How much would you pay for a Charcoal BBQ Buffet in Krabi, Thailand? I paid 119 Thai Baht (RM 12 / US$ 4) for it. How did we do it?

We understand Thailand is popular with 99 Thai Baht (RM 10 / US$ 3) BBQ Buffet. The same applies to Krabi Thailand. However, due to recent increase of food prices, it is no longer 99 Thai Baht but 119 Thai Baht.

To get to know more about this places, we asked the locals and we got the location from the hotel bus driver. There are a few restaurants in Krabi offering 119 Baht BBQ Buffet and we chose the nearest restaurant to Aonang beach.

The place is called Rim Ta Non Moo Ka Ta, translated from Thai by the owner. I recommend you all to print this picture to show the local driver or tuk-tuk instead trying to be smart and read this in Thai.

A five minute drive from Aonang beach, we reached this small restaurant by the road side. We stopped and went in to check out the restaurant.

The friendly owner spoke to me in Thai, assuming we are Thais. The locals who were having their dinner there were shocked to see us. I told the owner that there were twenty of us, she smiled and said okay!

We checked out the food section (on three tables). It is definitely much smaller version than the ones in Bangkok. The fresh vegetables, mushrooms were placed together with instant noodles and “bee hoon”.

Then they had the meat section with bacon, pork meat, chicken meat, cuttle fish, prawns, fish balls and etc.

They also had athe sauce section with a different version of chilli sauces and couple of other seasonings available.

The dessert section was together with banana, watermelon and pineapple. Fried noodle and fried rice was at the same section.

We went there with family and friends from United States. As I mentioned, there were 20 of us and I bet it was their best evening of the year!

They started off by putting the hot flaming charcoal pot on the table.

Then they put the BBQ set on top of the pot. The top area is for grilling while the bottom part is for soup. They put a huge piece of pork lard on top of the BBQ set to make it greasy.

The next few hours were purely a feast. The waitresses kept refilling the food and we kept on going having them.

Drinks were not included in the set but for 119 Thai Baht would you complain? Not for me.

This kind of BBQ Buffet is very popular among the locals. The food they served was fresh and clean. The owner and the staffs were friendly. The restaurant can be reachable via taxi or tuk-tuk. You can even walk back to Aonang beach for 15 to 20 minutes. Please print out the Thai card instead of showing the address in English, I bet it is safer that way. We loved and enjoyed their food, we definitely will go back there for a feast again.

Rim Ta Non Moo Ka Ta Address and Contact:

104, (33 Apartment)

No 2,Subdistrie, Ao-Nang

Distrie Maung

Krabi Province 81000

Tel: 089-8671174

I still remember my first trip to Bangkok in 1999 with my family. On top of the shopping and the tourist attractions we went, we were brought to try out the famous delicacies of Thailand. It was the bird’s nest and shark fins soup.

Busses loaded with tourist flocked to the restaurant to try out both traditional Chinese delicacies. As believed, bird nest soup is very nutritious and Thailand has the most affordable prices in the region. For shark fins soup, traditionally during the olden days only the riches can afford such delicacy. With the tradition pass on, shark fins soup is still remains popular with Asians despite many protested on the inhumane of the killings of the sharks for its fins.

Our recent trip to Hatyai this year brought us back to memory lane. We have not been patronizing any bird nest restaurants in Thailand for years and we took the opportunity to try it out in Hatyai.

We went to the Golden City Bird’s Nest, รังนกสยาม, 金城燕窩 which is located at the city center of Hatyai. It is located near Lee Gardens Hotel and Novotel Centara Hotel.

It is a typical restaurant in Hatyai, non air conditioned, bright lights and friendly waiters.

There we spotted raw bird nests packed in huge plastic bags. A plastic bag with raw bird nests like that can easily fetch a few thousand US dollars. This was the “home-made bird nests”, collected from designated bird nest farms.

We ordered a bowl of bird’s nest first. They have many ranges from as low as 200 Thai Baht (RM 20 / US$6) and above. We ordered a medium range (with higher quality bird’s nest). Bird’s nest is believed to be health beneficial to the female gender.

Then, we ordered the unpopular shark fins soup. The soup came with a huge sizzling claypot. They used small pieces of shark fins (as a whole). In Malaysia, most restaurants serve processed shark fins which are usually translucent in colour.

Shark fins can be cooked in many styles and used with different broths. At Golden City Bird’s Nest, รังนกสยาม, 金城燕窩 , they served the shark fins with beansprout, spring onion and parsley. That was definitely different than the ones we had in Malaysia. Most people would compliments shark fin soup with dark vinegar but I would prefer to compliment the soup with mustard. Try it with mustard, you will love it!

Our little foodie adventure at Golden City Bird’s Nest, รังนกสยาม, 金城燕窩 , didn’t burn a hole in our pockets.  That’s why bird’s nest and shark fins soup in Thailand remain popular to many Asian tourists. If you are particular with shark fins, you still can try out the bird’s nest soup at Golden City Bird’s Nest, รังนกสยาม, 金城燕窩 .

Golden City Bird’s Nest, รังนกสยาม, 金城燕窩 Address and Contact:

122, 124, Nipatutid 3 Road, Hadyai Songkhla 90110

Tel: (074) 237565, 351719

We celebrated our 2009 Christmas in Thailand with our friends. It was a five days four nights holiday and you can read about our adventure holiday below:

Krabi Trang Holiday Day One: Ku La Ka Sai Restaurant, Tham Le Cave, Pak Meng Beach Resort

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part One: Pak Meng Beach, Koh Chuak Island and Koh Mah Island
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part Two: Koh Kradan Island, Emerald Cave (Marakot) at Koh Mook Island and Sunset Pak Meng Beach

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Three: Krabi Duck Noodle, Tiger Cave Temple, Krabi Fisheries Research Center, Aonang, Azzurra Italian Restaurant.

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Four: Four Island Tour Excursion and Visiting Krabi Town

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Five: Breakfast at McDonalds Ao Nang and Goodbye Thailand

It was our last day in Krabi and we had four fantastic days holidaying in Trang and Krabi, you can read them as below:

Krabi Trang Holiday Day One: Ku La Ka Sai Restaurant, Tham Le Cave, Pak Meng Beach Resort
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part One: Pak Meng Beach, Koh Chuak Island and Koh Mah Island
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part Two: Koh Kradan Island, Emerald Cave (Marakot) at Koh Mook Island and Sunset Pak Meng Beach
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Three: Krabi Duck Noodle, Tiger Cave Temple, Krabi Fisheries Research Center, Aonang, Azzurra Italian Restaurant.

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Four: Four Island Tour Excursion and Visiting Krabi Town

We decided to skip our complimentary breakfast in the hotel and walked around in Ao Nang. The Aonang beach was already busy with tourists hopping on to their boats for their island excursions.

The shops in Ao Nang were already preparing to open during the early hours of the day. We thought of having our breakfast at some of the local restaurants but we ended up in McDonalds.

The difference of McDonalds in Thailand with McDonalds in Malaysia is they served pork burgers. Hence, please take note that McDonalds in Thailand is NOT HALAL. Thus, it is even more expensive than Malaysia.

Most shops were already opened after breakfast. We managed to shop around last minute and we bought ourselves hats. The hats cost around 200 Thai Baht each (US$7).

Then, we checked out and waiting for our flight at Krabi International Airport with our friends. We were heavy hearted to leave Thailand as we enjoyed our holiday there. Goodbye Krabi and Trang Thailand and till we meet again!

Our holiday in Krabi on day four will be only on two agendas, the four island tour excursion and visiting Krabi Town. We had three days of adventure and fun and you can read it at

Krabi Trang Holiday Day One: Ku La Ka Sai Restaurant, Tham Le Cave, Pak Meng Beach Resort
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part One: Pak Meng Beach, Koh Chuak Island and Koh Mah Island
Krabi Trang Holiday Day Two Part Two: Koh Kradan Island, Emerald Cave (Marakot) at Koh Mook Island and Sunset Pak Meng Beach

Krabi Trang Holiday Day Three: Krabi Duck Noodle, Tiger Cave Temple, Krabi Fisheries Research Center, Aonang, Azzurra Italian Restaurant.

Four Island Tour Excursion of Krabi

TheThe Tup Island

We started our day four with the newest attraction in Krabi, the Unseen Four Island Tour Excursion. The excursion will take almost the whole day and we went on four islands. It was the Tup Island, Chicken Island, Poda Island and Phra Nang Cave and the activities include snorkeling, island hopping and beach activities.

You can read our full experience of the Four Island Tour Excursion at The Four Island Tour Excursion of Krabi. Thus we also publish this story on Gaya Travel Magazine as Krabi’s Four Islands Tour.

The four island hopping excursion was worth every penny. We recommend first timers to Krabi to take this tour.

We went back to the hotel and had a short nap. In the evening, we hired a van for 2000 Thai Baht for four hours. We decided to venture Krabi town which is 30 min drive from Ao Nang.

Krabi Town

If you are looking for authentic local Krabi food, Krabi town is the place.

There was a wet market where you can buy ready-made Thai food and products and the other was an open-air night market.

We spent almost two hours walking around the night market. They had local food like ice sticks, skewers, Thai snacks and Thai desserts. Thus, you can see their creativity on their food with combinations of colours and flavours.

There were also Thai made clothes, products, apparels and even paintings available in the night market. That’s why we spent our whole evening venturing the market.

This was our last night in Krabi, we will be flying back to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on the next day so we had the drinking game again in the hotel. We were so wasted. We enjoyed our holiday since day one. Trang and Krabi are amazing places for holiday!

If you looking for a good local thai koay teow soup in Hat Yai, you can try this one. Located beside the Mayflower Hotel and walking distance from Lee Gardens, this koay teow soup stall is packed at most times. As recommended by the hotel lobby staffs, we tried the koay teow soup in this stall.

I would call it nameless as the signage is in Thai and I couldn’t understand it.

It is similar to the “old school” Malaysian coffee shop where food is served at its best. As early as 8 am, the tables and chairs were starting to fill with people.

The pork koay teow soup is similar to the ones we have in Malaysia. The difference would be the soup. Served while it was hot, the pork koay teow is tasty and yummy.

Like the other usual thai stalls, there are peanuts, sugar and chili flakes available for more seasonings.

If you want something more authentic Thai, go for the clear glass noodle. It is quite uncommon in Malaysia. A bowl of yummy pork koay teow soup is 40 Thai Baht (RM 4).

If you are craving for this, please do check out the map below for directions. It is usually packed during lunch hours, go early to avoid disappointments.

“Nameless” Pork Koay Teow Soup Stall Address & Map:

167, Thanon Sangchan Road

This could go to one of those untold stories of mine. Last year, at the last few days for my Tourism Of Thailand media trip, I was given the chance to learn Thai food at the famous Blue Elephant Cooking Academy in Bangkok.

The exterior the Blue Elephant Cooking School

My days of cooking have long gone passed by since my university days where I used to cook for Rachel. Since then, even staying on my own, cooking is never a necessity. Somehow, I find cooking for 2 cost more than dining out.

The beautiful interior of the place, loved the chandelier.

When the coach stopped in front of the pre-war building, there was a sign reads “Blue Elephant Restaurant”. We were brought to classrooms where chefs were teaching us the “theories”. After given us the explanations about the dishes we are going cook.

Cooking class made easy, check out the mirror on top of the chef, reflections made everything easier.

I took some notes as it wasn’t easy to memorize so many things at once. It is always simple to look at the chefs preparing the dishes but doing it on our own will be a different story.

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One of the popular tourist attractions in Rayong is their fruit orchards. I’ve heard so much about the fruit orchards of Rayong, particularly from my parents who travelled there for food a few years ago.

Landscape Park at the orchard

Part of the itinerary of the Tourism of Thailand Media Trip, I was there with the other media for a feast that we could never forget. As we reached there, we were greeted with a welcome drink.
Then we hopped on a coach for a sight-seeing tour around the huge orchard. After a couple of minutes of sight-seeing, we were brought to a hut for the fruit feast.

Durians were particularly popular among us. Their infamous “Golden Pillow” durian was somehow differs than Malaysian’s durians. The “Golden Pillow” tasted sweeter than common durians and the flesh was meaty.

Have you tried rambutan before?

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Let me introduce a Thai farm restaurant from my recent trip to Krabi.

The name Ku la Kasai Restaurant and it is located a stone away from the Krabi airport. The place is quite popular with the local tour guides due to its distance from the airport and its food.

Well, the restaurant sits on top of a fish pond and constructed with woods only.

We started off with Beancurd with crab meat. The dish was slightly thick and starchy. The plate came with a generous amount of crab meat. I loved this, the rest had mixed reviews on this.

Fried prawn with flour. This was very similar to the ones we have back in Malaysia, Cucur Udang. One must not forget, there’s quite a number of Muslim stayed in Krabi.

Fried fish with hot sweet sauce. Very crispy outer layer and the fish meat was tender. This was good!

Tom Yum Soup with seafood. Seafood must be cheap in Krabi! The bowl came with a generous amount of seafood such as squids and prawns.

Mango salad anyone?

Lastly, we had the stir fried mixed vegetables ending our lunch at Krabi. The food was pretty good. Since this was pre-arranged by our tour guide, I couldn’t give the pricing for this. The service was good and the place was windy with the mini lake view.

Yeah that’s us! 8 of us to be precise after the heavy lunch.

The beauties….
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More beauties….

The Krabi gang!

Well, this picture was taken when we were walking our way out.

Overall, the place was huge. Built up on a small pond. The food in general was good. Loved the Tom Yum soup in particular. The service was good as well. Kept refilling our water and changing our plates. Price wise, we were not sure as it was packaged in our tour. A place to consider while touching down in Krabi Airport.

Ku La Kasai Restaurant Address and Contact:

165 M. 6, Klong Cholpratarn RD.

Pakasai, Nua Klong, Krabi 81130

Tel: 075-691445, 084-7440119

The Map:

After Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo visit, we proceeded to the Mahasawat River. This was the second day trip of my sponsored food and travel trip to Thailand.

There’s a reason Bangkok is called the Venice of the East. Mainly because of the rivers surrounding Bangkok.

This is what I mean. The river, Mahasawat River. When we reached there, we sat on 2 different small boats where we were going to have a real river sight seeing.

It won’t take long as I spotted a thirsty dog right away. Somehow, it shy away.

Yeah, and I spotted a group of kids bathing. They jumped into the river once they saw me aiming my camera to them. Shy.