Ao Nang sunset

When I bought the holiday package in Ao Nang way back in November, I had deliberately timed it such that my wife and I could take our holiday right after she had resigned from the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).

This was an organisation that she had worked in for almost 21 years, rising to the position of the branch manager. She decided to leave because she wanted to take things easy, especially since our children were all grown up, independent and working.

We had promised each other that for once, our holiday would not be such a rush. No, we would not be pressured into squeezing every bit of activity into the confines of a 24-hour day. No, unlike our previous overseas holidays, we shall make time to relax. And that is why I had refused to do much homework to decide the where, what, how and when to do anything.

The day of our arrival in Ao Nang, right after lunch, we spent the afternoon resting in the hotel room. It was not until late afternoon that we ventured out into the streets, walking to the beach front, because we wanted to watch the sunset. So there we were, taking a relaxing walk and then sitting down by the beach side, enjoying the sea breeze, people watching, and casting our eyes out towards the horizon. The changing colours of thelate afternoon, changing into a glowing golden hue before dimming into a dusky grey. The setting sun turning red and slowly creeping behind the far, distant islands....

This was our schedule repeated for the next two nights. For three consecutive nights, we made our way to the beach front just to watch the sun setting before turning our thoughts to dinner. We only missed the spectacular sunset once and that would be on our final night in Ao Nang because we decided to go off to Krabi town and enjoy their weekend night market.