Southward Ho!

After feeling like I'd stayed enough the second time, I decided to fly to Krabi. There, I could access some of southern Thailand's islands in the Andaman Sea.

Immediately, I noticed a higher sun intensity and humidity than Bangkok. It makes sense as this area is more tropical. Also, it makes me sleepy. I napped a few times while I was there.

I joined a friendly German to Noppharat Beach, a somewhat secluded beach north of Ao Nang, the touristy part of Krabi. The water certainly wasn't crystal clear, but it was blue-green due to crystalline solutes exuded from prehistoric limestone formations. The waves were tiny, as well, and the water was quite warm. I think I prefer the frigid, crashing waves of the California coast.

The Krabi town itself is pretty quiet in the day, blossoming after dusk with a good night market. Many cities in Thailand have night markets, some with stages, but this one was my favorite yet. The stage featured a slew of local talent, including a young woman who works at a food stand, young man who plays smooth pop on an alto sax with heavy vibrato, and a young woman who danced to kpop. The food options were great, better than the night market at Chiang Rai, I think.

Koh Lanta is a large island easily accessible from Krabi, albeit a bit far. The ferry took about three hours, but seas were calm and the skies clear enough for an easy journey. I noticed they charge a 10 baht beach cleanup fee, a kind of tourist tax, and I wonder why we don't have something like that in California.

Lanta is a nice place. The waters are clean and the island is large enough that I never felt overwhelmed with tourists while on the beach. Off the beach was another story. Here, my frustration with tourists may have reached its all-time high.

In general, southern Thailand is more touristy than the north. They prefer dealing with farangs in English; they didn't think at all that my attempts to speak Thai were cute or endearing. On top of that, Thai songs were even harder to find here. In Krabi, I stopped by Booze Bar, a reggae bar affiliated with the bartender at the night market. He brought me there because I told him I like live music, and the band was great, but only one Thai song in the whole set.

This frustration compounded within me on Lanta, where live music invariably consists of English language pop songs. I spit a quick verse as a meandered up and down the main road on the west side.

Fuck this, I can get that shit at home.

Beaches? I can get that shit at home.

Ganja? I can get that shit at home.

Western music? I can get that shit at home.

Fuck Ed Sheeran. He writes good songs but why the fuck are they all I'm hearing?

Travel to the other side of the world to get the same fucking shit I get at home.

Fuck this!

So someday I'll turn that garbage into a real song. Overall, for me, northern Thailand is better. So I decided one week in Krabi and Koh Lanta was enough.

Still beautiful, as the following picdump demonstrates:

Shit I can get at home: a sunset into the sea. Now I'll dump in some more pics from my return to Krabi:

I'm glad I visited, in spite of all the shit I can get at home, because of the shit I can't get at home.