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Published: April 24th 2008
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Finished in Ko Tao and took the overnight ferry. It took FOREVER! Had to sleep in very tight quarters- some very thin mattresses all lined up on the floor about 2 inches apart. It was not luxury to say the least. But, I arrived in Krabi and decided to go to Railay beach.
Railay- Railay is comprised of two beaches- East and and West Railay. It is not technically an island, but a peninsula. East Railay is where I stayed. As our group got off the long tail boat, me and three Swedish girls started looking for accomodation, only to realize that it was much more expensive than we thought. They were lucky because they can share a room and split costs and I think when they saw how pricey the rooms were they felt bad for me cause they offered to let me share with them. So that was nice, people to hang out with and share a room with. Railay was pretty quiet and kinda dumpy to be honest. The East beach was unswimmable as that is where all the boats drop off. So we spent the next few day on the West beaches. They were absolutely beautiful.
Lots of cliffs surrounding the beach. It was a nice place to swim and sun tan. Night life- not so much. Not too many cultural sites either- unless you want to go rock climbing, which is the main attraction here. Not for me. So, onward....
Phi Phi- Phi Phi was great. It had all the elements that you would hope to find in a beach vacation. The one (closest) beach was ok, the problem was that when the tide went out, it was like miles before you could get a decent swim. So, we spent one day there before visiting Long Beach. You could either get there by long tail boat or thru a half an hour or so walk thru the jungle trails. The trek was a little steep, but afforded some nice views. Some pictures are attached. Anyway, Phi Phi had a nice night life scene. I saw the muay thai fights- some nights it was just people from the crowd who wanted free buckets (a bucket is a childrens sand pail filled with a mixed drink- so its like 5 cocktails in one "bucket") and another night it was more professional fighters. However, after i was
so excited that i saw these pro's, everyone said that that was the WWF of thai fighting- all fake moves and injuries. Still, it was interesting to watch. PP also had some great food and fruit shakes for really cheap. Lots of clubs, dancing and the lady boy cabaret. Lady Boys are what the thai call men in drag. Here, they are not gay men, but rather they see them as a whole third gender. They put on drag shows, lip synching to all the divas in their fancy dress. I got tons of pics and a video, but cant load the vid on this site. It was pretty fun!
"The Beach"- After Phi Phi (Don island) I decided to book an overnight trip to Phi Phi Ley. The site of the infamous movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio. It was wonderful. The island is actually a national marine park, so only a few tourists are allowed on it during the day and to stay overnight you have to have a special tourist license from the government. Our group was 11 people, plus a few thai's who took us on the boat, set up the tents and cooked our
bar signs
so much funnier than in the states meals. We drank, someone played guitar. Very Nice! It was so great to be on this beach with so few other people. You can really see the allure of living on an isolated beach, no outside forces to wreck the perfect holiday. I believe I could have lived there forever! But, alas, I only had one night. On, on ....
Ko Lanta- When we left "The Beach", we arrived in Ko Lanta on Songkran.
From the internet:
At the Thai New Year there are rites and rituals that people participate in as part of the New Year blessings and Buddhist merit-making, One of these is the splashing of water. Water runs deep in the Thai New Year traditions, both as a symbol of cleansing and as a symbol of renewal. These days we tend to recognize the throwing of large amounts of water as the epitome of the Songkran festivities but is has always been the more delicate water splashing that represents the gentle nature of Songkran and the Thai New Year. What this basically means is that everyone throws buckets, glasses, handfuls (or whatever they can fill) of water on you. Noone is exempt- young, old,
decrepit! Forget that gentle nature stuff, these people were out to get you! Some especially mean bastards actually threw cold (and I mean COLD) water on you. Others threw water that seemed to have some weird kind of menthol smelling stuff in it.
It was great fun- well, as soon as we stowed our bags and electronics safely away. The other fun thing is they mix baby powder with water and smear it on you. I got a face full of this as well. So, after escaping the water festival and getting safely back to our hotel, all I did was hang out with my new found friends. We visited the caves in Ko Lanta (bats- free of charge) hit the beaches and I got a motor bike to run around on. Really a great relaxing time, very fun and I made some good friends. So, that was a whole month. No wonder there is a whole expression concerning "Thai time". I had no idea I had been here so long. So now I must accelerate my plans to head north. Still will take in a few islands (not as many as I had originally planned).
Hope you
railay beach
just gorgeous! all are well. Miss and love you all. Please write and say you are ok. I will write again soon. Planning new escapades...
Luvs~
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