The Rambling Writer Visits Thailand, part 18: Phangnga Bay

Join Thor and me for the last leg of your virtual Thailand vacation as we arrive at Phangnga Bay to see the famous karst sea stacks.

NOTE: “And now for something completely different.” Thor and I made our first trip to Asia — the beautiful country of Thailand.  We were lucky to squeak through the pandemic flight closures in January/February of 2020 as we returned from our three-week trip. Since more travel has now become a distant prospect, we hope you’ll take a virtual vacation with us in the following weeks. (This blog series started on June 13.)

It was hard to tear ourselves away from the wonderful snorkeling at Baan Kratig, but eager to see the sea stacks of Phangnga Bay, we boarded a ferry to Krabi and got our first glimpse:

Like the karst formations we saw near Our Jungle House, these limestone outcrops are remnants of the once-mighty Tenasserim Mountains that still form a spine through Thailand to China. Only these ones are “drowned karstland” in shallow sea, and the stone is carved by water that erodes fissures and creates tunnels and chambers.

Once again, the trip involving shuttles and ferry was all arranged by our hotel, and we arrived at Anyavee Tupkaek Beach Hotel to find that once again a reasonable rate had provided a rather luxurious room with a view of the sea stacks beckoning.

We arranged hiring a private longtail boat and pilot for the next day for a tour of the stacks, then enjoyed a warm swim in the shallow sea, and some lounging and beachcombing.

The tide goes Way out here, and then the shore is carpeted with miniature “ghost crabs” with a body about the size of a fingertip, who are nonetheless rather fierce in waving their claws about if you stoop to check them out.

Thor, whose specialty as a paleontologist was fossil shells, got a bit carried away collecting shells here.

We are usually somewhat budget travelers, so in Thailand it had taken a while to adjust to the higher-end services our budget was buying us. But by this time, we were going with the flow and enjoying bar and snack service on our beach loungers, with attentive staff serving us and bringing fresh towels. As we noted before, the Thai people we encountered were almost all very sweet-natured.

Elephants are revered everywhere, even with this whimsical fountain:

A wander down the beach took us to this massage pavilion, where we enjoyed another couple session to work out the muscle kinks.

Ahhhh, feeling happy!

We had prearranged a meet-up with our friends from home, Paul and Joanie, who were on a different travel schedule but coinciding with our stay here. So we cleaned up and headed for their nearby hotel on the beach for dinner.

As we finished, a storm front was moving in for a dramatic end to the day.

Next week: We tour the sea stacks in our longtail boat.

*****

You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s latest novel from Book View Café is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection. It’s a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?”  The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara has recently returned from another research trip in Greece and is back at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com