Ao Nang Beach: Krabi

While we were sitting by the beach and wondering if we would ever get tired of the marvellous sunset that lights up the sky in orange, red, and gold, local masseuses were walking around asking the very few tourists if they need massage after they lost their steady job at massage parlours . "Life is unfair" and this unfolded right in front of us. It's so raw that it's hard to look away.

As much as COVID has had a global economic impact, we definitely notice it more here due to Thailand's heavy dependency on the tourism industry. We did our best to always frequent small and local shops and restaurants to help give just a little bit of support.

This area was also hit by the tsunami in 2004 but you don't really see the physical impact anymore besides the signs on the beach reminding you to run away to higher ground if it happens again. I'm sure some local people who were here then, especially those who lost people or property, are still impacted in ways that are hard for us to see in our short visit.

After a few days of relaxing, walking the Monkey Trail (no monkey in sight) and watching the sunset by the beach, we took a long-tail boat to Railay Beach which can only be reached by boat. You can purchase a one-way (THB 100 per seat) or round trip ticket to Railay Bay Beach at the An Nang Pier ticket booth. When we were there, there was no set schedule despite many websites including rome2rio saying this is the case. You just have to wait for enough people to fill up the long-tail boat (minimum 8 seats) or buy 8 seats all for yourself if you prefer not to wait. I imagine it wouldn't be a long wait under normal circumstances, but we considered buying all the seats on two occasions while waiting for what seemed like a long time.

To be continued....To the Railay Beach