Ao Nang, Krabi (Thailand)

Ao Nang: 

We flew out of Thailand via Krabi airport, which meant making our way over from Railay Beach. Because of our insanely early morning flight, we had to take a longtail boat to Ao Nang the afternoon before just to position ourselves for the airport transfer.  Honestly, if the boat departure logistics worked, we would have skipped Ao Nang entirely.

I’ll never understand why people choose to base themselves in Ao Nang, other than the fact that it’s a cheap launching pad for Krabi’s heavy hitters like Railay, Koh Hong, Koh Poda, and Koh Gai.  But here’s the thing: you can easily access all of those spots while staying in a more dreamy Railay Beach.  So why wouldn’t you just stay there instead?

Ao Nang itself is Krabi’s most developed beach strip, but as a town, it’s a total zippo.  Knowing this ahead of time, we bypassed the busy main drag and booked ourselves into a lush, green tropical resort: Ban Sainai.  Nestled right under those famous Krabi limestone karsts, it was a spectacularly relaxed setting.  Spending the day doing absolutely nothing, staring at the unreal scenery, and sipping fresh young coconuts poolside was a solid call.

The Day Barbie Folded Like a Cheap Suit

Despite the resort luxury, almost 60 days in Asia eating every imaginable variation of rice and noodles will do things to a person.  We had noodles coming out of our asses, and Ao Nang is where Barbie finally broke down and folded like a cheap suit.

I was right in the middle of filming a panoramic video of Ao Nang beach on my iPhone when I turned around and captured the perfect shot.  Without uttering a single word to me, Barbie was making a absolute B-line straight for a Burger King door.  She completely succumbed to the giant neon sign calling her name.  Watching her inhale a Whopper, fries, and a Coke for a quick comfort-food fix is a landmark travel memory I will cherish forever.

Has the “Land of Smiles” Lost Its Edge?

We covered an incredible amount of ground on this trip, but it’s impossible to ignore how much Thailand has changed.  Over the last 20 years, tourism has exploded.  Many parts of the country are heavily developed, and the locals seem a bit jaded from the constant influx.  That friendly innocence of decades past is slightly missing.

In the high-traffic hubs, you feel pulled from all angles.  Prices have jumped, and the hustle is real. Touts are everywhere, Baht is king, and they want your Baht!  The incredible deals of the past are now just “okay” deals—though, thankfully, you can still get a stellar one-hour daily massage for ten bucks because every second storefront is a parlor keeping the market competitive.

The old backpacker enclaves are gone, replaced by crowded, built-up mainstream hubs.  If you want true peace and serenity on the Thai islands now, you have to do your homework and seek out the remoter, less-visited spots that still retain traditional island life.  Timing your visit for the shoulder season is probably the correct choice.

A storyteller’s job is to shed light. But truth be told, I can’t fully put into words what exactly was missing this time—I just felt it. Thailand has lost that wacky, trippy, foreign edge it used to possess. Maybe I’m just older and feel like I’ve seen it all, but something has fundamentally shifted.

Don’t get me wrong:  Thailand is still a fantastic place to visit and remains one of my absolute favorites, but a certain something has changed for BFD.

Final Reflections

It’s tough for me to talk negatively about Thailand because it was once my favorite country in the world.  I’ve visited about a dozen times, hitting almost every major city and southern island.  I still love the chaotic noise, smells, and sprawling mess of Bangkok—that city never gets old for me.

Barbie, however, has incredibly mixed feelings.  She feels mass tourism has somewhat spoiled a once super charming country.  Reflecting on our month here, it’s hard to disagree.  With 30 million tourist arrivals a year, Thailand often gives off the vibe of a nation jaded by the crowds.

Whether you’re in Samui, Phuket, Phi Phi, Railay, Koh Lipe, Koh Tao, Chiang Mai, or even Pai, you are surrounded by a flood of tour groups.  The secret has been out for a long time and Thailand is rapidly becoming a very mainstream destination.  As previously mentioned above, I think the right choice of arrival is the end of the high season. (end of February).  To find the magic now, you may have to push out past the noise into the more remote corners of the country.

Our 30-day visa exemption has wrapped up and the time flew by.  But we’ll be back in a few months with a renewed 30 day visa to tick off the spots we missed on this run—specifically the islands in the Gulf of Thailand.

For now, it’s onto Cambodia!  We are incredibly pumped for this leg since neither of us has ever been, and we can’t wait to finally check out Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.

• Loose Stools Index: 7/10.
  The index jumped back up two notches, but only because Big Doug was proactive with the probiotic capsules.  Things are looking up and nothing is squirting out.