Krabi detour

We booked our trip to Thailand almost a year ago. At the time, we’d planned to spend several days with I’m International, one of Artiwood’s largest suppliers in Bangkok before visiting Plan Toys, a prospective new brand. Our second stop was located two hours drive south of Krabi, a resort town on the west coast. Fast forward nine months and our plans have changed.

Two unexpected events drove the cancellation of our Krabi leg. First, Plan Toys’s CEO died suddenly in September. Then, in January, the global sales director, our primary contact, resigned. Without an internal champion to host us we reluctantly decided to defer our visit. We felt that investing in a brand experiencing internal turmoil was risky, especially in the current economic climate.

As a result, we found ourselves with flights to Krabi, and no where to go. Garry and I decided to make the best of a bad situation. We cashed in some Accor loyalty points and booked ourselves into a pool suite at the Sofitel Krabi Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort for the week.

Our hotel room is awesome! We can step directly from the room into a private pool encircling our wing of the hotel. The hotel claims to have the largest pool in Thailand. I’d believe it. The pool is truly enormous, stretching more than 400 metres around the complex. Our room alsogives us access to a Club Lounge where we’ve been enjoying complementary canapés, cocktails and wine every afternoon. Garry’s also been making the most of our complementary laundry service.

We caught a 7:25am flight from Bangkok on Monday. Originally, the flight departed mid-morning but was progressively rescheduled earlier and earlier as our departure date approached. The incredibly early start meant we were picked up at 4:30am and subsequently arriving in Krabi at 9:00am. Much to our relief, the hotel came to the party with an early check-in. We were in the pool within an hour of our arrival.

We spent Tuesday lazying by the pool (and in the pool), before relocating to the beach for a salt water swim. We then dined at a local beachfront restaurant we’d discovered during a walk into nearby Klongmuang. We sat on a verandah overlooking the ocean while feasting on fresh mud crab. Yum!

We’ve booked a private day tour of nearby Hong Island for Friday. Our tour includes transportation in a traditional longboat, a picnic lunch on a private beach and stops at some of the area’s iconic white sand beaches. Stay tuned for another update soon. Until then, please enjoy this happy moment…