damian1

Day 15 of my backpacking trip, and we are still in Thailand. After my third night at Pop In Hostel Ao Nang (Krabi province), it was finally time to hit the road again. Not in terms of a different location, but a new adventure. The past two days have been resting day, so I feel full of energy to do something active. And by this I don't mean a normal activity, because we are going to hike!

The start of the day...

After I woke up I started te day good by getting some breakfast at the same place as yesterday and the day before. Saad Kitchen just had such amazing fresh made food. I remember exactly what I ordered here every morning: a bowl of freshly cut local fruit, such as mango, papaya, pineapple and banana. As an added bonus, I ordered some yogurt, making it the perfect breakfast. Really, I would prefer to eat this for breakfast every day. It's just so gooood!

Of course, this breakfast alone was not enough for me to complete the hike. At the 7 Eleven I bought some bananas, sandwiches and bottled water to make sure the hike would be a success. After my visit to the 7 Eleven I quickly rented a motorbike at the hostel, so I was ready to go and start the adventure.

It was time for me to drive from the hostel to the hike. The hike that is planned for today is the Khao Ngon Nak Nature Trail. According to Google Maps, it was only a 16-minute drive, but I sometimes stop on the way, so this estimate is often incorrect.

I took the less touristic route to the Trail.

Khao Ngon Nak Nature Trail

Once I arrived at the start of the hike, I had to show up at the counter of the park rangers. You could only take the hike within certain times of the day. I had to write down my name, telephone number and arrival time. I also had to take a picture of some emergency numbers, since you will not see many other people during the hike. As the hike is in a national park, admission to this national park is free, but a tip is appreciated.

The hike had a distance of 3.7 KM (2 miles), this over rocks and roots of tree trunks. At a pretty normal pace the hike to the top took me about 2 hours. The hike itself was really tough, I cannot remember a moment in my life that I sweated so much. It was a good thing I had put on a sports outfit. After an hour of hiking through dense forest I was finally able to see the first view. This view was already so good, that I was curious what the top of the mountain had to offer.

The path I had to walk on.

Almost at the top of the mountain, the path became more difficult, it wasn't as before a forest path to walk on, but slippery rocks with nothing but the stone itself to hold on to. After two hours of hiking I was finally at the top. Here I saw the first rock that you could climb on through a bamboo staircase. From this rock I had one of the best views I had ever seen. I had a view over Krabi, while I could also see other places in the distance such as Ao Nang and Railay Beach. For the first half hour I did nothing but sit on the rock, sweat, drink water and enjoy the view. If this was what I did it all for, it was certainly worth it.

The mountain view

After recovering a bit from the hike, I decided to look further. The view here became even better, that I did not know what was happening to me. I mean look at this picture:

Some pictures..

There was one place on the mountain where it was a bit busier with tourist. And it was no surprise why. You could take two of the best photos on the whole mountain here. One sitting at the edge of the rock with a view that cannot be described. A view of rocks, a green valley with trees, pictures, rivers, farmland and of course the sea.

I had to put some more effort into making the other picture. For this one I had to climb on a large rock first, after which I crawled very slowly to the end of the rock (fear of heights). What made it even scarier was the fact that the rock hangs over the cliff. The results are impressive:

I was at the top of the mountain for about two hours, after which it was time to go down again. The way back was a lot easier. The walk back down took me just over an hour.

Once at the scooter I immediately drove to the nearest 7 Eleven to stock up on some water and food. An additional advantage was the air conditioning, which is always present in every 7 Eleven. A wonderful cooling off after a great hike. Just what I needed after a great hike.

Oh and yes, I promise this burger looked better on the packaging. I was quite shocked when I got it in front of me once. But honestly, it tasted pretty good.

The evening

Once back at the hostel I took a shower and immediately went to eat at the restaurant of the neighbors. Here I first ordered a Thai green curry, but it was just a bit too spicy for me as a Dutchman.

Thai green curry

After having eaten about half of it, I decided to order a hamburger at the hostel. It is not very common for me to eat Western food on my holidays outside of Europe, but this was the easiest option for now.

The rest of the evening consisted of a small party with some Germans guys. A few people from my hostel asked me to go out and have a party with them. Of course I couldn't say no to this.

And I have to say, I'm glad I went along. It was a very nice evening, and it is always nice to meet other travelers.

Cinnamon video

I'm way to happy this weeks blog includes a video again. It's not the longest ever, but they give such a great impression by the blogs.

https://www.cinnamon.video/watch?v=392690620281390280

This was it for today. I hope you enjoyed my blog.

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