Krabi

We went on a short trip to Krabi, Thailand in February. It was for a school assignment and we could relax and unwind for a few days.

26th February

Took AirAsia to Krabi in the afternoon flight! Thanks to online check in and since we didn't have any check in luggage. We could just stroll into the departure hall with the prints out. :D

Mandatory flight picture

The flight was only about 1.5hrs and we have touched down in Krabi!! Stamp passport and we were in main land Krabi. It was so different than what I expected. There were more crowds and was not as quiet and peaceful as I expected it to be. Bought a SIM card for data usage that cost 100฿ (about SGD$4) and a bus ticket that brought us right to Ao Nang Pier. The bus ticket was 150฿ ($6) and it was an hour long. Not a bad deal seeing you could look at the everyday life of the locals and take in some sightseeing as it does not bring you straight to your destinations. The bus ride was about an hour but we took in scenery that we most probably would not notice if we were on a private van. XD
 The long tail boat ride to Railay Beach operated when they could get fill the boat up and its only about 15mins ride costing only 100฿.

Welcome to Krabi~

Excited boy who cant wait to get to the resort

Their public transport

View from the boat towards Railay Beach

They had to fill the boat up before leaving

After 15minutes, we have reached Railay Beach!! We stayed in Sand Sea Resort that was located right at the beach area.

Taken from Railay Beach.

As you can see. the boat could not dock right at the beach and we had to wade through the water to the beach. It was worth while as we could take in the beautiful scene before checking in to our room.

I would totally recommend Sand Sea Resort if anyone is looking for a place to stay on Railay Beach. They just had a major renovation and the whole place look awesome. The rooms don't look very old either. Very fresh look.

After a short rest, we went for a walk to look for dinner. Eating at the resort is an option but there is always some jewel somewhere on the island that is hidden. And thats what we are looking for!

Had dinner at this restaurant named, The Last Bar. Just cause they are the last restaurant on that stretch of road. Highly recommend the steamed fish there. Its fresh and there is no fishy smell. Both of us devour a whole fish!

Sorry no pictures as the lighting was a bit dark there!

Regardless, short walk back and it was time to rest and recharge for the next day!

27th February 2016

Woke up at 0530 to catch the sunrise. It was super low tide and we walked quite deep into the ocean. You could see the little crabs running around and if you are fast enough, you can see fishes swimming around. Had breakfast and took a walk to East Railay, where they were people rock climbing some caves around the area. The caves were small but if you squeeze, you could actually walk inside. Pretty cool. And there were a Penis Shrine, also known an Phra Nang, Goddess of love, too! It's apparently a shrine that attract loads of local to come and just pray and offer some offerings. And it's apparently very accurate too! As long as you are sincere, you will definitely have an offspring.


Sunrise~


Suntanning at around 10am


people coming into Railay Beach


environmentally conscious


Educating the tourist.
I think this was a very nice touch to the scenery. Not only are you absorbing the beautiful scenery, you learn something too!


The penis shrine


Local tour guides explaining to tourist and Thai people alike


a little explanation about the shrine

28th February 2016

Day 3 and it was time to go home. As it was an early flight, we bought the airport transfer from the resort itself as it is a straight route back to the hotel with no stopovers to wait for people. It cost us about 1500Baht for a boat ride, and a van ride back to the airport. As it was a personalised service, you didn't really have to walk.



As it was low tide, a tractor was used to ferry us to the boat that was out in the ocean.


transiting from the tractor onto the long tail boat


Bringing fresh food into the island itself as there is no plantation or agriculture done on Railay



Docking to mainland~ Different from when we 1st took the boat to Railay



the motorbike that ferried us to the van~ cute hor. hahah



The van that took us back to the hotel. Only for the 2 of us~


and then it was a flight back to Singapore~ :(


As this was a trip I had to undertake for my course in University, it was short and sweet. Nonetheless, there were many memories made.

And now to anticipate our next trip... to Japan!!! but thats only happening end of 2016.

STAY TUNE!!

The Mini Taipei Tour

We went on a short 5 day 4 night tour around Taipei.
Our flight timing was like 1.10am in the morning.
It was the best and cheapest to spend a more fulfilling day of leave/off from work/school at Taipei on the first day. There we took a mrt to changi airport and reached around 10-11pm in the night to check in and board the airport, lepak at the airport to make sure we have more than enough time to snack abit before boarding the plane.


Just a selfie on the train.

The night flight was not really packed, however it is always a struggle to sleep on a budget airline. So make sure you are prepared for that!

 
A view at the break of dawn.

DAY 1

The flight was around 4 and a half hours. Do take note, at the immigration counters leaving or entering taiwan is always damn long. However, we reached Taoyuan airport at around 5-6am. It was an earlier than expected arriving timing. So we were kind of glad. In the morning, the immigration counter was short. We headed out to the convenient store and got ourself some onigiri as we were starving. Bought the taiwan milk tea bottle as it was so overwhelmingly recommended on online blogposts and friends.

We sat down at the arrival hall and had our early breakfast. (That marks our start of our eating journey.)

We wanted to buy a simcard for our tab to provide us 24/7 internet access for emergency and normal web browsing. However it opens only at 9am. So we randomly go to one of the store to purchase one of the simcard. We wandered around and deciding to take the High Speed Rail (HSR) to taipei main station.

We went to the bus terminal to buy a bus ticket to head out to the HSR station at Taoyuan. It cost 30NTD for each ticket. We are still glad that we came early as the buses was not pack and traffic was rather smooth.


A selfie on the bus. Marks the beginning of our trip!

We took the HSR business class seats. Damn shiok! Once in a life time experience. (Although we had 2. HAHAHAHA). Each ticket cost 350NTD. Confirm got seats and free tea and tidbits to eat and drink. No money take business class flight, take business class HSR also can!


Selfie on the business class train.

Upon reaching at Taipei Main Station station, we went around the train station to look for a place to buy the ezlink card similar to Singapore. Sadly to say we reached too early and the shop has not opened yet to actually sell the card. Therefore my fiancee had to buy a normal ticket to head to XiMenDing to buy the ezlink card which is the few stations that has a machine that dispenses the card.

Time check : 10am
Headed down to XiMenDing to check into our AirBNB apartment. Rather cheap compared to hotels. We communicated with the person in charge using LINE, however we were too early i suppose. Therefore we went to AHZHONG MeeSua which was told by many people that the mee sua is the best. However, it was kind of over rated. Hahaha.

As it was still early and the weather decided to suddenly become a bitch, we headed to the 2 storey starbucks which is impossible to miss if you had been there before. Ordered a drink and waited for the owner of the apartment to get back to us.

Time check: 11am
The owner got back to us and finally checked in. Finally we had some nua-ing (resting) time in the apartment, The owner told us about some spots that was nice to go around for food, shopping and everything.

Time check : 1-2pm
We rested in the apartment, showered and it was more of a recovery day for us. We went around ximending to recollect memories of 1 year ago when we were here. Walked around and saw my favourite UFO CATCHERS! But first we went to eat those street stalls and went to play some UFO catchers to gain back some skills. HAHAHAH. Will share the loots later on. Headed back to the apartment to put down the stuffs and enjoyed abit of the aircon before heading off.

Time check : 3.30pm
We headed off to the ye shi that the owner of the apartment recommended. Rao He Ye shi. We took the train to taipei main station and headed towards SongShan Station at exit 5. We walked about looking for interesting things. Maybe perhaps we reached too early, Most of the stalls are not opened yet. We found a few other UFO machine store. The store we went to also just opened not long ago. So went in to try abit of luck. The auntie was really friendly and helped us to catch plenty of stuffs. HAHAHA. Then we headed out to look for food. Finally tasted the bbq beef that facebook has been spamming with. The flamethrower beef. SHIOK! MUST EAT! 100 NTD for a normal serving. 200 NTD for the big serving.


Best of all, found my fiancee favourite food Chou tou fu (smelly beancurd), Had a jolly good time eating. Then we headed to a dessert stall and ate some cold stuffs as the weather was kind of humid from the raining. Had the banana chocolate ice!


Look at that cheeky face.

Time check : 5-6pm.
We took the train back to taipei main station to walk about and find more UFO Catcher over there. Catched more soft toys and headed back to ximending to had our snacks dinner there. Went to their 7-11 to buy cup noodles, plain water, taiwan fruit beer, herbal eggs and best of all, they had like pig blood in there! Went back to the apartment as we were really tired.


Loots of the day from the UFO Catcher!


DAY 2

We planned to go visit the Shi Fen before hand to put the sky lantern. We took the train from ximending to taipei mrt. And then we took the train to ruifang station.



From there the sun was killing us so we decided to just take a cab from there. There are packaged trips at the booth. You can check it out if you get there. We decided to take the shifen waterfall + Shifen + taipei city. Cost around 1000ntd. On the cab, the sceneries were fantastic. Its really different from Singapore where you rarely get to see so much greenery.





The taxi uncle was also funny. He told us he was Taiwan Number 1! Because of this.


Back on track, we headed over to the waterfall first. It's around a 20-30mins walk in total if you are pretty see and go kind of tourist. HAHAHHA. We are pretty much that. We gotta walk quite a distance before able to actually see the waterfall. There are eateries and souvenir's shops open to eat and shop!



Upon walking on, We reached the top of the waterfall.


Typical Selfie MOMENT!

The sun was glaring at us though. Not a choice for the small eyes!

We walked further in to have a bigger and wider view of the waterfall. Another 5-10 mins of walking.


It was quite an exercise and to actually have such wonderful view of the waterfall.

Time Check : 12pm
We are back on the cab and headed on to shi fen lao jie to put our sky lantern. That was kind of one of the few highlights that we are so keen to return back to Taipei.

Time Check : 1230pm
We reached shifen to actually go on the railway track! There are plenty of shops that actually sell those sky lanterns.


Selfie!

We spent quite awhile to think of which shop to go, what to write on the lantern and stuffs like that.


Off the lantern goes!
Hoping our dreams and wishes will come true!

Anyway, we ate at one of the ulu big sausage wrap small sausage shop. The shopkeeper was really nice and friendly. Furthermore, the food was not bad!

Time check: 3pm

We were back at taipei, Thank you TAIWAN NO 1!. We went to taipei mainstation and walked abit around there and headed to the ufo catchers to play around.
Headed back to our apartment after that to catch some rest on our legs.

Time check: 7pm
We walked around ximending and further away into the outskirts. Many funky, punky shops was there. Our loots for the night. Spent around 2k ntd on all these. HAHAHHAHA



DAY3

I guess we had a tiring previous day and slept in abit later. Another one of our last minute planning and swapping of itinerary. We decided to go to the cable car since the weather was really nice and hot. Thank you weather for being nice when the weather forecast is being a bitch.
We took a train from XimenDing towards ZhongXiao Fuxing Station. Then transferred over to another line to Taipei Zoo station.


Thats the cable car station from the mrt station.

We went off to the cable car straightaway and went on to queue. There are two types of cable car. One is the crystal clear and one is the normal one. The crystal clear cable car is super duper long queue! So i went to enquire with the counter lady and she said it's fine to board either or. So we decided to board the normal one up since its the shorter queue and then head downwards later with the crystal one.


some views off the cable car.

Its a rather long ride. So you can take your time and snap some pictures and enjoy some breeze from the cable car ride.


Some more views off the cable car.

It is a 30mins ++ ride on the cable car.


Finally we made it up the top! see the smile on her face! she finally got away from the height fears. HAHAHA.

We had lunch at the top and got lazy to continue walking. And decided to carry on with our itinerary and head over to taipei 101!
On the way down the cable car~~

We took the crystal clear one down as it is also short queue!


Time check : 1.30pm

We reached taipei 101 observatory tower from the taipei zoo station.
The tickets to head to the top is 500NTD. Kind of expensive. But it is a one of a kind experience!

The ticket to head up!


At the top of the tower, Some mandatory selfie shots are needed!!

Time check : 4-5pm
We headed back to taipei main station to walk around places we have never been to and had more kiap kiap spree.

Time check : 7:30pm

These are the loots from the ufo machines!
Had a great time catching stuffs!

DAY 5 (LAST DAY ): )

We had an early check out from the airbnnb and decided to move on with our journey back to Singapore. It was kind of sad that we had to head back so soon.

We took the HSR business class back from Taipei Mainstation to taoyuan station to take a bus back to the airport. Oh well.

It was a fun trip for us as most of the time we traveled using public transport instead of taxis. A fulfilling trip although it is always sad that the fun times had to end.

Time check : 10:50pm


Back in SG after shopping at the duty free. Big bag small bag returning back to SG.
That concludes our 5 day 4 night trip in Taipei.
Hope you had a fun time reading our trip post and hope it helps you in your mini Taiwan travels as well. (: