Railay is for Romance

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This is kind of where I left off. Early last year. Here it is..

Rob and I started the year with a trip to Railay and Phuket, Thailand, which was beautiful and romantic. It’s always nice to get away and lap in the life of luxury for cheap in Thailand.. One of my favourite benefits to living in Hong Kong… AsianVacations! Railay, is a gorgeous island in Southern Thailand, that’s special for its stunning limestone cliffs and scenic emerald beaches. It’s different from other Thai islands in that it’s quiet, very laid back and full of climbing enthusiasts. Climbers from all over the world come here to climb amidst a postcard backdrop. The limestone cliffs are from another mystical magical world... It feels like that anyways, especially since it took us one ferry, one plane, one private car, one missed longtail and finally a private boat to get to this mystical magical difficult place.. We stayed on the West side of the island at the Railay Bay Resort, which is the pretty side of the island, but only a 5 minute walk to the East side, so no need really to pay the extortion prices of the West Side (note: for next time). We wanted to fit in with the cool crowd so we tried our luck at rock climbing. First time for both of us! So scary, so thrilling, so fun! And a great upper body work out may I add. We started off with a couple small climbs, maybe 10-15 meters high and ended with a crazy high climb of about 80 meters! When you reach the top, the view is like nothing you've ever experienced. The adrenelin running through you as you're up there all by yourself holding on for dear life just makes it all the more beautiful. The rest of our trip was the usual vacay stuff; swimming, sunning, eating, drinking, did a bit of kayak exploring which was fun. We found a really cool cave in one of the limestone cliffs, went in and came out the other side to another pretty beachin Railay. We made an attempt to kayak to an island that looked close by, but after twenty minutes of paddling, didn't seem to be getting any closer. We were deceived and had to turn back. Fail! Railay is a great place to stay if you're looking for the stunning remote beaches of Thailand, but also want the comforts of a nice hotel. There are a variety of restaurants and bars on the East side of the Island as well. Nice to have choices so you're not eating at the same place everyday, which is the case at a lot of these remote-type islands in Thailand. Fresh seafood on the beach is also an option! This is one of the things I really look forward to when traveling around South East Asia. There's just nothing like having an indulgent meal of super fresh seafood under the stars on the beach, footsteps away from the sea. But you can only do this on the West side at the hotels, so slightly pricey (by Thai standards). After this it's off to the bars to drink Chang and Sangsom and watch young fit Thai guys play with fire.. It amazes me everytime 😊

Next Thai destination was Phuket. Not much to talk about here. We stayed in a very busy part of town called Kata, might have to skip this one next time…

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