The Kook Ming story begins with an entrepreneurial immigrant opening a coffee shop and discovering that Thais wanted cakes with their coffee, but found European style cakes too sweet. The results of his experiments were successful, and widely copied. The originals, still sold only from the store in front of the kitchen, are similar to pound cakes, but the way the batter is prepared gives them a texture closer to a sponge cake. The flavors are light, and make a nice dessert in hot weather. We took at least six boxes.<\/p>\n Up the road is popular Le Khaokob Cave. The cave formations are interesting, but the real novelty is that you enter and exit the cave by boat through a passage that gets lower and lower. The “belly of the dragon” section is especially harrowing, as you are lying down on the boat benches and protrusions from the rocky ceiling come perilously close to your torso and face. Some profanities might<\/em> have been uttered. There is, of course, the obligatory photo-glued-to-plate souvenir at the end.<\/p>\n<\/a> Heading up the highway to the next attraction, our van suddenly stopped and started backing up. We had stumbled across a local bird competition. About 80 cages were hanging in rows, and judges wore serious expressions as they marked cards hanging from the cages. When the next cage was tapped or its card stroked, the bird’s owner (all men, it appeared) urged it to sing. There didn’t seem to be a penalty for birds signing spontaneously, so it was a bit difficult to pick out any one from the others. Under a nearby tree one could purchase ice cream. Since this looked as though it could go on for quite a while, we returned to the road.<\/p>\n Our first order of business at the Sra Morakot nature trail was to grab some grilled chicken and green papaya salad at a stand just before the ticket booth. Tasty. We walked a little less than a kilometer to the Emerald Pool. The water is cool but not uncomfortable, and it’s crystal clear. A park official had the thankless task of reprimanding people who were diving or roughhousing. We walked back the long way, along a rustic forest trail. Actually, the rustic trail was recently replaced by an elevated concrete walkway with handrails. This seems to have affected the ecology of the area, as I did not see any of the usual pitcher plants, lizards, butterflies, or large banana spiders. Doesn’t leave much reason to take the nature trail.<\/p>\n<\/a> Our final stop before entering town was at a natural hot spring. I generally avoid this one, but the weather is unusually cool today, so it was quite pleasant. We did pick up a bit of a sulfur odor, so a shower will be in order before dinner.<\/p>\n Before checking in to the hotel, we stopped at Varich Krabi Batik, a workshop where we often find very nice shirts, sarongs, and other hand-painted items. I did find a shirt I liked in a size that would work, so it was a successful stop. It is a little strange buying a hand-painted shirt and having it wrapped in an Angry Birds shopping bag, but those birds seem to be everywhere in Thailand this year so it’s probably appropriate.<\/p>\n The Krabi Maritime Park and Spa was busy with a convention of Thai doctors who work in the U.S. One of my former work colleagues was there with her mother and recognized me in the lobby. Unfortunately, they were heading up the Bangkok in a few hours, so we didn’t have any time to catch up. Meanwhile, our rooms were the bottom of the barrel, but since we are here only one night, it’s hard to get too upset.<\/p>\n For dinner I donned my new shirt and we headed to Ruen Mai, one of Kasma’s favorite restaurants in Thailand. Our hot dish of beef kua kling (chopped beef with copious green peppercorns and pulverized red pepper) wasn’t quite as spicy as usual, but that’s okay. Chicken with panang curry, and fish steaks with choo chee curry, were smooth and delicious. A crunchy yum sadet salad, deep-fried pork belly, and shrimp and greens cooked in coconut milk filled out the menu. We will miss this on the island.<\/p>\n Rather than compete with the conventioneers at the breakfast buffet, we headed out early for a traditional breakfast of rice noodles and fried chicken. Freshly extruded rice noodles with ground fish curry could be further doctored with a fish kidney curry; I preferred the traditional vegetable mix-ins. After wiping my oily fingers, I broke out the camera for the kitchen tour. However, nothing new compared with two years ago, so check out the old photos (Freshwater Adventures<\/a>).<\/p>\n To catch our longtail to the island, we headed to Ao Nang, a busy strip of guesthouses, shops, travel agencies, and hawkers on the Krabi coast. It wasn’t too long before we were landing on the Railay Peninsula, home to several popular beaches, expensive resorts, popular rock climbing destinations, and a cave full of wooden phalluses. Wandering the path here, I saw a monkey. More importantly, the monkey saw me and called the whole troop down. Pretty soon they were performing for the tourists, presumably in exchange for snacks from those so inclined. If pictures from here seem posed, now you know why.<\/p>\n<\/a> Since there was no rush to get to our island accommodations, we made a few snorkeling stops. First, we snorkeled a reef on one side of Chicken Island. Then we broke out some box lunches to eat on the boat — this saves the landing fee, so potentially more budget for snacks. We hit up two more spots before turning for “home.”<\/p>\n![\"Fried](\"\/ttw\/jfs\/s12\/img\/Trang-DimSumBreakfast-FriedBread-2144_md.jpg\")
Fried bread at Dim Sum breakfast, Trang<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nPork meatballs at Dim Sum breakfast, Trang<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nPork toast at Dim Sum breakfast, Trang<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nSteamed buns at Dim Sum breakfast, Trang<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nSesame balls at Dim Sum breakfast, Trang<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\nTrang to Krabi (Feb. 16, 2012)<\/h3>\n
Mixing batter at Kook Ming shop, Trang<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nPouring batter at Kook Ming shop, Trang<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nCake boxes at Kook Ming shop, Trang<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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View the entire album: Le Khaokob Cave – Thailand Photos 2012<\/a><\/p>\nRoadside bird competition<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nSongbirds singing, sometimes on command<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nRecording scores<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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View the entire album: Emerald Pool – Sra Morakot Nature Trail – Thailand Photos 2012<\/a><\/p>\nNew batik shirt and Angry Birds bag, Krabi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nBeef kua kling, Ruen Mai, Krabi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nPanang curry chicken, Ruen Mai, Krabi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nFish steaks with choo chee curry, Ruen Mai, Krabi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nYum sadet salad, Ruen Mai, Krabi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nCrispy fried pork belly, Ruen Mai, Krabi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nLeafy greens cooked in coconut milk, Ruen Mai, Krabi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\nKrabi to Koh Poda (Feb. 17, 2012)<\/h3>\n
Khanom jeen with numya (fish curry sauce), Krabi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nKhanom jeen dressed with various toppings, Krabi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\nIrresistible crunchy fried chicken for breakfast, Krabi<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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View the entire album: Ao Nang to Railay – Thailand Photos 2012<\/a><\/p>\n
View interactive GPS track on GPSed<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>