Today, we will be driving to Krabi where we’ll be at the Thai Village resort. Hopefully the clouds dissipate as they certainly appear menacing at the moment.
En route we stopped at the Suwannakuha monkey temple. It is built in an immense limestone cave system in Phang Nga. Wow, monkeys everywhere. One of them attacked Deb’s leg but thankfully did not bite or scratch her – we didn’t want to be heading for rabies shots any time soon. There was a huge reclining Buddha in the temple among the many prayer stations built right into the cave’s walls (Bettina, you would have loved this temple – we thought of you while there and wished that you could have been with us!). Hundreds of bats clinging seemingly precariously provided a dark ceiling throughout the caves. After receiving a blessing from the resident monk (complete with water shower and tri-coloured bracelet), we were on our way again to Krabi.
Upon arrival at the Krabi Thai Village Resort, we quickly realized that they were not going to honour the hotels.com contract for bed, breakfast and dinner. After much discussion and phone calls to the hotel.com Asian office, Expedia and the hotel’s off-site executive management, we agreed that this hotel was not for us. We chalked it up as a possible blessing in disguise. Several things about the hotel seemed to get our “spider sense” going: very poor English spoken by hotel staff and its manager; complete inflexibility and lack of support by the hotel manager including a lack of empathy and sympathy; the fact that our quoted rate was double that of the rack room rate (presumably due to breakfast and dinner being included) but unrecognized by Krabi Thai Village Resort; and finally the resort’s distance from the local hospital and other key amenities (i.e., restaurants and shops).
Now to find other accommodation. Deb has gone over to a local agency to find us some accommodation. And, still it rains.
Although it took a while we ended up at Krabi Peace Laguna Resort. It has three pools, entertainment, and lovely grounds. We found this gem thanks to a passive, multi-lingual tour operator’s recommendation at another hotel that we visited that was not for us (cigarette-smoke tiny rooms with tinier beds). While we waited patiently in the hotel’s lobby for Deb to return from checking out other hotels, a quiet young lady occasionally nodded greetings to us. When Deb returned – without news of suitable accommodation, the young lady, Juanita from Bulgaria, mentioned a promotion that she’d heard about at the nearby Peace Laguna Resort. After a call, their van was on its way to pick us up to have a look. We checked in to a gigantic room with air con, TV, etc. and were so happy to finally be settled after a long, long day.
We headed immediately for supper and some cold beer/Fantas. Our beds felt good afterwards after a long day of travel. Hoping that the weather will clear by tomorrow.
En route we stopped at the Suwannakuha monkey temple. It is built in an immense limestone cave system in Phang Nga. Wow, monkeys everywhere. One of them attacked Deb’s leg but thankfully did not bite or scratch her – we didn’t want to be heading for rabies shots any time soon. There was a huge reclining Buddha in the temple among the many prayer stations built right into the cave’s walls (Bettina, you would have loved this temple – we thought of you while there and wished that you could have been with us!). Hundreds of bats clinging seemingly precariously provided a dark ceiling throughout the caves. After receiving a blessing from the resident monk (complete with water shower and tri-coloured bracelet), we were on our way again to Krabi.
Upon arrival at the Krabi Thai Village Resort, we quickly realized that they were not going to honour the hotels.com contract for bed, breakfast and dinner. After much discussion and phone calls to the hotel.com Asian office, Expedia and the hotel’s off-site executive management, we agreed that this hotel was not for us. We chalked it up as a possible blessing in disguise. Several things about the hotel seemed to get our “spider sense” going: very poor English spoken by hotel staff and its manager; complete inflexibility and lack of support by the hotel manager including a lack of empathy and sympathy; the fact that our quoted rate was double that of the rack room rate (presumably due to breakfast and dinner being included) but unrecognized by Krabi Thai Village Resort; and finally the resort’s distance from the local hospital and other key amenities (i.e., restaurants and shops).
Now to find other accommodation. Deb has gone over to a local agency to find us some accommodation. And, still it rains.
Although it took a while we ended up at Krabi Peace Laguna Resort. It has three pools, entertainment, and lovely grounds. We found this gem thanks to a passive, multi-lingual tour operator’s recommendation at another hotel that we visited that was not for us (cigarette-smoke tiny rooms with tinier beds). While we waited patiently in the hotel’s lobby for Deb to return from checking out other hotels, a quiet young lady occasionally nodded greetings to us. When Deb returned – without news of suitable accommodation, the young lady, Juanita from Bulgaria, mentioned a promotion that she’d heard about at the nearby Peace Laguna Resort. After a call, their van was on its way to pick us up to have a look. We checked in to a gigantic room with air con, TV, etc. and were so happy to finally be settled after a long, long day.
We headed immediately for supper and some cold beer/Fantas. Our beds felt good afterwards after a long day of travel. Hoping that the weather will clear by tomorrow.
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