Tropical Weather Changes Rapidly

Our driver arrived, as arranged, promptly at 6:30 A.M. to take us to the pier for the Phuket to Krabi Ferry across Phang Nga Bay, an extension of the Andaman Sea. We took much less time to reach the ferry terminal than expected because it was Saturday. We had booked a 9:30 A.M. ferry and arrived at the terminal almost 2 hours early and before it opened along with several other travelers, who also waited outside for the doors to open. Once inside the lobby, we discovered ferry personnel would not arrive until about 8:45, but at least we were out of the tropical sun and had access to seats for the rest of our long wait. Fortunately, the food and beverage vendors inside were opening to sell pastries and drinks for breakfast. The staff took a few extra steps to ensure this pair of gray-haired passengers and our luggage were secured on board the ferry before departure. 

We saw a number of beautiful islands as we crossed the bay with one stop to drop off passengers at Ko Yao Island. The mostly sunny weather changed off and on to heavy squalls for the entire crossing. Don’s new Nikon camera is rated as weatherproof but not waterproof, so he did not need to “hide” in the cabin and took a large number of pictures, including both sunny and rainy weather. He got soaked but did not worry about any damage as the water evaporated of him and got wiped off the camera body and lenses. 

We arrived at the Krabi side of the bay and had expected to catch a cab to take us the 20 kilometers to our hotel in Krabi. After docking, the crew again was very solicitous to us seniors, helped us disembark our luggage, and directed us, instead, to a minivan, which, we found out, was part of our fare, and which took us directly to our hotel. A most pleasant surprise. 

 We arrived at the Brown Hotel and had a short wait for the room to be readied. This became our first multi-story hotel without an elevator. We let the gracious and young staff help move the heavier pieces to the 3rd floor and our clean, comfortable room with a balcony overlooking the street. After climbing the steps to the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, 2 flights of stairs seemed like nothing. 

After we settled in, we explored the area around the hotel, which was located on a side street between from their riverwalk and a main road artery. We discovered the area was rife with food markets, including a morning market for the catch of the day, a day market for fresh produce and fruits, and 2 Night Food Markets. We headed out to “dinner” and loved the variety we found at the next door produce and the nearby night food markets. The day market was a sheltered location of multiple produce and food stalls which were either preparing to or had closed for the day. The Night Food Market was abuzz with activity with an outdoor stage area along one side, open-air seating areas providing tables and chairs, all surrounded by dozens of food and beverage vendors. We put our dinner together piecemeal and chose interesting items from different stalls. We enjoyed a fun night exploring our voluminous options which included egg rolls, fried treats, and capped off with a baked potato artistically and expertly prepared before our eyes. I refuse to try any version of squid or octopus, whether fried, raw, pickled, or chopped!

After a very long, full day we walked a few blocks back to our hotel to get some sleep for our continued explorations of Krabi.