After breakfast at hotel, checkout at 9am and continue our journey to Phuket, about 300km from Trang.

During our last trip to Krabi, we stop by a very famous honey roasted pork coffee shop in Trang, we decided to drop by before  leaving for Phuket.

Unfortunately, the shop is not open because owner’s mother is sick ( see how women can dig out so much information in a short chat ). Luckily the stall selling the authentic teochew moon cake is open. It cost about RM4 per pc.

Always buy some food when you are traveling as you will never know when is your next stop for food.

We reached Krabi about 11am, since it is still early we decided by drop by Tiger Cave temple again.

Grandpa and grandma in front out God of Mercy- Kwan Yin.

The temple is still in construction since our last visit in 2009.

Continue our journey and having lunch at this Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant along the main road to Phuket.

The restaurant is directly facing the main road, the decor and environment is clean and comfortable.

Fried rice with Crab Meat in Star shape. The outlook is nice but not as good as the one we had yesterday at Trang.  I noticed we had this popular, cheap and delicious food almost every meal whenever we are in Thailand, I guess because it is fast and all kids like it. In Thai, it is call ” Khao Pat Poh “.

Finally, reach Phuket at 5pm. We stayed at Patong Resort Hotel costing about RM110.00 per night. Room is spacious and clean. Location is strategically located in the middle of Patong beach and walking distance to beach, shopping and the famous Bangla road.  You can book the hotel HERE.

Night time at Patong Beach.

Zheng Er enjoying her ice cream after dinner.

Drive To Phuket – Day 1

Drive To Phuket – Day 3

Drive To Phuket – Day 4

Drive To Phuket – Day 5

Drive To Phuket – Day 6

Leaving our comfy home at 6.30am, driving at boring North South Highway, breakfast at Tapah rest area and finally real border at 1pm Malaysia time.

Since it is Sunday noon and I do not foresee heavy traffic at both Malaysia and Thai custom, after getting my custom document and car entry permit done at “Mini Cafe” as usual, I proceed to border and in less then an hour, I am having lunch at this popular Thailand Chicken Rice.

As usual, chicken rice + roasted pork + meat ball.

After lunch, continue our journey to Trang, our first night stop at Thailand to Phuket.  The reason why I did not stop at Hatyai this time is because distance to Trang is only another 200KM where I can cover in less then 3 hours, beside there are nothing much to see in Hatyai beside shopping.  I always plan shopping at Hatyai on the last day so that I do not need to carry so many things around.

On top of that, I will have more time to spend along the journey from Trang to Phuket ( like drop by Krabi ), about 300KM. Else, I have to cover 500KM from Hatyai to Phuket tomorrow.

Reach the hill top restaurant Khao Pubpa at 4pm and decided to have a shot break there, the distance from here to Trang town is about 30KM.

Zheng Ni, Zheng Yuan and Zheng Er.

Very refreshing environment.

Children having a good time with grandpa and grandma.

Zheng Hao and grandpa.

Grandma waiting for food.

Look at this, fried banana in round shape different from what we seen in Malaysia.

Finally reach Thumrin Thana hotel at about 5pm. The price is about RM150. You may book the hotel HERE. Check in and relax while waiting for dinner time.

The room is cosy and spacious.  The hotel is the best in Trang where it is popular among Thai business traveller. It cost about RM150.00 per night. I did not see other foreigner beside us.

Nice view from the hotel room.

Dinner time.  Decided not to drive after a long day. The hotel receptionist recommended a small restaurant about 1 minute walks away.

Food is good especially the fried rice with crab meat ( Khao Pat Poh in Thai ).

Wai Yee approved the food quality and we can return whenever we are in Trang.

After dinner, since the night is still young, we decided to visit the Trang night market held every week from Friday to Sunday.  The location is just beside the Trang city hall. A 5 minutes drive from the hotel.

Very popular stall selling chicken, in less then 30 minutes when we return from the other end, all the chicks are gone.

Look at that !!!!!

Grasshopper !!!!

Worms !!!!!

Grasshopper !!!

Worms !!!!!

Overall, it just another night market selling all sort of things from food, clothing, fashion accessories, shoe etc etc.

But the price is reasonable cheap as most of the customer is local.

Drive To Phuket – Day 2

Drive To Phuket – Day 3

Drive To Phuket – Day 4

Drive To Phuket – Day 5

Drive To Phuket – Day 6

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 Asian hotel, the cost is below RM100. The location is located in the middle of the city where walking distance to all the hot spot. You may book the hotel HERE.

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