After a week in Ao Luek, we decided to move somewhere closer to a beach.
We were planning on a city called Krabi, which we had heard was a more laid-back version of Phuket.
On the advice of our first host in Thailand, we booked a place in a town about 15 miles outside of Krabi. It turned out to be perfect.
It was a group of fairly modest bungalows right on a private beach.
Even when the place was booked completely, there were never more than a dozen people on the beach.
Unlike most of our stays, we had no access to a kitchen and so we didn’t prepare a single meal. Fortunately, the food they served was quite good and we didn’t have many complaints even from our pickiest one (Jane, in case you were wondering). She even showed some interest in learning to cook Thai curries!
We had planned on staying for a week as we had tickets to fly to northern Thailand already purchased.
But we had a terrible event occur (with a fortunate outcome) that changed our plans.
It happened on Saturday, January 18.
I left our bungalow that morning to go for a run on the beach. I didn’t know it, but Nolan had come to follow me a few minutes after I left.
As I reached the end of the beach, I heard some commotion behind me.
I looked back to see a group of feral dogs surrounding and attacking a little boy wearing black pajamas and I realized it was Nolan.
I ran to him as fast as I could and we were able to get away from the dogs. His pajamas were in shreds and he was pretty beat up, but I could tell he was going to be ok.
We were able to get to help fairly quickly and were taken to the local hospital, where we received excellent care.
Fortunately, he had no bites to his hands or his face.
He had to undergo post-exposure prophylaxis for rabies as the dogs were feral and rabies is a problem in Thailand.
Because of his many bite wounds, he had to stay in the hospital for 5 days on IV antibiotics.
Two and a half weeks later, we made our last visit to the hospital for wound care (we got his last vaccination for rabies in Vietnam).
Nolan is in excellent spirits and still loves Thailand, but I’m sure this was the most terrifying day of his life. It certainly was for me.
In any case, we were all sad when it was time to leave for northern Thailand. I think that despite the terrible event that occurred here, this particular place has been everyone’s favorite.
From canopy ziplining to cooking classes, we did some really fun things over the two and a half weeks at Pine Bungalow in Klong Muang, Thailand.
Turns out this guy is the most venomous fish in the ocean. Lucky we didn’t touch him. 
Jane, Margaret and Ashley took a cooking class in Thailand. Ashley says it was one of her favorite things that she has done.
Travel Tips:
Phuket is the most well-known and traveled city in the south, with Krabi running second. We didn’t go to Phuket, but the few times we went to Krabi, we were glad we stayed in Klong Muang. It was much better for our family–quieter, fewer tourists, and less expensive. Pine Bungalow was a great place to stay and we all would go back.
There are many islands you can visit, the most famous being the Phi Phi islands. We didn’t visit the Phi Phi islands, but we heard they were beautiful but packed with tourists and super loud.
On the advice of some Thais, we chose to go to Hong Island. Still a lot of tourists, but super beautiful and fewer tourists than Phi Phi. Any of the island tours offered are bound to be beautiful though.
The cooking classes were a highlight for Ashley. She took one called KN Lanna Thai Cookery. Jane and I loved the zipline course at Treetop Adventures. I wouldn’t have had fun there by myself, but it was great to watch Jane successfully navigate the course. A great activity for kids at least 10 years old (although they didn’t turn Jane away even though she’s only nine).
