Krabi. Everything about this majestic geographic jewel – with its laid back locals and seemingly endless skyline dappered with ominous islands – will help you be anything but crabby.
We’ll begin this adventure with a longboat ride to a distant island. Then we’ll lie on the beach for awhile, meander along the white sand beach and take some pictures, play child-like on a rope swing while the tide rolls in. Then, we’ll chase the clock back to the island as a thunderstorm lurks. Later, we will find ourselves walking the streets of Krabi deciding which entrée of seafood looks most intriguing.
Luscious love, of being free.
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Krabi is a southern province on Thailand’s Andaman seaboard with perhaps the country’s oldest history of continued settlement. After dating stone tools, ancient colored pictures, beads, pottery and skeletal remains found in the province’s many cliffs and caves, it is thought that Krabi has been home to homo sapiens since the period 25,000 – 35,000 B.C. In recorded times it was called the ‘Ban Thai Samor’, and was one of twelve towns that used, before people were widely literate, the monkey for their standard. At that time, c. 1200 A.D., Krabi was tributary to the Kingdom of Ligor, a city on the Kra Peninsula’s east coast better known today as Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Krabi is now a top destination for beach and islands lovers. Much of the province has been the seat of several national parks. The topmost destinations are Hat Noppharat Thara, Ao Nang, Railay, Ko Phi Phi National Park. Yet over 80 smaller islands such as Lanta islands, or Koh Lanta, Phi Phi islands – made famous as the ideal location for adventurers, yachtsmen, scuba-divers, snorkellers and day-trippers from Phuket.
The Ko Lanta National Park, also in Krabi province, includes several coral-fringed islands with well-known diving sites. The largest island, Ko Lanta Yai, is the site of park headquarters, and is also home to Chao Le, or sea gypsies who sustain themselves largely through fishing. The islands are best visited during the non-monsoon months of October through April.
Kayaking, sailing, birdwatching, snorkelling are also among top activities. In the interior, two predominantly mainland national parks, Khao Phanom Bencha and Than Bokk-horani, offer inland scenic attractions including waterfalls and caves, and opportunities for trekking, birdwatching and eco-tours (source: Wikipedia).
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This is also the area where “The Beach” starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed.
Enjoy!