…Kruising Around Krabi

Wat Rat Upphatham 8.596906, 98.676628

As I mentioned yesterday, I recently made a day trip to Krabi and Phang-nga Provinces. After leaving Wat Ban Thong, it was just a short trip across the border to Wat Rat Upphatham. Another place I’ve visited a few times before. This time I had just one reason for going…

I wanted to get photos of the large Kuan Yin, Goddess of Mercy statue. On previous visits she’d been covered in scaffolding and tarpaulins. I was hoping to catch her naked!

Must have been my lucky day!

Calling the area a wat or temple is a bit misleading. There’s umpteen statues and temples along about a three kilometer narrow road, and this is some distance after leaving the main temple area. After a wider uphill section, the road opens to a large parking area. I have a feeling this is where most people stop and just gaze over the many buildings. Not being “most people” Bert and I plunged down a steep incline which really really needs some warning signs. It’s narrow, has a couple of tight hairpin bends, and is often covered in wet slimy leaves. Getting back up can be a bigger challenge.

Anyhoo, mission accomplished.

Next it was a half-hour drive into Phang-nga city. More of a town really. It’s not a big place. Right in the middle is…

Somdet Phra Srinagarindra Park Thai Chang 8.435580, 98.519429

I just call it Phang-nga Park. It has a bit of everything: lakes, trees, limestone hills, landscaped grassy areas, etc. It seemed like the perfect place to eat my traditional travel-day ham sandwiches. They’re marginally better than 7-11’s version.

Well; Bert had fun. Aerial shots were shooted. Shotten?

If you look carefully at the last photo, you can see that the road runs under the limestone cliff. It’s quite low. One instinctively ducks! Looking now at the road markings I think it might only be for bicycles. Too late!

And then it was on to…

Sarakul Pier 8.389795, 98.460301

What a dump. This is a major jumping off point for tourists to visit islands, beaches and rivers. Perhaps Covid is to blame, but the place is in serious need of renovation.

One of the favorite places to go is known as James Bond Island. That scruffy-looking airplane perched on a rock is a replica of the one used in the movie The Man With The Golden Gun. I thought it would be fun to see it. It wasn’t.

I’d planned to send Maxie up for a look around, but it was 37 degrees and hazy. There didn’t seem much point. Well, in the distance the view seemed nice…

…but whereas I like the heat, drone batteries don’t. I was concerned about hearing the dreaded words “Battery overheating. Land immediately.” Not great when your drone is one kilometer away over a river and mangrove swamps.

I had planned to keep tootling out to one of the viewpoints that overlooks the Andaman Sea. But the sun shining down through the humidity would have rendered the trip pointless. I was running behind schedule anyways, so I decided to call it a day. I must have spent too long eating my ham sandwiches.

Not a bad day. When the haze clears I’ll head back and continue where I left off. Well, not Sarakul Pier. Someplace with a nicer river view.