How to have great beach holiday on the cheap?

Take a deep breath and think about your life nowadays. Now, wouldn't it be nice for a little get away on the cheap, a sort of life-recharging holiday but doesn't cost you more than a few steaks at Victoria Station. Well, you have got a friend here to tell you how. So thank the good Lord for that. He he he. And pray that he becomes a good boy.

Assuming that you live in KL like me, and no matter how much you spend time in the office, things are not gonna be that superb. So, what a bloke to do? My suggestion - go Krabi my friend, go Krabi. Now, where the heck is that? Well, I know your geography is not good. So, look at the map below.

It’s not that far from Phuket, about two hours by boat. While there are still tons of tourists in Krabi (in case you wanna people watching *wink*), it’s not over-commercialized as Phuket, hence, won’t cost you a bundle. And it’s not that far from Bukit Kayu Hitam either.

So how to go there? And how to go there on the cheap and easy.

First, to Bukit Kayu Hitam. Here I think the easiest would be to drive yourself up all the way to the Duty Free building and park your car there. I’ve parked my car here for a few days and done this for a couple of times over the years and so far, no trouble for me. And right at that parking lot, you will see a few vans and taxis to Hat Yai. Price changes but roughly a van cost you about RM15 per person and RM50 per taxi. I’m not a regular to Hat Yai (see, I’m still a good boy and with your prayers, I’ll be better) so I don’t know the details.

Twice, without a map and just by reading the sparse signboards with English characters and squiggly fonts, we managed to drive up to Hat Yai. You need your car registration to do this and you have to buy Thai insurance before leaving the Malaysian border. At the border, please make sure that you do your passports and also permit for the car coz during our first time, nobody told us and we went up to Sadao for another check and have to return back.

In Hat Yai, you could go to any travel agent and ask for a minivan to Krabi. And if you walk around the central shopping area, you wouldn’t walk more than 100m without seeing one tour agent with photos of nice girls on the wall. If I remember correctly, van to Krabi leaves at 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm, & 3 pm. Don’t take my words for these but it should be your guide for your traveling plan. If I’ve time, I would not mind staying a night in Hat Yai and leaves for Krabi the next day. I went to Krabi in early 2007 and the van cost me only RM25.

It was not a planned trip and I’ve not even read up on the place. The opportunity arose when I had to go to Penang for work trip and I thought what the heck, might as well take a few days off. So, armed with only one phone number for tour agent in Krabi (got it from ilovekrabi.com), I got on that minivan and spend four hours on the road. With fear and excitement, I thought what the hell am I doing in this van. As customary in Thailand, guys would sit at the back of the van leaving the front for ladies. This van is like a Toyota Hiace with 3 rows of seat at the back. I’m alone at the back row and another guy in front of me. Conversation was out of the picture since he was not the talking type. One German couple at the front and they don’t seem friendly too. So I was like, o mannn, don’t let my asthma got to me or else I could die here alone!

And I already intent to jama’ zuhr during asr and the van is moving patiently in the winding road with no towns in sight. What if the good Lord said, well young man, your time on earth is up and your hour of Truth has come. The feeling of excitement and anxiety when you are traveling somewhere without having a clue of the journey itself is really something. The adrenaline is different from Bungee Jumping or those ride at the theme parks. You know theme park operators will do their best to ensure safety but traveling without a Lonely Planet guide will make your heart thumps wildly. Writing this, makes me realize how I can be complacent with the journey to hereafter but will not travel anywhere on earth without a guide book.

Enough of that. After two hours leaving Hat Yai, we had a R&R stop and not having small change with me, I did not leave the van. On the return trip, I realized how foolish it was. For the place had a halal food stall and also a Surau!

I arrived in Krabi about 6 pm and have the driver talked to the agent for my drop off. Patty, the tour agent, was nice and helpful and got me a fairly new place with a/c and bathroom for the night at RM35. For halal dinner, she suggested the night market which is near the Krabi pier, about 100m from her office. I went there and start looking for the ‘Bismillah’ or any Arabic signs. But unlike Hat Yai, I could not find any. I haven’t had lunch and now another surprise! I guess unlike Hat Yai, Malaysians don’t go to Krabi much so there’s no need for the signs. After walking a while, I saw a couple (must be local) and the girl wears a tudung. So that’s the spot for me. Asked the stall what they have for dinner but it wasn’t going anywhere since I don’t speak Thai; so the easiest would be ‘chicken fried rice’ and ‘iced tea’. Cost me RM4 for those.

Apparently, Krabi is about 40% Muslims and a few traders at the night market are Muslims. There are also a few Muslim restaurants but being a small town, much smaller than Hat Yai, the restaurants open at 8 am and close 5 pm.

Things to do here are the same as those in Phuket. After all, you would take the island trips to Phi Phi and a few others like Maya Beach where they filmed Leo’s the Beach movie. The diffence is that it’s cheaper if your base is in Krabi. Krabi also has a few beaches like Ao Nang (20 minutes by car) or Rai Lay (by boat only), but accommodation could double up in those areas.

So, for less than RM50 for transportation from border and RM30 for room, you could be in another environment sipping ice cold pineapple juice and reading a book while being caressed by soft winds. And not to mention those farangs with well endowed assets.