Thailand AoNang 2018

We survived !!!!!
After a full day of travelling - Songthaew, cattle-truck, ferry, bus, minivan - and albeit a few hours late, we finally arrived to a rapturous welcome at Pinthong resort....in the dark. Our new hosts were so worried as to where we were, frantic phone calls had been made trying to find us. Much was their relief when we did arrive but........it could have been a whole different story!!!!!!!

On arrival in SuritThani we discovered we were booked by bus only to Krabi not to AoNang and there were different buses allocated to take you to different areas (really well organised I must say). We needed to buy another ticket so proof of accommodation was required and we paid another 200Baht to get us to AoNang pier as our accommodation, the lovely Thai lady insisted, was on Raylai Beach which is only accessible by longtail boat??? We knew this was not correct but she was adamant!!!!! Do you know what - such seasoned travellers that we are - we didn't even panic........we just got on the bus with everything crossed and hoped our bags were on the same bus as us. When we arrived in Krabi to change to a minivan EVERYONE knew where Pinthong Villas was and it definitely wasn't on Raylai Beach. Job done......and it was like coming home.

What a welcome and what a place..... and it has been like this for the 2 weeks we have stayed here so far.......we are here for one month. Nothing is too much trouble, all the staff are so, so happy and helpful, everything is cleaned daily, is well maintained and is spotless, and they will take us anywhere we wish to go at any time of the day or night in a Tuk tuk . We have a swimming pool outside our door and we have met some amazing people who have stayed in the villas around us. It is just a small family run place but it is perfect.

We had been here just a couple of days when a family from India arrived with their good friends - 7 in all - and we struck up an amazing friendship. We did a tour with them to the 4 islands and I was amazed at how all of them attempted to do so many things they had never done before. Swimming in the sea and snorkeling for example. Going on a boat in the ocean, climbing up and down ladders to get on and off the boat, was all new territory for them and the food very different indeed.......but they tried everything and embraced and enjoyed the experiences. Timing however was not top priority for them and they did get into trouble a few times when schedules were set - for Dad, Pankaj, it must have been like herding water!!! Lol.

At the same time a young couple and their friend from Bangkok were in the chalet beside us and everyone enjoyed each others company. Initially Pankaj (the father) watched Bobby, Yo and Ohm (the young Thai people next door) BBQ prawns, crab, fish, squid and welks (3 very small, slim Thai people who you would have thought were cooking for a multitude and were still chomping through their meal when we went to bed) and decided he wanted to do this too for his family and friends (Sharanjit and Pawandeep) to experience but, having never BBQd before, he asked us, if he bought the ingredients, whether we would BBQ for us all......charcoal not gas!! That was not an issue so off  Pankaj and his friend went to Makro (a wholesale supermarket here) and came back with 2kilos of chicken tenderloins and a kilo and a half of chicken nibbles. Duly marinated by us, the BBQ lit poolside, and everyone happy......garlic bread appeared, Indian salad appeared, naan bread appeared, Indian dips appeared, whisky and beer appeared, Bobby, Yo and Ohm appeared with more "welks" and between everyone we had the most amazing evening that we will all take away in our memories. Saanya (Pankaj and Kritika's daughter) is now a very accomplished BBQ chef too. The next night Pankaj and Kritika's children all wanted another BBQ....this time chicken and sausages......a trifle more subdued evening but very, very, good. The only thing Gary was worried about was that we were socialising so much, he was drinking his beer stocks in one week when, on our own, they would last 3 weeks!!!!!! You know Gary!!!!

It was sad to say goodbye to all of our new found friends but we have been invited to join the two families should we travel to India........oh my, wouldn't that be just awesome. At the moment we have our beautiful memories to take with us.

As for the 3 young Thai people......we had a surprise email from them not long after they left. They really want to spend time with us again before we leave Thailand and as they work in hospitality, all at the same hotel in Bangkok, they have offered us a complimentary layover the night before we leave for Cambodia. How wonderful is that? We have humbly taken them up on their generous offer so we will now be spending one night at The Cottage Suvarnabhumi before we leave Bangkok for Phnon Penh.

It never ceases to amaze me how people are brought together without prior knowledge of each other, can be so comfortable together that it feels a lifetime has been shared together elsewhere. We have had this happen for us throughout the world but I seriously believe all these people, and you know who you are, are very, very special. May these friendships last forever.

So far we have done one tourist trip to the "4 Islands" which we thoroughly enjoyed along with all the multitude of other people and boats........seriously dread to think what "high season" would be like if this is low season. It gave us our first opportunity to snorkel in deep water, experience a fertility cave full of peni (if that is plural for penis because there were 100's of them made from all different materials), see some stalactites, have a beautiful, but basic, Thai lunch on a white, sandy beach. The longtail boats pull up onto the beach, if you are lucky, but most times as you disembark to view one of the 4 islands you are swamped up to the waist by the incoming tide........ we spent most of the day constantly wet and totally sunkissed so as our day finished we felt like a 'couple of burnt crisps"!!!! The 4 islands were Phranang, Chicken (by a vast stretch of the imagination), Tup and Poda and not necessarily in that order. The day was perfect really.

We have made several sortes into AoNang during the day and also in the evening......it is an interesting place with a nice seafront promenade but compared to Koh Phangan it is quite expensive. We have contented ourselves swimming, reading and relaxing, some occasional cooking to remind us of home (one pan and an induction hob), visiting restaurants - on one occasion sitting beside 2 families from Takaka would you believe - drinking draught Chang beer and Gary obviously spending heaps of time organising all the plentiful surprises, with his partners in crime Sand and Wanna, for my birthday..........yes I am now 71years young as most of you would have seen plastered across the birthday cake!!!!!!!

The birthday was incredible - those of you who know me understand that I am still excorsising past ghosts which descended on this day - but hopefully, after this year, I believe they may be well and truly gone. How Gary put it all together I am not sure but this is how it went:
Breakfast on the verandah - scrambled eggs and toast, pancakes and honey washed down with orange juice and coffee.
Then some of the staff arrive on our verandah and strains of  Happy Birthday can be heard coming down the footpath. Wanna (the owner) carrying a birthday cake - with 7 candles on - accompanied by 3 young men, all in uniform and one carrying a huge bunch of flowers - 7 different colours - smiling and singing their heads off. It was so, so special and lovely. Lots of photos and videos taken too for future viewing when I am old. The flowers and cake were from Gary of course.

Next we were picked up and went on a elephant walking/washing trip. Gosh those animals are beautiful when free. One was unfortunately blind but the other two made sure she was ok. They are controlled by command only, and an occasionally seen earlobe tug, and we had a fantastic few hours with them covering them in bright yellow mud and then swimming with them and cleaning them off. Here another cake arrived out of the blue and the Happy Birthday song filled the air again. This cake was shared with the few other people who had joined us on the trip.

Back home for a couple of hours to rest, have a swim and get changed and we were whisked off again - this time in a car thank goodness (curly hair you know is a problem here regardless of how much you spend on products) - to The Hilltop Restaurant where a table had been reserved for us to eat, drink cocktails, listen to live music and watch the sun go down.

Of note here, as the sun set, a man went down on bended knee to the strains of Ed Sheeran's Perfect to ask his partner to be his wife.......how romantic??
Later in the evening sitting at the bar listening to a guy singing all our favourite songs we even had a dance.......we were the only ones all evening to dance but we didn't care. We reflected on a perfect birthday day - beautiful food, beautiful experiences, beautiful people, beautiful cocktails and especially beautiful weather. The whole day was Perfect....just like Ed Sheerans song. Thankyou so much Gary - you deserve a medal!!!!

The day after it rained.......and has not stopped raining since. Heavy, torrential noisy rain accompanied by plenty of thunder claps and lightening. We are, of course, here in the monsoon season so I guess it is par for the course but we are both marveling and thankful at how lucky we were on June 14th.......only sunshine, happiness and love dripped from the sky.

Visiting Raylai Beach was our next sorte out on a long boat just for the day. The reason we went there was because a couple we met had a bar there so we thought we would go and explore. We found it quite ramshackle and broken down but teeming with day tourists......given the money coming onto the island we were amazed at the lack of upkeep surrounding us but, you know, that is Thailand completely and also what makes it surprisingly attractive.
Walking through the island from East Beach, where the longboat dropped us off, to West Beach we realised we had been here before because in all their splendour was the cave full of peni!!!!!!! The walk took us through limestone caves and mangrove forest.....the first full of beautiful colours, stalactites and stalagmites.......the second - smelly mud!!! A long swim on the beach, a Thai lunch and with the weather deteriorating once again, we decided to head home in quite a turning sea to be dumped at the pier with no transport provided back to town. "One way only, one way only" came the call from waiting-to-pounce taxi drivers.......they take you to the pier but you find your own way back is the meaning here. They are crafty buggers at times so the whole boat load of us cut our noses off to spite our faces and walked. Tumbling into McDonalds hot and exhausted to the thought of a cool ice cream.......their ice cream machine was out of order.......how could that be?!!!!!! No way for it but to stumble a couple of yards further and substitute ice cream for cold beer in the Irish pub.

Not being completely satisfied by our longboat adventures to date we decided to do another one - to Hong Island this time. As we set off the weather was once again perfect and believing our guide to be the local, scallywag pirate because of his outfit and demeaner we all settled down for a comfy ride? Unfortunately there was an unfriendly swell and as the boat sitting mainly of Asians most turned green before our eyes. Our first stop..... snorkeling off the boat in deep water close to a rocky island outcrop was all good. Deciding to don a lifejacket - Cathie only and only just in case - securely fastening it in place at the front and underneath I descended the ladder of the longboat into the beautiful waters of hell. The lifejackets are huge and of course keep wanting to turn you over onto your back where you subsequently try to drown because your snorkel keeps going under water!!!!!! (We have full face, snorkel included masks). Gary without a lifejacket was doing much better but to be honest the sea was really not giving up many exotic looking fish to revel over anyway so after a short while we decided to head back to THE LADDER. Our arrival at THE LADDER coincided with a group of either very rude or panicking Chinese (I like to think option 2 but truthfully believe it was option 1) who knocked Gary away dislodging his snorkel attachment at the same time. Enter stage right the trusty pirate. Shooing away the Chinese he proceeded to help Gary get me up the ladder - the first rung was up by my chin and I don't bend that much these days to enable me to get my foot right up there. Enter stage left the trusty pirate's sidekick dressed in all his tie- dyes. Grabbing hold of the lifejacket at the back of my neck - which is secured by 2 straps under my crutch - a push and a shove from Gary and the Pirate - and my foot miraculously hits the bottom rung of THE LADDER and next minute I am in the boat. Humiliated, sore but oh so safe!
Ten minutes later with all on board - some still green around the gills - the Pirate draws everyone's attention to where we had just all been swimming...........A LARGE SHARK!!!!!!!
Next stop a beautiful lagoon for swimming - no lifejacket this time, nor sharks - managed THE LADDER well but........unfortunately landed in the Pirate"s lap as I negotiated the last leg-thrust over the top of the boat whilst he was assisting me. Gary on THE LADDER behind was in stitches as you can imagine.
Lunch on another island, more swimming and feeding masses of fish with watermelon and rice, soaking wet clothes from getting in and out of the boat but we were happy. Time to trundle home - sheltering from a turbulent sea behind lifejackets, passing jellyfish fishermen tossing huge catches into their boats with what looked like hayforks and eating trays of fresh fruit by now soaked in sea water - very happy, very wet and very exhausted.

We have been lucky with the weather but as more rain was imminent a quick walk around the local neighbourhood discovering new territory seemed to fit the bill next. Not too much around - plenty of rubber trees, a cooking school, a little home shop here and there and a great iced coffee stall. Lots of banana and mango trees too but our greatest discovery was a group of students cooking a BBQ on the verandah of a huge house in the middle of nowhere. Acknowledging them we were invited over and plied with huge prawns, larb and papaya salad. They were just gorgeous and were hospitality students in Krabi having a relaxing weekend away. One young girl had "FUCK EVERYTHING" across the front of her T-shirt but I am not sure how well they actually understand what this word implies. Another young man was easily balancing crosslegged on a small tree stump- how do they do that?. We left after a while carrying a paper plate full of food to assist us on our way home. We all really enjoyed the interaction and of course they love to try out their English with us.

Coming to the end of our month stay in AoNang we couldn't leave without visiting Krabi so - taking a local Songthaew which is cheap and very efficient - we made the 35min journey. Once again Krabi is a big City and really not our scene but.....it has a nice riverfront and a great nightmarket. We managed to swap our books at a very posh hotel and get my Keen sandals stuck back together by a street cobbler for no charge........we paid him though......but his generosity was very humbling. Met a couple of small bar owners and had a beer with them on the sidewalk - beer goes down very well in this heat and humidity. A stroll around the nightmarket, a teeshirt and some sticky rice and mango later and we jumped back on a songthaew for the trip home. Krabi ticked.

Our last night at Pinthong Villas was incredible. The owners Pinthong, Wanna and Sand plus their extended family decided a BBQ was necessary and gifts had to be shared. Taking beer and a heap of marinated chicken tenderloins I thought that would be sufficient but no........out came chicken wings, thick pork strips, prawns, whole fish, pig intestines etc etc but the real highlight!!!???? Papa teaching me to make Larb in the family kitchen. When we finally sat down to eat presents for us were produced - 2 t-shirts for Gary and an embroidered clutch bag for me.

It has been our priviledge to stay in this place Pinthong Villas. All our tours were arranged by Sand at very good prices. Bags of local food treats were left at our door by Sand for us to sample. Sand is very knowledgable not just about AoNang but most places in Thailand.

Auntie did our laundry beautifully and at a good price.

All the guys and Auntie who cleaned the rooms daily and tended the pool and gardens were all funny and friendly.

 Everyday you hear someone from the family call out "Love you Cathie" or "Love you Gary"......home away from home - definitely........one of the best places we have ever stayed - definitely.........feeling like family - priceless.

Thankyou everyone.......don't change anything........we will be back.

Love you all. XXX

Tomorrow we fly to Chiang Mai after a free car transfer from Pinthong Villas to Krabi airport.