I celebrated my 49th birthday in Krabi with my friend But and his family. At the last minute, I had an extra companion for the trip. Fred Hagemann from Johannesburg had mixed up his flight details - and ended up with an extra day's holiday! So he came along for the ride and then left on his flight to South Africa via Singapore the next day.Krabi is situated on the mainland of Thailand, across the bay from Phuket. Although it's not too far by boat or as the crow flies, it takes about 2-3 hours by road. We rolled into town in my pick-up and checked into the City
Hotel in Krabi Town. We usually stay in Ao Nang, which is a holiday resort about 15kms from Krabi Town. While Ao Nang is very touristy, with hundreds of resorts, restaurants and bars, Krabi Town is a rather sleepy provincial town only frequented by Thai families and backpackers, lured by the low rates. 
At this time of the year Ao Nang is horribly overpriced, as the Scandanavians and Germans swarm in. The resort where I usually stay for 1000 baht a night costs 3800 baht over this period. A good hotel will cost around 200 US dollars right now. In contrast, the neat and friendly City Hotel will only set you back 750 or 900 baht, really good value. And as it is located opposite the night market and only a half-block from river promenade, it's right in the centre of all the action there is.
I loved it. Most of the action takes place on the pavement outside the hotel. Sitting on the steps of the 7-Eleven store next to the entrance one can spend hours watching the locals come and go. Two shops down is a 24-hour liquor store, used by all the karoake bars and pubs to stock up as the night progresses. Everyone is very friendly and the market across the road has everything you could possibly need in terms of food, drink and cheap clothing. And all of this comes at incredibly low 'local' prices.
That night we went to dinner at a Thai restaurant on the outskirts of the town. What an amazing place. We sat outside in a garden setting, with fountains, bridges and palm trees. Checking out the menu, we came across an amazing dish - fried chicken with herpes! Fred and I were hysterical, finally deciding that the herpes meant herbs.One often finds funny translations on English signs in Thailand. However, my favourite one represents a misunderstanding more than a mistake. Someone obviously had the idea to take advantage of the trend towards everything eco-friendly with their brand of bottled water. However, the name they chose, GREEN WATER, failed to boost sales.
While we were there, Fred and I did our "eco-friendly" bit with a boat ride down the river which runs through Krabi. It is flanked by a huge mangrove forest and with huge limestone cliffs surrounding the town, is a spectacular sight. However, at one point he took us into the forest, where we were surrounded by trees. Suddenly we noticed the monkeys - hundreds of them, with the most evil looks on their faces. The boatmen threw out a few bananas for them to squabble over, but they never stopped staring at us with the fiercest-looking eyes and twitching mouths. It was a terrifying sight and I was most relieved to leave them behind.So, it was "Happy Birthday to Peter" in lovely Krabi. Next year I will be 50 - so you can expect a big, big party.... I am busy planning. Watch this space.
