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Published: November 11th 2009
Railey
I dont think Kate knows where we are going next!Good afternoon to one and all
as I'm writing this it's Wednesday evening here and Wednesday afternoon in the UK. I'm not certain what the weathers like but I won't rub it in :-)
the last blog finished with us preparing to leave Ko Phan Ngang (KPN), so we spent our last night chilling out at the lotus with the girls we had met and fredrick. We all had tickets to leave on the same ferry so we would all get the taxi together and hopefully get it for 80 baht each (see the previously mentioned issue with price fixing to understand me mentioning a discount in the taxi). Our last night was pretty uneventful which I think was required after a mad few days. The predicted bad weather had started so we were all happy with our decision to leave KPN
After a heavy night of wind and rain we set off for krabi. The ferry was obviously late but once on board we passed the two hour journey at the front of the boat with a few cans of Leo (they had run out of chang) with fredrick. My chat with fredrick on the boat ended
Railey
Lugging our own bags up covering feminism, socialism and sexual liberation in Sweden. It's a funny old country where they pay 60% tax but they have no homelessness, free university, low unemployment and a low crime rate!!! I reckon I'd pay more tax so we could get that in the uk.
We said a very hurried goodbye to Catherine & Laura & Fredrick as they were ushered to different coaches but im certain we'll hear from them again. Sidenote- after leaving KPN Kate realised that she had left her phone underneath her pillow. Obviously this was my fault because I didnt check the room properly. My arguement is that Kate should of known that I would of done the normal man thing and only looked as far as my nose so she should of checked herself!!! p.s. who leaves their phone underneath a pillow :-) As you can see I lost this arguement and kate is now in charge of thoroughly checking the rooms when we leave.
We arrive at krabi town via the ferry from KPN, a bus to Surat thani, a tuk to another travel agent, a 2hour journey in a 9 seater minibus with 9 people & 9 rucksacks
Railey
Our first view of West beach and the karst rock formations (knees up to chest all the way) and then another taxi after being dropped at another travel agent!!! It's getting annoying when ur forced to stop somewhere and the locals tell you everywhere is full apart from the places they can book for u. It's very manipulative but I suppose they've got pay the rent as well. Saying that we didn't book anything with them cos the lady was rude so we got a taxi and found some cheap accommodation for one night, they had loads of rooms but we were told it was full. Note to self book own accommodation.
We spent one night in Krabi town but there wasnt much going on there so we decided to go straight to Railey. Railey is only a 15 min long boat from Krabi port but it was one of the most jaw dropping journeys so far. The approach to the beach made the island look like something from a James Bond movie. I will try and upload the video I took to show you what I mean. On arrival in Railey we book in to Ya Ya's, which was recommended by the KPN girls, to much excitement as the
Railey
Our first view of West beach and the karst rock formations rooms looked like a tree house. The rooms were on three floors and made out of wood. We were all worried about the mossies but we all had a mossie net and we were armed with mossie spray and mossie coils!
The first day in Railey was spent on the very beautiful west beach. Railey is a very small Peninsula but is dominated by large plush complexes for packaged holiday makers and honey mooners. Its easy to see why but slighly spoils it as your not allowed to walk on some parts of the island. The island itself has no roads or no police. This allows for a relaxed attitiude towards Marijuna from the locals (two of the bars within 100m of each other are called Skunk bar!!!) and suprisingly there is a big Rasta culture. In nearly every bar they would be playing Reggae although it was nice to listen to some UB40 in Thailand.
The first day was brilliant, awesome beaches and the weather was hot, but mother nature must have a sense of humour as the following day was miserbale and raining. Now I know a few people reading this will be laughing at our
Railey
The girls at our first (fake) Thai boxing match misfortune considering the weather you are probably having mid-November so im sure we should be grateful but still the gang were not happy. Whats the cure for miserable weather on holiday, thats right CHANG CHANG!! We found a bar that had a free pool table & 1 pound a beer and wasted a few hours in there.
To make up for the miserable day Kate and I went for a meal on the very plush west beach. I thought it would be a good opportunity to try something new so I had seafood in oyster sauce, kate on the other hand thought otherwise and had chicken burger and chips!!! After the meal we met up with the guys to watch some Thai boxing in one of the bars. It was good fun but it was very staged and the result was a fix. Either way im sure we'll get to watch better fights than that in Pukhet or Chang Mai.
To make up for the lost day we all decided to do some activities, Elaine & Sam went to a Thai cooking class and the rest of us chose to do a day of rock climbing (albeit Kate
Railey
Our first (fake) Thai boxing match only wanted to do half a day). So with our harnesses on we set off for the morning session at the Diamond Caves. The guys anticipated at least an hour in the morning for a health and saftey briefing to learn about how to tie knots, how the ropes work, how to descend safely etc etc. What we got was a 5 min demo of how to tie the most important knot then two unsupervised attempts at doing it. Considering this knot is respnsible for saving your life it was a very brief show and tell. But hey I suppose thats the Thai way. We all had the morning doing 3 climbs that were difficult and challenging but enjoyable. We had a much needed 2 hour lunch break where Barry decided he'd had enough. Instead of spending the 2 hours recouperating Dean, Dan and I decided to go look at the lagoon at the end of the beach. What we got was a 15 min climb up a very steep hill and a 20 min climb down near vertical drops on the oher side to get to the lagoon. It was nice but the mornings exersions had really taken it
Railey
I thought this was hilarious out of us. To make it worse we then had to climb back up said vertical drops and the back down the very steep hill and rush back to the meeting point for an afternoon of more difficult cliimbs. Im sounding like im moaning and didnt enjoy it but I did and we were all in our Indiana Jones zone and were running round like kids after too many sweets
Understanderbly the afternoon climbs were more difficult than the morning ones but again it was very difficult but rewarding in equal measures. What I didnt know was that Railey has some of the best climbs in the World. With a backdrop such as the one they have its hard to disagree. The afternoon was very tiring but we all gave it a good go and I was very impressed how adept Dean and Dan were. I wont lie to you I was spent for most of the afternoon (leags and arms were fecked) but the lads were really good and really excelled themselves. We finished the afternoon with a 20m abseil overlooking West Beach, again the scenary was amazing, and a ice cold change back at the climbing shop.
Railey
Kate secure and ready to go That evening the majority of us were shattered so it was just a few beers, a game of cards (Barry lost and got naked stood on his chair) and then bed. Our last day in Railey we just chilled out on the beach during the day, made arrangements to leave Railey and watched Chelsea beat Man U with a few Chang and a free BBQ at the bar.
We had a really good time on Railey but we decided it was time to move the disco bus onwards. For the first time in 3 weeks some of use decided we wanted to go to different destinations. So Dan, Sam and Dean booked tickets for Ko Lanta and Barry, Elaine, Kate and myself opted for Ko Phi Phi.
So our next destination is the location of the 2000 film 'The Beach' but more poignantly and island heavily affected by the 2004 Tsunami. Im trying my hardest to keep things to the point but these blogs are more like essays. So ill try but im sure the next one will in the same detai you vicarious readers are accustomed to.
Good night and Godbless
Kieran & Kate
Railey
We were responsible for our on H&S briefing xxx
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Kelly
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Feels like I am travelling with you - allbeit without the hangovers, sun and mosquitos. Looking forward to the next installment already. Stay safe and take care of eachother. I bet Michael Palin is shitting himself after reading your blogs! Kel x x x x