Welcome to travel dream come true Krabi
I ran into a young American woman on the flight from Bangkok to Krabi who was reading The Beach , the novel by Alex Garland that inspired, in 2000, the film Danny Boyle starring Leonardo DiCaprio. She was so engrossed in reading that she barely looked up from the book. Only when we landed did she discover that I was sitting next to her and she told me that she was flying to Krabi with the intention of sailing ** to the Phi Phi islands **, the scene of "the perfect beach" of The Beach.
I remembered the movie, with some very violent drug dealers, a few hippies, a few hippies (including a dreamy backpacker, Leonardo Dicaprio ), a secret map, and a beach that was rumored to be the most beautiful in the world. The film is far away, but on a previous trip I was able to verify that the Mayan beach , on one of the islands of Koh Phi Phi, it remains a myth among travelers, as evidenced by the many boats that arrive there every day, coming from Krabi or the most distant island of phuket.
Moving away from the urbanism of Krabi
- I hope you're not disappointed- I warned him.
"Why should I?" She was surprised. I have seen photos and I think they are wonderful.
I just told him that the higher the expectations, the more difficult it is for dreams to come true. Seeking literary complicity, I allowed myself to add a phrase from Paul Theroux: " It is enough for a place to acquire the reputation of paradise so that it does not take long to become hell. ". I guess the girl didn't like my role as a spoilsport, she made an annoyed gesture and didn't say a word to me again. I still remember how she walked away through the Krabi airport, in a cotton dress with printed flowers, hippie sandals , backpack on the back, the book of The Beach in one hand and a head full of dream paradises.
The small town of Krabi, with its tuk-tuks, its many bars and restaurants and its lively night market, was not bad, but I had not come to Krabi to be tempted by urban life, but rather to merge with the surrounding landscape s: majestic limestone pillars, long sandy beaches, palm groves, labyrinthine mangroves and dream islands that could be said to have emerged from a dream world.
The hotel where I stayed, the ** Tubkaak **, a few kilometers from the city, had enough charm that I did not want to go further. asian luxury, bungalows hidden among the vegetation , several swimming pools, a permanent smile service, a restaurant by the sea, massages capable of transporting you to the thousand and one nights and a beautiful sandy beach a. It was fine lounging in the Tubkaak, but I was aware that you don't travel to Thailand to lock yourself in a hotel.
Tubkaak Hotel Bungalow
I started doing Kayak around Ao Thalane and Koh Hong Island , a small wonder, to then move to the temple of the tiger cave, Tham Sua Wat, eight kilometers from the city. They say in Krabi that in the cave of the temple, located at the base of a tall limestone pillar, lived a tiger that had them terrified. Today, luckily, there is only a sculpture of the tiger in front of which to be photographed. The terror, however, remains in the form of 1,237 steps that rise to the top. In spite of everything, there are many visitors who defy the effort, and the persevering nuisance of the monkeys, to reach the top and contemplate, in addition to the large seated Buddha surrounded by antennae , the spectacular views that confirm that the province of Krabi, open to the sea, it is a privileged place.
Not too far, Ao Nan beach g, populated by urbanizations and pensions, is a good appetizer to get into the krabi sailor charms . The beach is of fine sand, but it is worth renting a long stern boat, a long tail boat, to visit some of the islands in the bay.
The two twin pillars of almost 100 meters that act as a symbol of Krabi, Khao Khanap Nam , appeared after going up the Krabi River and leaving behind the mangroves. They are 15 minutes from chao fa pier , there is a cave there in which, they say, the bodies of fishermen were found who, apparently, perished due to a flood. A walk around the nearby island of Koh Klang , the closest to the city, allowed me to enjoy the local charm, navigate through mangroves, admire houses on stilts, stroll through rice fields and savor a fish with an unmistakably Thai flavor : spices and coconut milk.
Long Tail Boats on Koh Hong Island
From here the trip seemed to enter another dimension, especially when the long tail boat took me to one of the beaches of Rai Leh, or from Railay, that in both ways I have seen the name of this peninsula written with the vocation of an island that can only be reached by sea.
Disembark on Phra Nang Beach , on the peninsula Rai Leh, It invites you to hold your breath and pinch yourself a few times to convince yourself that what you are seeing is real. Not in vain are we in one of the most beautiful beaches in the world . In it, everything seems to be in its place: the wide sandbank, the palm trees that cover its back, the rough limestone cliffs, the vertical island that is right in the middle, the clear water and the cave of the princess, which opens in one end of the beach.
Tham Phra Nang , or the cave of the princess, is a small sanctuary located at the foot of a cliff that seems to tear at the base to welcome you into its bosom. Inside there are, in addition to flowers, candles and sandalwood sticks, many wooden phalluses. Legend has it that the wife of a fisherman who died on the high seas lived there. Another more imaginative version, however, points out that in the cave lived the ghost of an Indian woman who perished in a shipwreck. In any case, the lingams , or phalluses, associated with fertility, are usually an offering to the goddess shiva . Whatever the truth, the cave is still there, next to the beach, as a sanctuary for locals and an attraction for tourists, who often take fun photos posing next to the huge lingams.
Phang Nga Bay in Krabi
A step away from the beach is u not one of those wonderful hotels that usually occur in Thailand, the ** Rayavadee **, with spacious bungalows camouflaged in the palm grove, a large swimming pool and a charming restaurant located in a cave (this one without lingams and without ghosts) . beyond the beach Phra Nang another one is found, Rai Leh West, with more sand and more hotels. Across the isthmus occupied by the Rayavadee is Rai Leh East, the most famous beach among backpackers.
Though west beach is better for swimming, risk takers lean towards east beach , which has some cliffs that attract climbers from all over the world. The first to arrive, in the eighties, were the French backpackers, and since then they have opened over 100 vertical wall climbing routes . The beach, however, disappears as soon as the tide goes out and turns into a quagmire.
Another point in favor of Rai Leh East are the numerous bars, restaurants and hostels with an alternative atmosphere. Some of the bars are suspended over the water , with wooden platforms lined with mattresses and cushions where you can contemplate the moon in a horizontal position. The last of the bars, bearing the redundant name of The Last Bar , is a good place to stretch out in the evening with a refreshing drink.
Walking on the beach of Koh Hong
Since I'm not much of a climber, I opted to climb the sloping path of one of the pillars that dominate the beach to a viewpoint located about 160 meters high . The view from there, with the isthmus dominated by the Rayavadee palm grove and the sandy arches of the beaches, is a dream.
On the path that leads to the viewpoint, an indicator points to the path to a secret lagoon, located in the depths of the heart of the pillar, which receives the name of Princess Lagoon. It is worth taking a detour, defying the mud and the verticality, along a path only suitable for the intrepid, which in some sections has fixed ropes and steps. The prize for the daring is to reach an impressive blue lagoon , surrounded by high cliffs and flanked by caves. Here the legend of the princess reappears, in an environment reminiscent of the scenes of the film Avatar . Backpackers who dare to spend the night in the mysterious caves, especially when there is a full moon, they claim to have seen his ghost , which is not surprising in an unreal environment like this.
After ecstatic at the enigmatic beauty of the Laguna de la Princesa, it was time to return to the outside world and embark again to explore the many islands around Krabi. The Phi Phi are the most famous in the area, located a couple of hours . “Who knows?” I thought, “maybe there I would see the girl from the plane again?”
On the beach of Hotel Tubkaak
The first stopover was bamboo island , one of the six that make up the Phi Phi archipelago, a perfect setting for the to swimming, scuba diving and photos of approved paradises . There I began to sense what the authentic idyllic places in this part of Thailand are like. The island is small, but with a beach of white sand that blends with the turquoise blue of the sea.
The two most famous islands of Phi Phi are Phi Phi Don , the oldest, and Phi Phi Leh , where is it located Mayan Beach , the "perfect beach" that Leonardo DiCaprio was looking for in the movie The Beach , and the girl on the plane. The boat went first to the smallest, stopping before a cave in which there is a Viking ship drawn on the rock. Did the Vikings get here? Another enigma for these islands.
Not far from the cave is the narrow entrance to Maya Bay which, between cliffs, predisposes to a dream scenario or that is confirmed by the sight of clear water, colorful fish and a sandy beach with a backdrop of coconut palms in the background. “When they filmed The Beach , in 1998, the producers changed the appearance of the beach, planting palm trees and moving the sand with bulldozers to give it a more filmy look” – Pravat, a Thai guide – told me. There were protests from environmentalists and in the end they left everything as before. “But with more tourists” , accurate. “Well, yes, there are a lot more tourists now,” he smiles. The dozens of boats and the hundreds of tourists that were in the bay underlined the success of the great promotional campaign that the film entailed. Between November and April, when the waves do not complicate access to the beach, it is the best time to visit it, but there are visitors all year round.
Procrastinating at Hotel Point Yamu by Como
As I walked along the beach I tried to find, in the crowd, the young woman from the plane. Would she have made it to the beach of her dreams? I didn't see her, but I didn't rule out that she was there. In any case, bathing in the pristine waters of Mayan Beach Surrounded by colorful fish, it was an experience to remember. In Phi Phi Don , the largest island, the picture changed. From the viewpoint on top of one of the hills I could see the isthmus that draws the island, with beaches on both sides and many bars, shops and hotels in between. “More than a thousand people died here because of the 2004 tsunami” Pravat told me. The waves swept the entire isthmus and washed away everything. It was terrible. Now no one would say. They rebuilt everything right away. The tsunami is a nightmare of the past.
The setting was so wonderful that it seemed unbelievable that it would destroy that beautiful island, but the newspaper archives confirm it. After spending a few days on Phi Phi Don, I got on a fast boat that in less than an hour took me to another famous island off the coast of Thailand and open to the andaman sea , Phuket. There are many more hotels, many more shops and, of course, many more tourists. Of all the hotels on the island of Phuket, the Point Yamu, of the Como Group, deserves a point and a separate. It is located in a unique place, Cape Yamu, and has views of up to 360 degrees, with prominence for the Andaman Sea and Phang Nga Bay , with spectacular limestone islands where years ago James Bond, then played by actor Roger Moore, filmed one of his famous adventures: The man with the golden gun.
Rang Yai Island
They stand out in this resort of grand asian luxury or the careful decoration (signed by Paola Navone, with a predominance of blue and turquoise tones), the rooms with large windows and the suites and villas with private pools, as well as the excellent restaurants (the Nahmyaa, Asian, and The Mermaid, Italian ), the exuberant vegetation, the splendid massages and a paradisiacal beach where there was a very well placed hammock that I had a hard time giving up when my stay ended.
Beyond the excesses of Patong Beach , where mass tourism is concentrated and the Phuket consumer craze , I still had the desire to see other islands, which is almost a vice in Thailand. So I set out for the little rang yai , about 15 minutes from Phuket.
Rang Yai is a private island , covered with coconut trees, with a turquoise blue sea and white sand that holds the qualification of ' ecotourism ’. All there is, apart from some fishermen and pearl farms, is a bar, a restaurant and a few bamboo bungalows. It was at the door of one of them that I ran into the girl from the plane again.
The scenario that James Bond would want
-Hi, do you remember me? I approached her. She was sitting in front of the bungalow in an indolent attitude, lying in a hammock, very tanned and with a book in her hand whose title I couldn't see.
"Ah, yes, we met on the plane," she said after forcing her memory.
–Have you been to the Phi Phi Islands yet?
"Yes," she said without enthusiasm.
–And what, did you like “the perfect beach”? She looked at me like I was asking the wrong question. "It was too full," he pouted in annoyance. I imagined it empty, wonderful, just for me.
"Yeah," I laughed. The problem is that many people have the same dream at the same time.
"I'm fine here now," he smiled. I plan to stay a few days in Rang Yai. The good thing about Thailand is that there is always some wonderful island nearby.
I said goodbye to her and, as I was leaving, I could see that the book she was reading had a picture of Koh Tao on the cover . I knew that island, another Thai wonder located further north, but I was afraid that the girl would have a hard time keeping it just for her. In any case, perhaps that would be her next destination, always in search of the perfect beach, the perfect place, the perfect trip.
* This article is published in the April 83 Condé Nast Traveler magazine. This number is available in its digital version for iPad in the iTunes AppStore, and in the digital version for PC, Mac, Smartphone and iPad in the Zinio virtual kiosk (on Smartphone devices: Android, PC/Mac, Win8, WebOS, Rims, iPad). Also, you can find us on Google Play Newsstand.
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Rang Yai: here the dress code is the swimsuit