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Published: December 1st 2007
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Well after travelling for 32 hours on 2 buses over 2 days (we went straight from Vang Vieng to Krabi - a very very long journey!!) we finally reached Railay, a stunning beach resort in the Krabi province.
Railay is made up of 4 beaches, Railay West (a really pretty beach, but quite expensive to stay on), Railay East (pretty at high tide, but just mud flats at low tide, so not possible to sunbathe on - on the plus side a lot cheaper than Railay West & with more nightlife), Tonsai beach (the rockclimbers and backpackers beach, but a bit cut off from the rest of the beaches) and lastly Phra Nang Beach (the prettiest beach in Railay, but home to just one VERY swanky resort where rooms cost minimum 800 pounds per room, per night!!!).
Me and Kim decided to stay on Railay East as it had affordable accommodation and was walkable to both Railay West and Phra Nang Beach, the two prettiest beaches. It was also a good place to book tours from and I wanted to do a snorkelling trip and a tour to James Bond Island. We managed to find a quite posh resort
to stay on for 600 baht a night (just under 10 pounds, so not cheap, but still just about affordable split two ways). The only cheaper accommodation (Railay Cabana - 350 baht a night) apparently had spiders the size of my hand in the toilets as it was in the jungle, plus it was much further from the beach!!
We spent our first couple of days just chilling on the beach in the daytime, then out drinking in the evening and we managed to meet a few really cool people (Evie, Luke and Donna) over a few buckets. I'm loving the buckets!!!! (although its got to be vodka as Samsong makes me feel like death the next day).
On my third day here I decided to do a sunset snorkelling trip that sounded cool. It didn't start until 2pm (great when you've been out drinking til 5am the night before) and then they took our group (Kim didn't want to come, so I went alone - luckily Donna had booked it too) to four different islands by speedboat to go snorkelling. I saw some really cool fishes, including a seahorse and a blow fish. At sunset we went
to a deserted island, called Tup Island to watch the sunset and saw loads of bats flying over our heads, then the tour company lit some flaming torches and stuck them in the sand and we all ate yummy prawn curry in the dark. It was one of those really great moments in life where everything just feels right. After dinner they took us back to Railay on a longtail boat (the speedboat had gone back to the beach earlier). They stopped on the way behind a big cliff and told us to run our hands through the water and when we did, it was all sparkly. It was amazing!! Apparently it's something called phosphorescence, which happens all over the world, but you have to be in the dark to see it. Some of the people on our tour jumped in the water and it was amazing seeing them swim around in the dark, the sparkles showing us where they were. Very, very cool!!!
The next day me and Kim had booked a trip to James Bond Island. It started really early, so we had to get up at 6.45am!!! I remember when I used to do that every
day for work. It was such a shock though, so we got on the boat to Ao Nang where the tour company would meet us still half asleep. The tide was out when we went to meet the boat, so poor Kim had to walk through the sea barefooted as she didn't have any waterproof shoes and it was really rocky, so it killed her feet. Luckily I had some sports sandals! The tour was in a different province an hour and half away, so we got in our minivan and drove off towards Ao Phang Nang Province. We started the tour at a temple that had lots of monkeys - the monkeys were really scary though so I tried not to get too close. The temple was pretty dull, except for this prophency machine that you had to put one baht in and it told you what your future would hold. Well apparently I'm not going to find a husband any time soon, if there is a law suit I'm pursuing then I'll lose, also I will not be winning any money and will just generally be very unlucky. Great eh!!
Our next stop, was the very famous
James Bond Island!! If you've ever seen the film, The Man with the Golden Gun, then you'll remember this island. We had to get a longtail boat out to see it and so much seawater kept coming over the side - me and Kim ended up drenched. It was worth it though as the area was incredibly picturesque!! James Bond Island itself was very striking, but too touristy with boats arriving every few minutes. The next stop though, was the best one. We got back in our longtail boat and we were taken to a boat in the middle of the sea where we got in our sea canoe. As part of the trip we had an oarsman who would paddle us around some mangrove forest and some pretty caves. It turned out to be great fun - our oarsman was fantastic and kept stopping to take photos of me and Kim, he even let me have a go at paddling (its harder than you think!!). The caves, though were gorgeous!! It was a bit tight getting through them sometimes and me and Kim were practically lying in each others lap at one point, but it was all really really
good fun.
After the canoeing we were all feeling a bit hungry, so we went for lunch at a place called Panyee Island, which is a muslim village which looks as though its floating on the water. I think that all the houses are just built on stilts. After lunch we got to look around for a bit and went to the local school, which was interesting. It's nice to see something that's not put on for our benefit for a change!!! On the way back to Krabi we stopped at a park with some pretty waterfalls and I managed to fall over trying to jump in, it looked funny, but was very embarrassing. Everyone kept fussing over me, which made me feel even more stupid. Doh!! It was a fantastic day though, which I'd definitely recommend.
Our next stop is going to be Ko Phi Phi, which is supposed to be one of the prettiest islands in all of Thailand, I can't wait!! We're going to do a tour of it first though from here in Railay, but I'll tell you all about it, in my Ko Phi Phi blog.
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marie
non-member comment
still going strong
Hi, you certainly seem to be enjoying yourself, I have been following you on your journey and recognised a lot of the places from last time, and some new ones as well, I have been told that vietnam is the new thailand and is really lovely so hope you manage to get there as well, it was certainly a long jouney to get to those lovely beaches but by the photos was well worth it. i hope you are going to be o.k on the rest of your journey, you seem to have made lots of friends. Take care and speak soon - havce a good christmas xxxx Marie