Samantha Manning is a student at University of Northwestern – St. Paul and an ISA Featured Photo Blogger. She is studying abroad with ISA in Bangkok, Thailand.
After one week of classes, my fellow ISA students and I decided that it was time for our first weekend trip! Our destination? Krabi, a beautiful area on the west coast of Southern Thailand. If you are looking for a place that packs in breathtaking sights with adrenaline adventures, Krabi is your spot!
Surrounding Krabi is a plethora of cliffs, caves, and coves. It is easy to hop from one island to the next to find just the right activity. For Amy, this was rock climbing at Phranang Cave Beach on the Railay Peninsula.
Transportation around Krabi is easy–catch a longtail taxi boat! We took one like this from our hostel in Krabi town to Railay. I took this photo at Ao Nang Beach. When we arrived at Ao Nang, we considered taking a longtail boat to an island just off the beach. To our surprise, the water was so shallow that we were able to wade through the sea from the mainland beach to the small island!
Coming from the Midwest, this water was nothing like the Mississippi mud I was used to. The Andaman Sea was salty, clear, and SO WARM!
These limestone cliffs are everywhere. Something about the juxtaposition of green cliffs in a blue sea had me mesmerized the entire weekend.
We saw this family of monkeys at Railay. Monkeys are all over Krabi, and they are not afraid of being around humans. They even pounce on people to steal their food, water bottles, or anything they find attractive!
From Krabi town, you can see a tiny Buddha at the top of one of the limestone cliffs. If you have ever had a desire to climb 1,260 stairs to visit a temple that overlooks Krabi, then the Tiger Temple is your place. It was very overcast the weekend we were in Krabi, but the view was still incredible, and very rewarding after all those stairs!
My favorite excursion from the weekend was our cave kayaking trip. Our local guides took us to some amazing places; we paddled through caves with dripping stalactites, through mangrove forests, and into lagoons enclosed by cliffs covered by enormous palm trees. It was amazing.
We tied up our kayaks and got to hike around a cave with ancient drawings and huge rock formations.
Our guides fed us an authentic Thai lunch and took us by van through a pineapple field, into a remote stream of water that runs from the rain forest! What an awesome way to end a crazy, adventure-filled day.
The scenery on the trip looked like something from a fantasy movie, and the experiences I had I will never forget. I’m not sure how many times since arriving to Thailand I’ve said, “This was the best day ever,” but I definitely said it after every day on this weekend trip.
Want to read more about Thailand? Check out “It Only Takes Three Days to Fall in Love with Thailand“!