BACK TO KRABI

It's the new year and we decided to visit one of our favourite places from 2010, AO NANG: KRABI but this time we went with our friends John & Lisa. One quick 90-minute flight, a 30-minute taxi to Ao Nang and voila, we were at the hotel and walking through the sunny streets of Thailand. This trip consisted of two major events: A Curry Cooking Course at the Krabi Cookery School & the Hong Island Speedboat Tour.

The cooking course (a fantastic belated Christmas present to us from J&L) was a four hour affair where we learned how to make 4 curries from scratch: Red, Green, Yellow & Panaeng. We also learned Tom Ka Kai Soup, Pad Thai, Morning Glory, Papaya Salad and Stir-fried Peppercorn Chicken. The chef teaching the class, Mrs. Ya, was wonderful and entertaining for the entire afternoon and it was a blast. We learned a lot and more importantly cooked a lot and then ate it all. It was a great memory and we will definitely use some of those recipes we tried.

The next day, we took part in a speedboat tour that took us around a number of the tiny little paradise-like islands around Krabi and it ended with a few hours at the large Hong Island. There we swam, scuba'ed, ate lunch and I fell asleep in the sand - yes it was that relaxing. While it is High Season and there are tons and tons of tourists doing the same type of tour as us making all of the islands a little crowded, it's still cool to see all those limestone formations and walk along the white sandy beaches or swim in that aqua blue water, it's beautiful.

Finally, Michelle crossed off a goal from her "bucket list" by getting an official Thai tattoo done in the traditional bamboo style. She decided to "put a bird on it" by getting five birds flying around her forearm to her wrist but instead of having it done by the gun, she got it done with the sharp bamboo stick. Mr. Tattoo (yes, that's his name), said it wouldn't hurt as much as the gun but he was a charlatan as it hurt more. Luckily it's much faster than the gun, it heals faster as well and bottom line, it looks fantastic.

After all that, we spent the rest of the time sunbathing, swimming, looking at the shops, drinking G&T's, playing pool and ofcourse indulging in that amazing Thai food. I would heartily recommend a great restaurant called The Massaman (located at 382/2-3 Ao Nang Muang 81000: that's on the main road that McDonalds & Starbucks is on a few minutes up from those shops), it's cheap, friendly and the food is fantastic. If you only eat one thing, try the namesake, the Chicken Massaman Curry, it's kind of like a Thai version of mexican mole and well worth a visit.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend and even though it was our second time here, I can totally see us going back for a third visit, yes, it's that good. Check out our pics HERE!!!