Krabi Town, Thailand - Day 1

  Ah another lazy day, especially because it was hot and humid. We got up and ate brekkie then went to catch the boat to go to Krabi Town. Originally we were going to go to one of the islands, but since it was the low season no boats were really running so we thought Krabi Town it is. When we checked out you had to wait for them to check the room and make sure nothing was broken/missing which was fine. Though there was another lady there throwing a hissy fit. She was complaining so much about how she doesn't have time for this, how the boat is going to leave without her, how she needs to leave right now!! Then she had to pay for a candy bar and that was another hissy fit. She ate it, she just didn't want to pay for it. And she was like "the wrapper was open when I got it by the way" so she shouldn't have to pay for it. Um okay, so why did you eat it then? Why didn't you put it back or take it to the front desk or something? You still ate it, you still have to pay for it. It is not like it was secret how much things cost. Then it turns out a pair of slippers were missing and she was just like yeah, I took them. Well then you have to pay for them! There was a sheet of paper that listed how much things cost if you wanted to take them with you. This shouldn't be a surprise...she was ridiculous. 
  So when we were okay to leave we went out to wait for our boat. We got there at a good time as we only had about a 10 minute wait. Usually you just have to wait until they have a full boat so we headed out early to try and have the best chances of not waiting long. 





  When we got the tickets they said it was for Krabi Town, only it wasn't. Same price as if we would have gone the whole way so that was annoying. We got dropped off somewhere, not sure where, and then had to try and find our way to town. There was a guy with a van trying to find everyone going to the airport and the same lady from checkout kept telling him 2 more for the airport and he kept telling her he needed to see her tickets so she could get in the van. Oh he was getting so angry with her as she just wasn't listening. He was just like I keep telling you I need to see your ticket and you keep not getting it for me. I need to see your ticket or you are not coming with me!! I've told you this again and again so let me see your ticket or I am leaving. I unfortunately didn't see how that turned out.  There was another guy who needed to go to Krabi Town as well so we asked where we needed to go and they said walk over to the main road and catch the bus. So we waited and finally got the "bus" (it was really a tuk tuk). The whole thing was annoying. I don't mind if you tell me from the get go that I will need to do x, y and z, but to just take us wherever where our only option is to pay someone else to take us where we want to go is not cool. Especially when you tell us the boat is going where we want when it really isn't. Our other option from Railay was to take a boat to Ao Nong, which probably would have been better since the bus went through there anyway before going to Krabi Town. The boat would have been cheaper and we would have known what to expect. The bus runs along this giant loop and it took us over an hour to get to Krabi Town even though it wasn't that far away. 
  We all piled out of the tuk tuk in town by the Wat on the hill and there were tons of other tuk tuk drivers trying to get us all to get in their tuk tuk to take us somewhere which we didn't need. By that point I just wanted to get to our hotel and drop our stuff off and relax for a minute. I must say this was not my favorite place in Thailand. When you walk by somewhere the people are yelling at you to come in and eat or whatever, the tuk tuk drivers will yell at you from across the street and keep yelling until you get out of their range, it was just like constantly being harassed by people. Not my favorite thing ever.  It was so hot and humid I was just drenched in sweat. We checked into our hotel and it had AC!! So we hung out there and cooled down until it was time for lunch. 
  7-11 veg fest offerings
  We walked around for a bit looking for food until we found Black Canyon Coffee which had a big vegetarian festival sign and delicious iced beverages! I had an iced green tea latte which was delicious! I have never had an iced tea latte before, but I will definitely be getting them more often once it gets warm. Raymond got some fruit flavored drink which just tasted like sugar. 
  Then we had corn fritters
  Green curry fried rice with veggie chicken and spicy soup - the soup was tasty, but not hot spicy at all, and the rice was super spicy
  And spicy fried "pork" which neither of us really liked. There was something in it that was hard and crunchy like a peanut shell or something. Not sure what it was and we just ate something recently here in Berlin that had it as well. I don't like whatever it is as it is not fun to eat. Everything else was really tasty though. 
  Traffic lights around town
  These apes are meant to represent the 40-million year old remains that were found here that scientist think represent the earliest example of the ape-to-human evolutionary process
  Crosswalks had zebras in them! Why isn't this a thing everywhere?
  At the popular ice cream place they even had a vegan option! We got the sundae with mixed beans and whipped cream. It was good, but not like anything else I have had before. Beans and ice cream - tasty, but an odd combination
  Then we started seeing all of these people dressed in white gathering on the streets. There were signs up that said something was happening at 3:30, so since it was 2:30 we went back to our room to use the internet and try and figure it out. We couldn't find anything so we thought oh well, and went back out to just explore more. We headed towards the main street where we saw lots of place we thought we could come back to for dinner, lots of veg fest flags everywhere...
  And we stumbled across the procession! Now fair warning - there are some...graphic photos ahead. These processions include people who have pierced/cut their cheeks open and put things (knives and such) through them. I don't have a lot of close ups, but they are there. So you may or may not want to continue on.  So we were standing down one street a bit watching the procession and the two guys above came over, one guy lit some firecrackers and they made their little chair alter thing dance around to them just for us. 
    Then we watched everyone walk by and go down another road, so we cut up the road they came down to see if we could run into them again - and we did!
  In the front of the procession was a car of guys playing drums loudly with some ladies singing/chanting along
  Then the guys with the chair things
  They kept setting off fireworks and dancing around with them. It was sooooo loud! Like I took the above video, but at the same time I wanted to cover my ears as the fireworks were hurting them. And it got really smokey. 
  Then the guys with things through their cheeks came next

  Followed by the ladies with things in their cheeks

  Everyone was wearing white except for the ones with things through their cheeks. They wore brightly colored garments. 
  So many fireworks! So much smoke!




  We followed the procession for a bit until we got to where they were taking the things out of peoples cheeks. That was...a bit intense. The people were really shaky and a bit unsteady on their feet. 
  They would go over and do something at the tables the other people had set up. Like make an offering or something. I am really not sure. 





  And that was the procession. I was glad we got to see it as originally I had wanted to be in Phuket Town for the big ones the last day, but with the boat schedule knew we wouldn't be able to make it. So we got to experience the real vegetarian festival still, just on a smaller scale. 
  After the procession we walked along the waterfront for a bit spying on what we could see. There was a lot of art along the way.
  It was really hazy out











  While walking down the waterfront we kept coming across people trying to get us to take a boat tour with them. We kept saying no, but they were persistent. On the way back I thought maybe we should walk on the other side of the road so we don't have to deal with them again, but they were just nice and friendly then. Apparently they gave us the hard sale, we declined, and so then everything was good.
  We went back to the hotel since it was so gross outside and hung out until dinnertime. We had seen so many places to eat we thought we would have no problem finding food. We headed out about 7:30 and most everything was already closed! Krabi Town is not a late night town apparently (not that 7:30 is late...). We did find a market that was starting to close up, but we were able to get some food there. 

  Tofu and noodles for dinner. This wasn't my favorite town in Thailand since there wasn't really much there, but I am glad we decided to stop by and were able to watch one of the processions. Maybe if it hadn't been so muggy I would have enjoyed it more, but it is what it is. Still an enjoyable day of relaxing.