After breakfast, I had some time to walk around the area nearby Aonang Villa.  Surprisingly I discover a board showing 50% discount for massage from 10am to 2pm.  I guess business must be very slow in this low season period. In fact I had been offered 20% discount on massage previous day at Aonang beach front area.

Zheng Er enjoying breakfast before we head back to Hatyai at 10.00am

Group photo session.

We took the same way where we came from few days ago, highway 4.  But this time, we by passed Trang town and head over to Khao Pubpa for lunch.

Some poster at the restaurant telling the story about the development around the area long long time ago.

After lunch, continue our journey back to Hatyai via Phattalung.

Along the way, we stopped by some local stall along the highway selling these delicious pineapple, some call it crystal honey pineapple.

Car 3 finally decided to buy the antique coffee table, luckily it fit nicely to my truck.

We reached Hatyai about 4.30pm, check in to hotel and some member continue their shopping and massage activity.

At night, we had our dinner at this popular duck noodle.  As usual the portion is rather small and you need at least 2 bowls to fill up your stomach.

The stall operates from 5.00pm to 4.00am morning.

The location of the stall is a bit off the main street, it is located at a dead end alley.  The land mark is look for Regency hotel, from the hotel entrance looking towards Lee Garden Plaza, there is a small lane on your left hand side ( next to Regency open car park ), the stall is located at the end of the walk way.

There are 2 stalls selling the same duck noodle, I cannot tell which one is better and original.  Maybe you can try both.

Besides duck noodle, there are a numbers of other choice as well.

After dinner, we moved on to the famous street in from of Lee Garden Plaza for some dessert.  To be honest, the price is rather expensive for road side dessert, 50Baht ( about RM5)  for Lin Chee Kang where you can get it at less then RM2 in Malaysia.

Drive to Krabi Day 1

Drive to Krabi Day 2

Drive to Krabi Day 3

Drive to Krabi Day 4

Drive To Krabi Day 6

After breakfast, we drove to Krabi via Trang. We took highway 43 to Phatthalung exit left to Trang and finally Krabi.

Driving from Hatyai to Phatthalung using Highway 43 is smooth and easy, just like Malaysia North South Highway, it is a dual carriage highway. Please take note that this is toll free highway and be expect car making U-turn and pedestrian crossing along the way.

We stopped by a handicraft shop recommended by Car 6, there are several handicraft shops along the way and the price is reasonable. Car 3 falls in love with an antique coffee table and consider buying it when we are back from Krabi.

From Phatthalung to Trang, continue with Highway 4 ( turn left at Phatthalung interchange ) will bring you to hilly terrain (  similar to scenery around Ipoh ) where you will see a lot of limestone hilly terrain.  The road on the hilly section is single carriage similar our trunk road here in Malaysia.

There is one restaurant on top of this hilly road call “Khao Pubpa” that you must stop for meal, it is located at the highest point of the road, and the environment is very cooling and excellent for a break.  We had our earlier lunch here about 12.00pm.  The restaurant is  built by wooden structure and used only wooden furniture still in its natural and original shape. It makes it blend in really well with the natural environment surrounded the restaurant.

The food is tasty and price reasonable, it cost about 800Baht for a family 4 adult and 4 children.  Everyone enjoy the food and decided to visit Khao Pubpa again when we are on our return journey from Krabi.

Zheng Yuan and GrandPa.

After lunch we proceed our journey to Krabi passing by a town call  Trang.  We decided to drive through Trang town to see what they have to offer instead of taking the “Trang ByPass” highway.

In Trang town, we noticed a lot of Chinese residing here. We saw a lot of Chinese wording banner especially at school, temple and shops.

With the assistance of LonelyPlanet in Car 8, we managed to visit one of the popular kopitiam in Trang. This restaurant operates by Thai Teo Chew Chinese who still speak fluent mandarin.  Car 3 generously bought us a round of the famous honey roast pig while Car 6 being a Teo Chew Nang as well bought every table the authentic Teo Chew biscuit.

A very run down shop outside, but excellent food inside.

Best honey roast pig in Trang.Traditional Teo Chew Moon Cake and biscuit.

There is a small hiccup when we left Trang as I accidentally droped my GPS causing it haywired showing a wrong direction.  Luckily Car 8 come to rescue bring us back to the right track. Resetting the GPS bring us back to the right track and we continue our journey via trunk road 4158 connecting to 4159 and finally back to Highway 4.

If you do not wish to visit Trang town, I will strongly suggest you to take the Trang By pass and continue with Highway 4 passing Huai Yot town to Krabi. ( Map is provided free by Thailand Tourism Board Malaysia located at Level 22, Menara CitiBank Kuala Lumpur, Tel: (603) 2162 3480 http://www.thaitourism.com.my/).

Finally we reached Aonang beach/Krabi about 4.30pm.  Just like Koh Samui, the hotel entrance is rather small sandwiched in between all the shops and signboard.  Checked in to the hotel and relax at the pool.  The hotel Aonang Villa Resort is strategically located by the beach and walking distance to all the food and shopping area next to Aonang beach.  Next to the hotel is a limestone mountain, the view is  similar to Batu Cave back in Malaysia.

The hotel cost about 2500Baht per night inclusive breakfast and tea time for 2 during low season, room is very spacious.  There are 2 pools in the hotel, surprisingly the pool closed rather early at 7pm.

At night, we have a slow walk around the beach front Aonang shopping/dining area. The area is very well organized after the Tsunami hit.  There are a numbers of restaurant by the seaside at the end of the shopping area.  The price of the food is all set in the menu and written in both Thai and English language.  For a family of 2 adults and 4 children, it cost us about 800Baht for a seafood dinner.

If you want to catch the sunset whiles having dinner, this will be the best place, be there about 6pm so that you can have more choice of table location. The sunset about 6.30pm, unfortunately I do not have the opportunity to take any photo, according to Car 8’s LonelyPlanet, it is very beautiful. ( Try google Aonang Sunset for photo ).

After dinner, all the ladies continue shopping and massage, some of us enjoying beer at the hotel lobby.

Aonang Beach at night.

Drive to Krabi Day 1

Drive to Krabi Day 3

Drive to Krabi Day 4

Drive to Krabi Day 5

Drive To Krabi Day 6