Jellyfish, sharks, and sunburn

Hi! I'm finally getting to these...backdated this one since we're actually in Ko Lanta now :)


Railay Beach

We flew into Krabi early on the 5th. We splashed out on a taxi to get us to Ao Nang becasue we were really uncertain of what we were doing! the driver was crazy...Dan kept grabbing my hand as we zoomed up behing cars and motorbikes, barely getting around them to miss the oncoming traffic. From Ao Nang we took a longtail boat to Railay Beach, our stop for the next 4 days.

Limestone cliffs towering above the beach, light sand on the beach, and beautiful green waters welcomed us. It was gorgeous, just like the pictures. We decided to stay on the West side because the beach was MUCH nicer than the east. The Sand Sea Resort at 900Baht a night (NZ$36, US$21)we had a little bungalow with a fan and our own bathroom...we've since come to realize that this was luxury! It was cute and clean and the mossquitoes stayed out, plus, we had a swimming pool nearby. We bargained for a 4th free night and got free breakfasts so it brought it down to a cheap 4 days...we're slowyly learning how to bargain for EVERYTHING.

Buffet breakfast--omellettes, little sausages that were like hot dogs, mini pancakes with honey on top, fresh pineapple, watermelon, and bananas, pad thai, some sort of lasagna thing, and toast, tea, juice, etc. It was pretty good except for the bees that swarmed around the honey while we ate!

Railay seemed to be a "destination" for people--families, couples of all ages, singles--an interesting mix of people.

We were off exploring right away. We wandered over to the east side. Just a few minutes walk, this side was home of the cheaper accomodation, rock climbing schools, mud flats, and mangrove trees. We found a trail, or rather, a steep clay, rocky wall with a rope, that led us up to a viewpoint over the beach as well as a lagoon. HOwever, slippery clay soil and a couple of steep drop offs made us turn back before we reached the water...we didn't need to injure ourselves on the first day ;) Still, a great workout and "adventure"

Our days were mainlya spent walking around a bit, eating, laying on the beach, swimming in the sea which was so warm it was like a bathtub, swimming in the pool to cool off (when we first saw pepople by the pool we thought, why would anyone swim here with the ocean just meters away?...by day 2 we understood :).

One highlight was our snorkeling trip out to a couple small, unpopulated islands off the coast. ONly about 12 of us on the tour with a Canadian girl as our guide, we headed out on a small wooden boat. We stopped at three different places. The first wasn't so good, as we were poked by sea lice in the water and jellyfish all around. It was kind of scary, but they are ones that don't hurt as much or something...at one point we were all surrounded by about 20 of them!?!

I got stung about 4 times I think (mainly by the little floating pieces in the water), but the local remedy of rubbing banana on them must work because the sting was gone by the next day.

Tons of cool little fish, coral, etc, but Dan's says it doesn't compare to Fiji :) But, as we swam around the corner of one island we saw it...A SHARK!!! It was about 4-5meters below us, but it was big, maybe 4-5 feet long. I grabbed Dan, and then he grabbed me...it just swam away as we were freaking out. Actually, it was freaky, but very cool, and soon enough Dan was back looking for more.

Our nights consisted of dinner at one of many restaurants, with a couple of nights of beautiful sunsets, a couple drinks to cool us off as the we watched the waves go up and down on the beach, walking to the East side to wander around the little bars, sit on wicker mats and cushions to enjoy another drink, then mosy home for some shut eye...pretty low key.

The Thai food has been great, though they all serve "western" food as well. The famous pancakes are sold everywhere with different fruits such as banana, mango, pineapple...and the little vendors on the beach selling grilled corn on the cob and whole peeled pinapple on a stick cracked us up. But of course, we indulged. I also enjoyed a foot scrub/pedicure while lying on the beach...it was great.

Oh, I should mention our suntans...just to make a few of you jealous :) Don't worry, we've been applying the sunscreen like crazy, but you just can't help but get a tan! Well, we had one day where we actually burned, but just for one day.

I

---

---