Tuesday (1/18) – Coffee Arthit (Ao Nang):

What a pleasant morning it has been! We grabbed breakfast at the same place as yesterday. Our two friends were still running the show and they both broke into smiles when they saw us walk up. They even remembered our order because even though we only selected a few donuts, one of them set a large bowl of pineapple on our table and then winked at us.

Since we’re catching a bus out of town this evening we had to check out of our hotel. The bus agency will pick us up from the hotel at 4pm and the hotel let us store our bags behind the front desk.

Thus we found ourselves walking to Krabi Town around 9am with about 7 hours to kill. As if a signal from above, just a few minutes from our hotel we saw a small open-air bus with a sign saying it was headed towards Ao Nang, the small beach community I mentioned yesterday. We flagged down the driver and jumped on board.

Thirty minutes later we found ourselves in downtown Ao Nang. With sort of a Laguna Beach feel, Lonely Planet got it right when it described the place, with its shop after shop of cheesy souvenirs and cars driving up and down the main road advertising Thai boxing matches and snake shows, as kitschy. Although the day is quite overcast there are plenty of people out and about and loads of them are sprawled on the beach. While the scenery is pretty enough and there are loads more beautiful places just a boat ride away, we are thankful for our time on Mai Khao Beach.

We walked around a bit, poked our heads into a few shops, snagged a watermelon shake, and then decided that the morning warranted a couple of massages. We found a stretch of beach with a long row of massage tents. We selected one – or rather it selected us with a 50% discount and a skewer of pineapple – and we settled for an hour-long coconut oil massage for each of us. It was pretty great.

Nice and relaxed after our rub-downs, Ashlee put the restaurant choice for lunch up to me. A little Thai-ed out from yesterday, I jumped at the chance for a nice Subway sandwich – I told you the place was kitschy!

Now that we are well-fed, Ashlee is off getting her shop on and I’m sitting in a little café sipping on an ice tiramisu latte. I don’t want to go back to Mongolia.

It's watermelon shake time!

Inside one shop, the shopkeeper ran over to Ashlee and ran her hand down Ashlee's back. Apparently Ashlee picked up this little hitchiker while shopping around.

The "bus" between Krabi and Ao Nang.