For various reasons (none of them particularly rational), we skipped New Zealand and Tahiti and instead found ourselves back in Thailand. Our grand return, however, started off on a rather horrific note.

We spent one night in Krabi near the airport at the only truly awful booking of our whole trip. The Palmeri Boutique Hotel sounds delightful, but its reality was more "Palmeri Bed Bug Sanctuary and House of Nightmares." Among its many questionable attributes, it left Rob with itching, burning, bed bug bites that took a week to heal. Ouch. We had bid farewell to Bali paradise and landed in a hellhole. We couldn’t escape fast enough.

Ao Nang: The Good, The Bad, and the Slightly Sewage Smells

We drove down to Ao Nang, which, despite its flaws, was a good hub to base ourselves. The main beach area? Rife with tourist traps and overpriced everything. The beach itself? Meh. Loud, crowded, and constantly filled with long-tail boat engines roaring like chainsaws at a lumberjack competition. The water? Rob put it best: "I feel like I just swam in sewage." Eww.

Thankfully, our hotel, The Keereen, turned out to be an absolute gem. Beautiful, with great staff, still walkable to the beach (or the main road that leads to it) but far enough away for peace, quiet, and the added bonus of not feeling like we were swimming in a toilet. The pool? Clean, cool, and the perfect spot to soak in some much-needed sanitary swimming.

Our hotel room had a forest view. At first Kim wished for a view of the limestone mountains, but we liked the privacy of the trees. Although we did have a daily visitor.

Our unexpected guest was a particularly bold Oriental pied hornbill. With his oversized beak and striking black-and-white plumage, he looked a bit like a toucan in disguise. But it wasn’t his appearance that made him memorable—it was his daily routine.

We quickly realized that our window overlooked what could only be described as The Bird’s Bathroom. Like clockwork, morning and afternoon, our feathery neighbour would perch on the same branches, make direct, unwavering eye contact with us… and proceed to do his business. Every single day. He was nothing if not consistent, and we couldn’t help but admire his commitment to his schedule. Nature, at its most unfiltered.

We walked a lot under the scorching sun, which quickly made us envious of the moped riders zipping around. It was all fun and games until we started noticing the walking wounded hobbling around, bandaged up like extras in a zombie flick. We also heard some horrifying scooter accident stories. Heatstroke might have been clouding our judgment, but by the end, we were convinced we needed a moped license.

Boating out from Ao Nang was the real highlight. The nearby islands and beaches were stunning, and Rob took full advantage, squeezing in as much SCUBA diving as possible. Over multiple trips with FastManta, he explored dive sites like Phi Phi Islands, King Cruiser Wreck, Shark Point, Viking Bay, and Hin Bida, spotting everything from reef sharks, a huge sea turtle munching on “grapes” to the biggest lionfish and eels he’d ever seen. Buoyancy? Nailed it. The dives just kept getting better.

The staff kindly hooked us up with half a dozen free massages, which Kim took full advantage of. We also did some tours together, we went Kayaking in the Mangroves at Klong Root , Ao Nang Fiore Zipline Adventure had us covered in sweat by the end, and we went on a 7 Island snorkelling tour to check out the Bioluminescent plankton. Some of it stuck around in Rob's beard!

More than anything, though, we’re going to miss the food. We found some amazing places to eat, from hole-in-the-wall dives serving up fiery Thai curries to a five-star restaurant best known for its view. 

We ate our way through Ao Nang, discovering favourites like Jungle Kitchen, Ma Der, and Ton Ma Yom, with only two forgettable meals the entire time. That’s a solid success rate.

Yes, but we’d stay in a less chaotic area and get a moped license. Eleven weeks is a long time to be on the road, and while this trip has been nothing short of incredible, we’re both ready to go home.

(But also... maybe just one more Thai meal first?)

Ao Nang, Thailand