The journey from Krabi to Khanom was an interesting one. When we say 'interesting' it should read 'long and complicated'. We were collected at our hotel by the minivan (great), that we thought was taking us to Surat Thani. Not so. The minivan took us to a holding pen in the middle of the jungle. There were already a hundred or so journey-makers sulkily waiting for the coaches that would take us to our desired tropical destination. Time passed quickly, a couple of lads hooked up a rope between two trees and did a bit of tightrope walking. Jan was just about to have a go when our coach number was called, she was devastated.
The coach journey was fairly nondescript. We saw many rubber tree plantations and some impressive limestone outcrops, but really, the mostly straight road threw up very few points of interest.
Just outside Surat Thani, the coach pulled over on the motorway. The driver called for everyone not getting a ferry to get off. That was us and 4 others. We were hurried to pick up our bags and get in the back of a utility truck. The next driver drove fast and was heavy on the breaks and after a scary 15 minutes or so we arrived at Surat Thani bus station. It was just the two of us getting out.
Tickets bought, we waited with the locals in the terminal. Unfortunately for us the only available seats were near the toilets and so the next hour was spent breathing shallowly and as infrequently as possible.
The bus came and left early which was a relief. The next 90 minutes was much like the coach journey, until we reached the small town of Khanom. The fishing village had a simple beauty that had us beaming from ear to ear. The flotilla of fishing boats that were lined up waiting for the right tide to set sail was set against a quickly setting sun, the orange sky silhouetting the boat's masts and rigging. The people looked industrious, everyone seemed to be doing something, mending nets, selling their catch or preparing for the next launch. The hive of activity was furious, but brief as we had already passed through and unfortunately for us, we would not see this lovely place again.
Our hotel for the next couple of nights was in a beautiful, but isolated location on the beach. The view from our room was spectacular. We could see the entire bay with its fine sand beaches and picturesque woods and in the far distance, barely a mountainous haze, we could see our next goal, Koh Samui.
The hotel was a stunner, the grounds were beautiful, our dinner was impeccable, our room was immaculate. But there were some big problems. SPIDERS! Spiders like we've never seen before, spiders that made us both want to wet ourselves, pack up our stuff and fly the hell home. These things were monsters, about the size of a saucer and they were hugly, hugly, hugly.
Once again, Jan did so well, she was even pointing them out to me to photograph. She seized up a couple of times and was only able to point, her jaw opening and closing, but no discernible noise coming out and we just moved on quickly and talked about cakes for a while.
We didn't really do anything during our stay, there was nothing to really see in the area and we were pretty comfortable in our surroundings. We dreamt of Samui and counted down the hours until we visited the isolated island in the sun.