sea level.

Evacuation route map on the Koh Poda

Although, it’s easy to die in this paradise.

Literally!


 

OTOCI U KRABIJU

Pedeset nijansi plave na Koh Podi

Oduvijek sam padala na egzotične otoke, tako da sam pomno planirala posjetiti nekoliko otoka u Krabi provinciji. Od dva predviđena, posjetili smo jedan planirani i jedan ne planirani. Tako vam je to na jugu. Ti snuješ, a Bog određuje. Ili Tajlanđanin 🙂

Pijesak

Oba otoka su u neposrednoj blizini Ao Nang grada i plaže te pripadaju grupi otoka pod upravom Hat Nopharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi nacionalnog parka. To znači da otoci zapravo imaju radno vrijeme, te su otvoreni od 8 ujutro to 4 popodne i u to uredovno vrijeme s obale u Ao Nangu do otoka voze long-tail brodovi.

Točanje na Koh Podi

Povratna karta za otoke dođe oko 300 bht (65 hrk), a put traje oko 20ak minuta u jednom smjeru.

Džungla

Karte za otoke kupuju se u tzv turističkom uredu, što je zapravo samo krivi naziv za turističku agenciju.

Kvazi turističke informacije

Trebalo mi je malo vremena da shvatim tajlandski modus operandi i činjenicu da ono što oni nazivaju turističke informacije su zapravo ništa više ni manje nego lešinarski prodavači usluga. Obzirom da usluge prodaje samo nekoliko agencija, cijene se više-manje ne razlikuju i samo je pitanje gdje ćete kupiti karte, jer ni cjenkanje nije u điru.

Vrući pijesak na Koh Podi

Koh Poda otok udaljen je oko 8 kilometara od Ao Nanga i bio je naša egzotična destinacija drugi dan u Krabiju. Ponijeli smo viseću ležaljku, knjige, vodu i nešto voća i uživali u suncu i moru. Dobra strana otoka jest da se ekipa razbježi na sve strane, pa stvarno imate malo privatnosti za uživanje.

More je kristalno čisto, a pijesak sitan i bijel. Zavlači se u sve pore tijela 🙂

Valovi na Koh Podi

Valovi su mali i plaže su duge, pješčane s plitkim ulazom u more, što zapravo znači samo toćanje u moru, radije nego plivanje jer natpisi s upozorenjem na raže ili meduze stoje posvuda, a nikad ne znate kad bi se neki morski pasić odlučio na igru u plićaku 🙂

Koh Poda

Sunce je pržilo nemilice i usprkos činjenici da temperatura nije prelazila 35 stupnjeva, fino smo izgorili. Do te mjere da sam se sutradan kupala u majici 🙂

Na povratku s otoka

Drugi otok u sklopu nacionalnog parka trebao je biti Koh Hong, ali obzirom da se vozač longtail broda razbolio baš taj dan i nitko drugi nije mogao preuzeti rutu, ostali smo osuđeni na Koh Kai ili Chicken island (Pileći otok) u neposrednoj blizini jučerašnjeg otoka.

Pristanak pored Pilećeg otoka

Taj dan slavili smo desetu godišnjicu naše veze i Koh Hong se činio savršenim izborom za tu prigodu, ali eto, kao što nisam planirala zaljubit se u kuhara tako nisam planirala posjetiti Pileći otok. Doduše i jedno i drugo pokazalo se kao dobra i uspješna odluka 🙂

Zbog jutarnje oseke brodovi ne mogu pristati direktno uz otok već se putnici iskrcaju na susjednom otočiću i onda pješice, preko pješčanog spruda prelaze preko.

Prelazak preko pješčanog spruda

Zamislite to dječje oduševljenje kad smo bosih nogu kroz plitko more morali probauljati do otoka i smjestit se u debelu hladovinu pored tročlane talijanske obitelji s kćerkom u srednjim 40etima 🙂

Na egzotični otok ponijeli smo vrećicu egzotičnog voća koje smo degustirali u pauzi između kupanja.

Longan je imao izgled i okus po debelom grozdu
Rambutan je više imao okus po kruški
Izgledom kao češnjak, salak je bio dosta kiseo za jedno voće
Veliko plavetnilo

Otvoreno more nije bilo gostoljubivo i jaki valovi sprečavali su nas da se pošteno okupamo. Prikladnije je bilo bućkanje i valjuškanje s pogledom na pučinu.

Teško je opisati veličinu Andamanskog mora, površine nešto manje od 800 000 km². , dužine oko 1200km (sjever-jug) te širine 650km.

More je dio Indijskog oceana i u nekim dijelovima doseže i preko 3000 metara dubine, dok je polovica površine ipak nešto plića; oko 500 m dubine.

Od sjevera do juga proteže se procjep između dvije tektonske ploče čije pomicanje uzrokuje nebrojene potrese, od manjih koje se nitko ne trudi zabilježiti do onih većih katastrofičnih razmjera.

Isti pješčani sprut na povratnu nazad, negdje oko 4 popodne

Ponukani strašnim posljedicama potresa iz 2004 godine, vlada je posvuda po otocima postavila znakove s evakuacijskom rutom. Kao da bi to nešto pomoglo, ako vas strefi tsunami val na nultom metru nadmorske visine.

Tabla s evakuacijskom rutom na Koh Podi

Iako, u ovom raju doslovno možete umrijeti.

Od ljepote!

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