The bus ride which led up to this drop off was slightly uncomfortable but definitely tolerable but it was actually the landscape of Krabi which really caught my attention from my bus seat. There where huge sections of mountainous rock standing proud from the ground covered in thick green foliage with all the tropical trees you can imagine forming this. You can’t help but look up in awe and be inspired by the scenery as it is absolutely stunning, and not only that, it had an equally stunning sunshine laced morning to accompany it. I stared for at least an hour and never took my eye away from the window until the bus came to an unanticipated abrupt halt. Here we were…Krabi which is situated in south west Thailand- a tropical paradise.
A stout smiley faced Thai gentleman approached both Scotty and I and placed a leaflet in our hand which represented his bungalow complex in all its glory. At first glance it seemed too good to be true as it had a swimming pool, free pool/snooker, clean and tidy unlike what we have been staying in at times up till now and wait for it…a scooter for free to get around the various beaches. The price was an incredible 400 Baht for the bungalow and all these facilities, so with astute maths skills we worked that out to be 200 Baht each (3.80 Gbp). We contemplated for a while but I think that’s because we had had minimal sleep and decided ‘sod it’ as it was are only offer and a very pleasant one at that. Just to hire a scooter for a day out here is 150 Baht anyway so it had to be a deal!
We boarded his minibus and were rushed away at a very relaxed island speed of around 40 kph and so took us about 15 minutes to arrive at our destination. The name of the bungalow complex is called Ao Nang Baan Suan Resort and is only 5 minutes on the scooter from Ao Nang beach. First impressions were everything we could have wanted and the leaflet did not lie, so as a couple of hobos we were overjoyed with our off the cuff purchase. We were guided to our bungalow (number 123) and I just threw my clothes off and got in the shower, which by the way is massive! 10 minutes later I was a new man and it was Scotty’s turn from ultimate yeti to clean young sir Mckeaveney. Vests on, sunglasses on, shorts on and the keys to the scooter- it was finally time for Scotty Dogg’s first lesson on a scooter. He is writing a blog post on scooters for you to read so I won’t bore you but whatever he says in his post just remember that he almost stacked it on his first turn on his test run on the small country road just outside the complex. One more thing, in case people wondered how a guy with no prior experience on a scooter can be allowed to get on one then I have no real answer for this. All you need is a passport and a pulse…it really is that simple. Scary but really that simple!