In the nick of time...

Nige woke up this morning as the train stopped and thought, "Hey, I wonder if the train goes past the airport..." He looked out of the window and in fact the train had stopped at the Bangkok airport. Since this is where we were ultimately headed, we quickly grabbed our stuff, threw it off of the train and jumped out in our bare feet, just in time. And we didn't leave anything behind either. We saved ourselves 2 hours, about 300 baht, and a lot of hassles getting from the bus station in Bangkok out to the airport.

We put on our shoes and went into the airport. Bangkok was hot and steamy as we know it, even at 6:30 in the morning. We tried to check into our Bangkok Airways flight, but realised we were in the international terminal when the screen said 'Frankfurt.' Thankful for the air-conditioned walkways and free luggage trollies, we walked ourselves down to the domestic terminal, checked into our flight to Krabi on the Andamand coast, and made full use of Bangkok Airways's free coffee, juice, snacks and internet while waiting to board our 9:20 am flight. It was a painless wait.

The flight south to Krabi was quick and comfortable. As the plane was landing, we flew over thousands of coconut and rubber trees and gorgeous limestone formations jutting out of the sea and land. At the airport, we spent way too long trying to find a hotel. After finally settling on one, we took a taxi to Ao Nang beach and checked into the Beach Terrace hotel. Our room was on the top floor, on the corner, with 180 degree views of the ocean and mountains. It was breathtaking. We quickly dumped our things, changed into our bathers, and went for a dip in the coolish, clear ocean. Needing a bit of shade, we moved from the ocean and walked about 30 metres to our hotel swimming pool, where we enjoyed a coolish chlorinated dip. We relaxed a bit on the lounge chairs under some umbrellas and left just as the late afternoon rain started falling.

We had a quick shower and walked around Ao Nang in the rain, but not before stopping at 7-11 for a few cold beers. Ao Nang is a small town on the Andaman coast, just north of Krabi. It's a nice beach tourist town, with cute shops and restaurants lining the oceanfront. We had a cheap yet excellent dinner of pad thai from a street vendor, then wandered around the shops a bit more before heading to our beautiful hotel room for a good night's sleep.