I took another long tail boat back to Krabi Town (the province, as is the case in various parts of Thailand, shares its name with its capital. Something I discovered the hard way on my first visit, but more on that later). Thankfully I didn’t have to wait around to depart this time, getting one of the last seats on a boat about to depart.
As soon as I hopped onto the pier and started walking along the street that lead towards the night market, I came across a little bend in the road lined with cute, unassuming little guesthouses advertising cheap rates for the likes of me arriving fresh from the pier. With little to distinguish between them all, I chose Number 7 guesthouse. They had a coffee machine and were advertising lattes, something I was in dire need of.
For 200 baht a night I got a private room complete with fridge and tv, and a bathroom shared with 3-4 other rooms on the same floor which is far as I could tell were all unoccupied. There was a small window that looked out onto the street below, and I could hear the occasional vehicle passing while playing advertisements over some loudspeakers. For some reason one was inexplicably blasting ‘One Thing’ by One Direction, which I unashamedly sang along to until the traffic lights changed and it moved on.
Shortly after checking in I went down to sit in the lobby and chat with the receptionist, order a coffee and let her make some suggestions for me on how to spend my next few days. I knew about the weekend night market and the hilltop temple just outside of town, but not much else.
There didn’t appear to be too many other backpackers around - Krabi Town seems to be more of a transit point than a destination for most - so I decided I’d not worry much about meeting anyone for a few days and get out and about as much as possible by myself, then make my next destination somewhere I’d have a better chance of breaking that solitude.
With a little help from my new friend on the front desk (and the caffeine she provided me with) I mapped out my next few days. That afternoon I’d just amble around the town, soak up normal life around the city and hit up the night market in the evening. The next day I’d get up early, rent a motorbike and split my day in two, venturing out of town to some waterfalls that are a popular weekend excursion for locals, then back to that hilltop temple in the afternoon. The day after that, I’d get back on the motorbike and drive around an hour away, to some natural hot springs that my host seemed very excited about.
I was excited to head back to the night market that evening. I’d had a great night there a few years earlier and it was my first real glimpse at something like real Thailand after going to Australian tourist filled Phuket first, so there was a sentimental feeling to it. It wasn’t quite as fascinating this time around, not having anyone to share it with nor the wide eyed wonder of experiencing it for the first time. I still enjoyed it enough though, wandering around and sampling a few different foods, while looking forward to an early night with one eye on the following day.
That next morning it took all of about 30 seconds of walking to find multiple shop fronts offering motorbike rentals, so I picked one and got my ride for the next couple of days along with a nice big map of the area to help me find the waterfalls. Langkawi seemed like such a long time ago (in reality about a week and a half) and I was very keen to practise my new skills on a bike once more.
After a quick coffee at the guesthouse and another chat with the receptionist about my itinerary for the day, I studied the map one more time and set off to get out of the city. The ride out to the waterfalls was wonderful. Quiet, picturesque roads lined with bright green vegetation and limestone karsts just like those in the Andaman sea, protruding out from the flat landscape and dominating the view.
I may even have enjoyed the ride more than the waterfalls themselves. The waterfalls were great - flowing into a pool of refreshing cool water and pretty enough, I shared them with a couple of Thai families whose kids were splashing around in the shallows.
But there was something really special about the feeling of pure freedom of riding through those quiet, countryside roads through stunning the landscape. Pulling over every so often to check my map or grab a cold drink from a roadside eatery, and being completely free to go wherever I wanted and as fast or as slowly as I wanted, without worrying about anyone else. Whenever I get overly nostalgic for this time in my life, it’s often that exact situation, those gorgeous roads and the feeling of pure joy and freedom, that I miss the most and can’t wait to experience all over again.
My second stop was Wat Tham Seua, also known as the Tiger Cave Temple. I’d already been on my previous visit to Thailand, but was really excited to go back for the much needed workout in climbing the steps and being rewarded with the panoramic views from the top.
It was a lot busier than the waterfalls, though predominantly with locals making merit at the ground level temple grounds. I had a quick chat with one of the resident monks, who insisted on giving me not one of his little fabric bracelets for good luck (like he had done for those before me) but one for each day of the week, each in a different colour. I felt pretty honoured, if undeserving, of the special treatment. I kept a couple on my wrists with the rest in my bag for safe keeping.
I didn’t hang around for too long, as I knew I had a good trek ahead of me to get up the 1,237 stairs to reach the top of the mountain.
The stairs were in good condition, so the climb wasn’t too difficult from that perspective, just long and strenuous in the humidity. It was well worth the effort, and if I found myself in Krabi again I’d do it for a third time in a heartbeat. Most visitors to the temple seem to stay at ground level and not climb to the top so it was serenely peaceful up there, with nothing but a light breeze cooling me down for company as I sat down and admired the view. As always in Thai temples, the intricate details on the buddha statues and pagodas up there were fascinating, and I spent a good half an hour slowly studying them before beginning my descent.
Once I neared the bottom, I was treated to the almost obligatory sight of small monkeys making an absolute nuisance of themselves to the people around them, stealing drinks and snacks from peoples bags and generally scaring the shit out of them. These monkeys were not like the one I encountered back in Railay! I snapped a few photos from a safe distance, and continued on my way unchallenged by the cheeky creatures. I hopped onto the bike and drove back to the guesthouse, where I had another activity to organise for the evening.
The previous day I’d noticed a sign advertising that the local football team, Krabi FC of the Thai second tier, had a home game coming up while I was in town. Desperate for the opportunity to get to a local game on my travels, I immediately jumped onto facebook, found a group for fans of the club, and posted in there seeking some English speaking fans to help me with directions to the stadium and access to tickets. A guy named Ja sent me a message saying he’d pick me up from the guesthouse, and I could watch the game with him and his friends.
Back at the guesthouse, I showered and changed into a football shirt (never mind that the red of Arsenal didn’t match the yellow and blue of Krabi FC), and waited in the lobby for Ja to pick me up around 45 minutes before kick off. Our agreed pick up time came and went, and soon it was barely 10 minutes until the game was due to start and he wasn't responding to my messages. I chanced my luck and waved down a tuk tuk driver, and just about managed to explain with broken English and kicking gestures that I needed to get to the Krabi FC stadium.
I arrived right as the game was starting, and quickly made my way to the little ticket sales counter, finally hearing back from Ja as I bought my ticket. Turned out he got to the guesthouse minutes after I left and beat me to the stadium when the receptionist told him as much, so after buying my ticket I walked around to the bleachers where he and his friends were stood, attracting numerous stares and awkward comments from young fans behind the goal on my way round.
Ja apologised for the mix up and explained why he was running late, before introducing me to his friends. We watched the game, shared some thoughts on the quality of the football on show, the small but noisy group of fans alongside us, and our English teams (he was a Liverpool fan). I bought a replica shirt at half time with the number 9 on my back for the Laotian striker that was supposedly the star of the team. During the second half he scored Krabi’s only goal in a 2-1 defeat caused by two comical defensive errors. A disappointing result, but a fun night taking in a bit of live football.
I was prepared to thank the guys and make my way back to the guesthouse, but they insisted on keeping the night going, taking me out for some post match beers and snacks. We drove out to a bar 5-10 minutes away from the stadium where there were another 20-30 people in Krabi FC gear, and packed out with other locals enjoying their Saturday night.
We had some banter about me eating duck for some reason (I said I didn’t want to, they said I had to because it was delicious, backed down, ordered some ‘chicken’, then told me it was duck after I’d enjoyed some. In hindsight I’m thankful to them) and they taught me how to call for the attention of waiters & waitresses in Thai, something which came in handy over the next few weeks. They taught me a few other phrases and insisted I use them to flirt with our waitress, which thankfully she found just as amusing as they did as I butchered their language with poor pronunciation.
Several towers of beer and giggling neighbouring tables at my botched attempts at Thai pronunciation later, the guys insisted the night couldn’t end without a visit to their favourite street food stall for some post drinking noodle soup, conveniently just around the corner from my guesthouse. They explained how they’d usually end a drinking session there before going home, so I shared with them our less romantic western habits of a kebab or Mcdonalds run on the way home.
We finally parted ways, and I thanked my hosts for an incredible night - I couldn't quite believe just how great it had been. They barely let me pay for a thing, welcomed me into their match day crew, took me out for drinks at their favourite bar, taught me some useful (and some useless) Thai phrases and shared insights into their culture while asking me about mine. It perfectly backed up my love for Thailand and the genuine warmth and hospitality shown by most people I met there.
I stayed in touch with Ja on facebook, and still wear my Krabi FC jersey from time to time.