It started with my dad’s car’s rusty brake pads. Have you
ever gone on a road trip and felt so inadequately prepared? Every screech made
whenever my bf stepped on the break pedal would make my stomach clench just a
little more, and silently utter a prayer to reach my destination safely. And it
was a long road trip.
But ok, let’s start from the real beginning. Where? What?
How? Why? Who?
My car doesn't break.... well.
So, my bf and his bro-friends have this annual thing where
they would go on a short holiday every Chinese New Year. And after a lot of
back and forth, we decided to go to the seaside town of Krabi this year.
Everything was so last minute, and everyone being indecisive as to how we would
get there (fly? Drive? Hire a van?) and even where we would stay. To the extent
that we only decided to drive there a few days before our planned departure
date. And because there were 6 of us going, my bf and I ended up having to
drive my dad’s car for the trip. You just cannot drive a Myvi long distance. It
was CNY and no car workshops were opened anymore so we had no choice but to
chance it without first servicing the car. If you know me well enough, I am not
really a spontaneous person, I like order and making plans, schedules, lists,
you name it. So, other than the fact that a malfunctioning brake could possibly
bring about my early demise, you can sort of see why I was rather antsy from
the start.
All is not well.
Everything went as smooth as can be expected until
we passed immigration on the Bukit Kayu Hitam (Malaysian) side. Utter monstrous
bumper to bumper traffic jam on the Thai side. So much so, that we were just
stuck in one place for an hour without moving at all. We then decided to get
out of the queue and chance our luck at another immigration point in Kedah
called Ban Prakop. That added another 3 hours of travel time when it should
have just been 45 minutes. The drive through the Thai kampong roads was under
repair and full of portholes that we had to be extra careful while driving.
Even my friend who was driving a Ford Ranger tried to have as little impact as
possible. Boy I wish we had a 4x4 at that time!
We reached Hatyai town at about 4pm for a late lunch/early
dinner. I overstuffed myself and had indigestion later as we continued on our
journey northwards Krabi. My weak stomach!
What we had (clockwise from top far left) - fluffy omelette, keng som fish, kampung style salad with a fiery sambal dip, prawn cakes, paku salad, squirrel, refreshing coconut water, and sambal petai with prawns.
While driving on the highway, the
car in front of us hit a dog and unfortunately we could not avoid running over it.
Talk about an ominous omen… RIP doggo. I’m sorry :(
Krabi at last! Or is it?
It was 11pm when we finally arrived at Ao Nang beach, the
main tourist hub of Krabi. What was supposed to be a relatively short trip
dragged on for a whole day! My only thought was to have a nice shower and
change into my pjs and lie down on a comfy bed with snacks. Too bad! We didn’t
have a hotel booked prior to coming so ended up going from one hotel to another
looking for available rooms. That really wasn’t the best idea as it was the
tourist high season and every hotel was full up! At first, we picked the nicer
hotels, then, getting more and more desperate, we would just go into every
random hotel to inquire. After an hour of frantic (on my part) searching, we
stumbled on a small hotel at the far end of Ao Nang. Success! At least, that
was what we felt until we reached the place and found it dark with no one
behind the lobby desk, and many rooms unoccupied. Haunted or what? Turned out
to be the best decision as the place was cheap, relatively clean, and had a
nice little pool, and nary a ghost.
So this was the sum of the journey.
Stay tuned for my next entry on my time in Krabi. Hello sun!
Hello sea!
No comments:
Post a Comment