The Quaint Lao Lading Highlighting the Eventful Boat Day to Hong Islands

Day 3 in Krabi was filled with my longtail boat tour to Hong Islands! This was started earlier in the morning, and luckily I was the last to get picked up again and we headed to the pier. The drive to the pier is so gorgeous because it is along the beach and the sun shines bright in the morning onto the cliffs making them glow. When we got to the pier, there was some refreshments so I had another coffee, before getting picked up I went to a nearby cafe to get some coffee and I also got peanut butter toast which is my comfort food, while I waited for my boat to be called. 

I wanted to make sure I did a longtail boat while I was in Krabi because there are so many here and it’s an iconic boat for this area that is a "must ride" when coming to Thailand. So, I booked this tour because I wanted to see some of the islands that were on the agenda along with just ride in this boat. 

We hopped onto our boat, I tried to get a spot up front to have a good view yet stay protected from the sun and under the awning. I sat next to this Spanish couple and across from these dutch girls that I spent forever trying to figure out what language they were speaking until I finally asked them on the last stop where they were from. The boat is motorized, but I think the driver went slower than it could go, thankfully, because it made the ride more angelic, a soft float across the water instead of hurling through the waves with the sound of a jet engine blaring in your ears. It took us a bit longer to hop between islands, but the view was amazing as we went along so I didn’t mind the extra time it took. 

Our first stop was a snorkeling area, again, not the biggest snorkeler but all of these tours make at least one stop for the tourists to enjoy. This area was really deep so it was hard to see the bottom where the coral and fish lived. I took my mask off within minutes, handed it to a kind person in the boat who set it next to my things, and then I jumped right back in to do my classic float. We were next to this cool red rock and it contrasted so well with the blue green water. We ended up getting out of the water early, I wasn’t entirely sure why until I watched as the person in front of me came out of the water with blood dripping down his leg.

Our tour guide was this nice older thai man, but he had an incredibly thick accent, that even with english being my first language, I could understand less than half the things he said. There are a lot of international tourists that do these tours in english so I could only imagine how it was for them to interpret this man. The tour guide mentioned not to touch the coral because it is sharp and will cut you, I had heard this in my prior snorkeling safety seminars so I was well aware, but a man on my tour must have been a novice snorkeler and the direction got lost in translation. The tour guide wasn’t able to stop the bleeding so we had to bring him back to shore for him to go to the hospital and get some stitches because it was so bad. He apologized to us as he left he boat, but it really wasn’t that inconvenient because thankfully we hadn’t gone too far yet, and we actually all felt so bad for him because now he was missing out on the rest of the tour, had to go to the hospital, and will likely not be able to swim the rest of his trip because the injury. We knew that the guide was hard to understand and could totally see how it would happen. After we dropped him off, we headed to our second destination, this one was my favorite.

Stop two for the day was Koh Lao Lading (pictured above). Traveling is such a great thing and hopping around different islands gives you first hand knowledge of what you loved the most and where you would want to revisit. I am only 22 years old, and I know I have my lifetime left to travel, so although I am touring these places as if I won’t ever get the opportunity to come back, I also store my favorite destinations in the back of my mind if I am ever lucky enough to return. This place was filed in that special spot of “must revisit.” This place was so dreamy, the sun was perfect and lit up the water yet left the shore shaded for us to relax on. It was a little cove, yet perfectly situated to make it ever so pleasing to the eye and a literal paradise on earth. I compared this to Maya Bay, of equal beauty, yet I enjoyed this bay a bit more because it felt special, not as many people were here to share it with, and it was about a quarter of the size. It was perfect to me and I enjoyed every second I was there, struggling to peel my eyes away as we had to say goodbye and head to our next stop after a short 45 minutes. We got our lunch here so at least I got to eat that with a view, swim a bit, and sit on the beach in absolute awe with what was currently in front of my eyes. This single stop made the whole boat trip worth it to me. 

Thankfully we had sun and perfect weather for that stop, because it ended there. Not to mention, our boat was packed up with some extra people as a different boat broke down and my operators generously let them join us. Thankfully I retained my spot safely under the awning because when the light rain turned into a torrential downpour, I was protected more so than my counterparts at the front of the boat that had nothing to shield them from the pelting raindrops. I felt bad for them but was not willing to relinquish my seat to get wet and join them in the cold air. It was a bummer it rained for the second half of the trip when we visited Hong Islands.

Our third stop was this really cool bay that lush green cliffs encircled the boat, I got some photos but my phone was in a water case and the drops distorted the photo quality. I tried to see through the rain protectors on the boat and the cloudy skies that formed to make the sky a blank sheet of white. We were supposed to swim in this bay for a few minutes but I am guessing that you can predict none of us hopped in the water. So we stayed in this bay a bit longer squinting our eyes in hopes its blurry view would clear up so slightly we could see past the fog and imagine the view hidden behind. We boated just a few minutes to the last stop of the day, which was to Hong Island National Park. We had planned to stay here for about 1.5 hours, and with the rain, the show went on. Our guide gave us our time here, and we got to chose just how we spent it. Whether it was swimming, snorkeling, hiking, getting food, or chilling indoors, we had the time to do it. I didn’t bring anything with me except for my phone in a waterproof case that hung around my neck so I could use to check the time, and my water shoes. It made it easy when swimming in the water not having to worry about my stuff because $50 shoes were the least of my worries when I typically have about 1-2k in technology on the beach with me other times.

I chose to swim, as it was colder outside and warmer in the water. I was just chilling by myself until the two dutch girls came up to me and we started chatting. It was so cool to get to know them, they were two best friends in between their sophomore and junior year of college living in the heart of Amsterdam together, going on a holiday over summer break. One thing I noticed about dutch people when I was in Amsterdam a year ago was their perfect english. These two girls proved my theory correct once more, as it was so fun and easy to chat with them. I learned about their love of NYC, the city that people visit whenever I ask if they’ve ever been to America. They were some of the unfortunate riders in the boat who had to sit without the awning protecting them so despite being in the warm water, it wasn’t enough to warm them up and they went into the gift shop to buy a towel to warm up. They invited me to join but I didn’t have any money and knew my best bet for warmth was to stay in the water. One of the girls funnily mentioned that she would always remember this moment anytime she complained of being too hot, wishing the tables were turned at this point in time. 

I ended up spending the next hour in the water alone, but no worries because I think I have the deepest mind, always having something to think about and give a good ponder over, so as I stared at the beautiful view from the water, switching between a float and treading water, my mind kept me company. I didn’t get bored until the very end, when my kind tour guide must have noticed I did nothing besides stay in the water for the whole 1.5 hours, so he came over with a snorkeling mask and brought me to an area of swimming section and showed me a clownfish (I had just seen one the day before at phi phi), but he also showed me a huge clam which was so cool! I just watched from above as he dove under and touched the clam and I got to watch it as it clamped together. I also saw some sea cucumbers and a school of fish. I was grateful to have gotten to snorkel once more and see some cool wildlife. We had to swim a ways to see the coral reef, but it actually got my blood pumping and warmed me up a bit. I should’ve been doing laps the whole time, but at least it warmed me up for the walk to the boat until I could wrap up tightly in my towel. That was the conclusion of our tour, and for the ride home we got fresh fruit, you can bet I inhaled it and made sure there was no pineapple left to go to waste. 

With the cut leg, the extra passengers, and the downpour rain, it amazed me we made it back to shore safely and I waved goodbye to my tour guide and group as I departed back for my hostel. I immediately showered when I got back, warming myself back up and getting refreshed after a long boat day. I was making the most of my time in Krabi, which this place deserves your full attention so I am happy to have the capacity to do just that. I wanted to hang out a coffee shop for the night and get some work done, so that was how I ended up spending the rest of my night. I was eying up this cute but pricey shop along the beach. I splurged on a blue spirulina smoothie and got dinner there as well, which I think I found my new favorite thai dish- Pad Ko Prao… do yourself a favor, find a recipe online and tell me it isn’t the best flavored meal ever. I was full speed forward the past two days, so having a few hours to take it slow helped me reset, because I would have another scheduled day tomorrow, taking the ferry over to Railay beach and spending my day exploring that cove of the city.