Krabi, Railay and Koh Phi Phi

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Krabi, Railay and Koh Phi Phi

After Vince, Tam and my cultural effort in northern Thailand, it was time for a serious chill out session. This meant sea sun and surf, and where better to find this than on the south west coast?

Aonang, in Krabi, a gateway to Koh Phi Phi, was our first stop. The area is renowned among the mountain climbing fraternity as it is surrounded by limestone cliffs jutting out everywhere the head turns. We spent a very relaxing day on Railay beach, a short longtail boat ride along the coast. The day was split between wallowing in the calm sea while watching mountain climbers scale the sheer cliffs and lounging on the beach while watching tiny crabs excavate their tiny burrows depositing tiny sand balls in intricate patterns around the entrance to their chosen abodes.

After a couple of fat bellied nights in Krabi, we relocated our chill session to the island paradise this is Koh Phi Phi.

After a day of soaking up the rays, we managed to drag ourselves off the beach for and excursion which turned out to be a bit of a disaster. A snorkelling trip around Phi Phi Leh, an island just off Koh Phi Phi, was interrupted by both the fact that it was spring low tide and the powerful storm that had decided to pass through just as we set off. We didn’t get to land on either Monkey Beach or Maya Beach and the snorkelling spots were reduced by our skipper from a selection of around a dozen to two and a half. What I enjoyed most about the trip was the bumpy ride back to Koh Phi Phi Island. Unlike George Clooney and his crew in the Hollywood blockbuster “A Perfect Storm,” we survived. An irate German couple and an annoyed South African trio (led by a stern-faced Tammy Walkden) managed to secure a third of our money back.

Unfortunately the weather was not ideal, making the days less interesting, but that didn’t stop the nights from being filled with scrumptious Thai food, bottomless buckets of booze and troops of Thai fire dancers.

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