Currency:
Thai Baht

Highlights:
New Years Eve with great friends, Thai food, beaches and cheap massages

Our Adventure:

Sawatdee Khrab (Hello) from Ao Nang!

Although our final destination was Ao Nang, Lara and I flew from Singapore into Phuket due to the fact that we could not fly from Singapore to Krabi and we immediately jumped in a private car to take us 159 km (or about 2 hours 50 minutes) to Ao Nang.

Our cab driver obviously had a New Years Eve party himself to get to as the journey only lasted about 2 hours and was done with his hand mostly on the hooter whilst driving rather quickly on lots of windy roads lined with scooters and pedestrians.

Ao Nang is located in the Krabi Province which is on the west coast of Southern Thailand and it borders the Andaman Sea. Krabi abounds itself with countless natural attractions that never fail to impress. One of the distinguishing features of Krabi is the massive limestone karsts, rising vertically out of the flat rice paddies on land and as islands from the sea. Add in some gorgeous beaches and excellent scuba diving and rock climbing, and it's little wonder that tourism in the area has been booming.

While Krabi is less commercialized than neighboring Phuket, Krabi Province cannot be described as undiscovered: it receives two million visitors a year, and the major tourist areas cater extensively for foreigners.

We arrived safe and sound (it was close) in Ao Nang and checked into our room at Sabai Mansion Pool and Spa (for some reason everything is called Mansion) and quickly unpacked, had a quick dip in the pool, jumped in a wake up shake up shower and headed upstairs to go and meet the Herriotts and the Van Alvins for some pre New Years Eve drinks.

It was great to see the crew again and we quickly caught up over a few Johnny Walker Black Labels and a few shots of Jagermeister before hitting the streets of Ao Nang for New Years Eve.

First stop was to line the stomachs with some Thai food for the rest of the evening. We decided on a restaurant called "The Orchard" which was in the walking street of Ao Nang and a few spring rolls, a few Thai green curries and a good few Singha beers later we were topped up and ready to see out 2009 and bring in 2010.

As it was only around 21h30 we decided to do a bit of a pub crawl to get acquainted with what Ao Nang had to offer in terms of the party scene. First stop was at "The Last Fisherman Bar" (which was recommended by Ola) where we settled into some more Singha beers and everyone was already starting to get very merry.

Next stop on the list was O'Malleys Irish Bar where we decided to start a drinking game of Slammers, Sliders and Spiders much to the amusement of the locals and the rest of the patrons in the bar. A good few beers and a shot or two later there had been many laughs for the evening and it was time to move on.

We walked back out onto the streets and came across a Pool Bar down an alley way where we were ushered in, made way for and immediately fed shooters and given a round of beers. Great place. We played some pool and made some mates with some English guys that continued to give us some stick about the cricket and how the English had crunched the Saffa's. After having a good few laughs and glancing down at our watches we realised that it was 23h45 and we still needed to get somewhere on the beach to see in the New Year.

We ran outside and jumped in the nearest local taxi and headed for the Lunar Bar which was right on the water and jam packed with people. We rushed in and being in our well topped up state, we somehow managed to get right to the front of the bar and then proceeded to start our own New Years countdown.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Happy New Year!

After a good few hugs, kisses and handshakes with my gorgeous wife and the rest of the travel crew we then looked up to the sky where the New Year was greeted with a massive fireworks display over the water. Superb. As well as that the sky was full of lanterns that were set off with good wishes for 2010.

The rest of the night does go a little hazy for all of us but after gathering the next morning and piecing different parts of the evening together we all agreed that it was one of the greatest New Years parties we have had in a long time!

Just some of the stories include Shandy losing one shoe and accusing an unsuspecting fellow traveller that she had stolen Shandy's shoes, we bumped into Nats and Philippa who were in Ao Nang too and we drank buckets with them, we had many vodka and redbulls (bearing in mind that Thai redbull is banned in many parts of the world), some of us - no names mentioned - had a little naked swim in the ocean, we all shared a delicious big sandwich in the middle of the club and we finished the evening at McDonalds where there were many burgers consumed (again some of us had more than others) and a lot of hugs for Ronald McDonald.

What a great party and a great start to 2010 with some great friends! With a start like that we knew that 2010 was going to be an awesome year.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=371811&id=713415257&l=53a96f76cc

Day 2:

As you can imagine there were a lot of tender people the next morning and around noon everyone was finally up and we reminisced over the great night that we had. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out by the pool and nursing our sore heads before heading off for afternoon naps and movies. We ended off New Years Day by going for a few beers and some great wood fired pizzas at La Casa before hitting the sack. This concluded a very relaxed New Years Day.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=371813&id=713415257&l=08559ad55a

Day 3:

The next morning the rest of the crew were heading out to the islands in the gulf of Thailand while Lara and I were staying behind in Ao Nang to get in some well deserved beach time. So after we said goodbye to the crew we headed down to the Ao Nang beach and jumped on the long tail boats to go and explore Raleigh Beach and Phra Nang. The views from the beaches were breathtaking and we jumped off the long tail at Phra Nang and chilled out for the rest of the day with our only movements being to jump in the see through sea or grab some lunch from the restaurant which was located on a boat that was docked on the beach. Pure paradise.

Late in the afternoon our beach time was interrupted by the rain so we jumped back on the long tail boats and headed back to Ao Nang and our hotel. After the rain had subsided and the sun had set we ventured out to Ari Ba Ba where we tucked in to another great Thai meal before hitting the hay. Oh how we love Thai food.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=371818&id=713415257&l=46dc668700

Day 4:

We decided that our final day in Ao Nang would be a pamper day so we woke up and headed out for a unique, but oh so awesome, breakfast of cheese and onion pancakes and fresh fruit shakes from one of the street vendors. Absolutely delicious.

Lara had spotted a place which offered a one hour full body massage for 100 baht (GBP1.89 / US$3.01) the day before so we decided to go an indulge in a one hour session. Upon arrival we lay on beds with cool fans blowing on us whilst listening to the waves crashing on the beach. The next hour was pure bliss. The only slight scare was when a lady boy tried to do my massage and I soon convinced 'her' that Lara would make a far better subject. Shoowee. After an hour we could not just stop there and paid another 100 baht for head massages. Oh yeah.

The plan was to then go and relax for the rest of the afternoon by the pool but unfortunately the rain came down just after lunch so Lara and I wondered the streets and markets of Ao Nang and took advantage of the cheap shopping and bargain prices that Thailand has to offer.

Our last dinner was had at a lovely outside table at Tanta as we sat and watched the world go bye and enjoyed our final Thai dinner on World Tour.

You can view our photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=371821&id=713415257&l=bbe1079c7d

Next stop: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.

Laa korn (Goodbye) Thailand!

Leise + Lara