Cowboy Caleb the liberal arts, grown-up stuff & random mischief

ON THE COWBOY’S TRAIL: Krabi, Thailand

A while ago, I posted some teasers about going off on an adventure for an undisclosed publication. Now that the article has finally been published, I can blog about it, which is a relief because I had so much fun it was driving me bonkers that I couldn’t write about what happened.

Full Disclosure:

Tiger Tales, the travel magazine for Tiger Airways sent me off to write a travel article on Krabi, Thailand. The tour and hotel was fully sponsored by Wotif.com (which I highly recommend for its last minute booking, excellent deals and great user interface).

In-line with my whacky gonzo writing style, I was told to produce an off-beat article on Krabi. In short, I had to write it like a post on my blog, but in 2000 words. Unused to restrictions like this, struck down with cholera from unclean ice cubes and worried sick about not translating well from web to print, I actually wrote two articles. The first article bore the hell out of my suffering editor because it read like an itenary for a family holiday. The second article was more gonzo style but of course I had to refrain from using words like asshat, magic pony etc. Guess which one was selected?

At the time of my departure, there were no direct flights to Krabi, and I had to fly to Phuket instead to proceed by minivan. But it’s now possible to fly direct from Singapore to Krabi at super-low prices on Tiger Airways, which means there isn’t a 2.5 hour drive to delay holidays anymore.

Our first stop is the Klong Thom Hot Springs, where gazing at the clear blue sky while hot waters gush about me as I lay there is amazing. My heart aches for some female attention.

It suddenly hits me how questionable it looks to be in a hot spring with two other men. “Gentlemen, it’s time to move on to our next destination,” I promptly declare.

The entire trip was a blast. I got treated like a VIP all the way. After being feted with food and drink by the local Tourism industry big-wigs and a police inspector, they provided me with 2 guides, a driver and a minivan for the duration of my stay. Immediately after my first meal upon arrival, I got whisked away to the tourist attractions. After my guides discovered that I was a bit of a asshat like themselves, they quickly warmed to me and we decided to have as much irresponsible fun for the rest of the journey. This is also known as going gonzo and includes activities like

1. pretending to be a deaf-mute to get into attractions at local prices
2. jumping into hot springs fully clothed
3. chasing snakes in jungles with sticks while yelling at the top of our lungs
4. running away from aforementioned snake upon discovering snake is a lot larger then we expected
5. visiting a monastery and admiring the broken hearted women dressed in white there instead
6. pushing your guide into the sea, flinging bits of breads at him and laughing like a maniac as the fish begin to bite chunks out of him
7. drinking beer every night and then driving at ludicrous speeds
8. informing the hotel that you’re checking in at 1pm, and arrive at 4am instead because you went drinking with your guides, thus forcing them to leave your room key under the counter at the frontdesk.

I was really grateful for the hotel I stayed at (The Cliff). With all the sight-seeing, island-hopping, drinking, merry-making I was doing – the end of each day saw me exhausted and drained. The marvelous living-with-nature concept of The Cliff was terribly tranquil and comfortable resulting in recharged batteries by dawn. The staff all addressed me by name and were ever so accomodating and polite.

It really was a wonderful trip, full of new experiences, new friends and a tinge of sadness with the knowledge that once the world finds out about Krabi – it’ll transform into another commercialized tourist attraction and lose its innocence.

Read the article published in Tiger Tales here.

Flickr Photo Sets from the Trip
Life In Krabi Town
The Cliff at Ao Nang
Island Hopping At Krabi
Sa Morakot (The Emerald Pool)
Susaan Hoi Shell Cemetery
Wat Tham Sua (Tiger Cave Temple)
Klong Thom Hot Springs
Cliff Weddings

Thanks to snowystars for informing me that commenting was broken – it’s fixed now.

Nice meeting you that night.. Thanks for the treat ;)

Great write-up.. Sincere and honest. Now we know why you’re so busy.. hee hee… When’s the next party?? =P

great article man, now i wana go there too!

thanks :)

Krabi is also a nice place for rock climbing. But with many of the resorts up now, various routes are probably closed to the climbers. But it’s really a great place even to go alone. I’m very glad that the tsunami has not ravaged the place and that we can gain access to the island with a direct flight now. Thanks for the update! We used to travel to have to fly to Hatya, then take minibus and then a boat! Quite the troublesome!

Amazing. Thanks for writing it. I think I know where my next holiday will be.

i’ve always wondered what krabi looks like. now i know.

And I just read the article on Tiger Tales!

[...] Even more amazing, she makes me buy a new laptop (apparently because I’m doing that writing and travelling thingy) so that when she gets home next week we&#8 [...]