Thailand - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 805

DIRECTORY
Banks, ATMs and exchange These are plentiful in
Phuket Town, Patong and Karon.
Books South Wind Books, Th Phang Nga, Phuket Town,
has a big, sprawling range of secondhand books (Mon-Sat
9am-5pm, Sun 10am-3pm).
Hospital Phuket International Hospital ( T 076 249400,
emergencies T 076 210935, W phuketinternational
hospital.com), north of Central Festival shopping centre on
Highway 402, just west of Phuket town, is considered to
have the best facilities.
Immigration o ce At the southern end of Th Phuket,
Phuket Town, near Ao Makham ( T 076 221905; Mon-Fri
8.30am-4.30pm).
Post o ce On Th Montri, near the corner of Th Phang
Nga, Phuket Town; on Th Patak, just south of Th Taina, in
Karon; and on beachfront Th Thavee Wong, south of its
intersection with Th Bang La, in Patong.
Tourist police For all emergencies, contact the tourist
police, either on the free, 24hr phone line ( T 1155) or at
their main o ce at 327 Th Yaowarat on the north side of
Phuket town ( T 076 223891).

Nga town has bus connections to Phuket, Krabi and Trang at
least hourly, and five daily to Surat Thani.

TOURS
Sayan Tour ( T 076 430348, W sayantour.com) and Mr Kean
Tour ( T 076 430619 or T 089 871 6092) in Phang Nga
town both have o ces inside the bus station and offer
similar waterborne itineraries. They will also store your
baggage for a few hours and sell bus and boat tickets to
Ko Phi Phi and Ko Samui, for example.

10

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Baan Phang Nga 1 00/2 Th Phetkasem T 076 413276.
Friendly new guesthouse, offering a/c rooms with TVs, free
wi-fi, hot-water bathrooms and a few touches of kitsch
contemporary decor. The popular ground-floor restaurant
and bakery does everyt hing fr om Western breakfasts to
massaman curry. Double B650
Phang-nga Guest House 99/1 Th Phetkasem T 076
411358. Opposite Baan Phang Nga , offering clean, en-su ite
fan rooms with cold showers and cable TV. Double B380

KRABI
he small estuary town of KRABI is a
major transport hub for the islands of
Ko Phi Phi and Ko Lanta and makes a
nice spot to stay for a night. Although the
town has no beaches of its own, Ao Nang
and Laem Phra Nang (Railay) are only
45 minutes away. Every Krabi travel
agent sells sea-kayaking expeditions (see
box opposite) and snorkelling trips, and
many also offer tours of Krabi's mangrove
swamps and trips to Wat ham Seua,
dramatically sited inland amid limestone
cliffs. Krabi River runs north to south on
the eastern flank of the town. North-
south hanon Utrakit provides a lot of
the town's restaurants and tourist
facilities; the longtail-boat pier and night
market are just off it to the east.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
From Bangkok, one of the most comfortable options is to
get an overnight sleeper train to Surat Thani and then pick
up a Krabi bus.
By plane Krabi Airport is 18km east of town, just off
Highway 4. Flights are met by shuttle buses to Krabi (B90)
and Ao Nang (B150). AirAsia, Bangkok Airways, Nok Air
and Thai Airways supply numerous hour-long flights to
Bangkok each day. Bangkok Airways also has flights to
Samui (1 daily), while AirAsia flies to Chiang Mai (1 daily)
as well as to Kuala Lumpur (2 daily).

AO PHANG NGA
Covering some four hundred square
kilometres of coast between Phuket and
Krabi, the mangrove-lined bay of Ao Phang
Nga is dotted with dramatic limestone
karst formations of up to 300m in height.

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
he best, and most affordable, way of
seeing the bay is to join one of the
longtail boat trips arranged from the
nearby town of Phang Nga . here are
half-day tours (daily at about 8.30am &
2pm; 3-4hr; B500) and full-day tours
(B800). Overnight trips with a stay in the
Muslim stilt village of Ko Panyi cost an
extra B500-650. Kayaks can be rented
along the way for an extra B350. he
standard itinerary follows a circular or
figure-of-eight route around the bay,
passing weirdly shaped karst silhouettes
including “James Bond Island” which was
Scaramanga's hideaway in he Man With
the Golden Gun . Most boats return to the
mainland via Ko Panyi.

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
By bus The bus station is centrally placed on Th Phetkasem,
a few minutes' walk from the hotels, banks (with ATMs
and exchange) and restaurants along the same road. Phang