You should also wake up early one morning and visit the colourful local market between Phruksauthit Road and Maharaj Road, where every day the stalls are pilled high with all the fresh produce the sea and countryside around Krabi can produce.
It is a real pleasure to wander among the stalls, sampling the different and often unusual tastes and smells but go early to see all the wares piled at their highest and to feel the manic energy of this place, by 10 O’Clock it has begun to slow down, the day’s dealing done.
There are also two popular night markets one on Maharaj Soi 8 just around the corner from Thaimit Tours and the other on the river front at Khongkha Road.
These are the best places to sample many sweet and strange new fruits including the (in)famous Durian or practice your new language skills ordering tasty and cheap Thai dishes, deserts and drinks .
Ao Nang offers many of the same shopping and eating facilities as Krabi though it is perhaps, a little more familiar to tourists.
This resort town has a wide range of shops, many right behind the beach and perfect for those beach essentials that you always seem to have forgotton or just run out of. For more ‘serious shopping’, about a kilometre out of town, on the way to Haad Nopparattara Beach, is “The Beach Plaza”.
This is a modern shopping centre perfect for buying electronics and brand name clothing and toiletries. In fact, every imaginable shopping needs is catered for here under one roof, plus a large choice of eating options from Thai rice and noodles to Western fast food, and everything in between.