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Published: September 20th 2006
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View over Railay
from the lookout on the lagoon hike Well, we got waylaid on a beach again. It's so easily done though, isn't it? After the dive trip we were planning to head straight up to Laos but then another option was offered up: Railey Beach near Krabi, 2.5hours south. It was in the opposite direction but somehow we managed to justify it and shared a cab/mini van with the polish couple, Jarek and Danuta, that we'd dived with. I have to add that Jarek and Danuta are by far the most generous, warm, lovely people you could hope to meet.
RAILAY BEACH
It's actually part of the mainland but you can only reach it by long tail boat, so it has the feel of, and for all intents and purposes is, an island. It is a thin pennisula with Railay West on the west side and Railay East on, surprise, surprise, the east side. Railay West is described in the Lonely Planet as "superior" to the east and this is a fair description. It has a very nice beach that runs into impressive limestone cliffs at each end, with views of islands and the mainland in the distance which the sun sets over. It has flash resorts,
Long Boats
As you tell by the number of boats, it was a fairly popular spot... with flash pools and flash restuarants as well. These have flash prices to match (relative to other options in Thailand). Meanwhile, on the east side it is mangroves, the resorts and restuarants are not so flash and cater more to the backpacker. There are some bars on this side that are pretty cool. They are all cheaper and fine to stay at. Of course, this is where we stayed.
The good news about it all is that Railay East is literally a 5 minute walk to the west side (I timed myself), so you can have the best of both worlds and if you don't look too scruffy you can do what we did and infiltrate a nice resort and lounge by the pool. We did this at the resort that Jarek and Dunuta stayed at on the west side. It's called Sand Sea Resort. They never asked us once what room we were staying at. Just be tidy and quiet and you can relax nicely on a sun bed, in the shade of a palm tree, reading a good book, sipping mango shakes and taking the occassional dip in the pool. That's what I did. So, see, you
can have the best of both worlds...you just need to bend the rules ever so slightly.
Jim did this too, but not as much as I did. He had another bout of food poisoning and was rendered to the pan (and bed) for 4 days. I was getting a bit worried about him, to be honest. I showed this and how much I cared by leaving the pool side every couple of hours to visit him in our bungalow to replenish his toilet paper, water and cracker and/or rice soup supply and to yell at him for not drinking enough water or eating enough crackers and/or rice soup.
Jim didn't appreciate the yelling bit, but I explained that it was only because I love him and wanted him to get better soon so I could stop putting off doing all the cool stuff there is to do because I wanted to do it with him. Oh, hang on a minute. That sounded a bit selfish, let me re-phrase that. I explained that it was only because I love him and wanted him to get better so he could come out of the bungalow and have fun doing all
Sunset
From the bar at Railey West. There is also a nightly game of soccer between the thai guys on the beach. They are very good at it and put on quite a show. As if that sunset isn't enough... the cool stuff there is to do. With me. I added that I had read in a medical book that eating high starch, plain food and drinking lots of water was the best thing. I also added that I didn't care that the rice soup was bland and he didn't like it, he had to eat it anyway. Just call me Florence Nightingale...and I'm going to be a wonderful mother one day, don't you think?
Anyway, after a few days Jim felt better and ventured out to the pool side and then we ventured to Tonsai Beach at low tide. At low tide you can walk around the limestone cliffs at the end of Railay West to this beach. Here is an even more budget area than the east side. It's beach isn't too flash but you can always head over to railay without too much bother. It has a much stronger alternative/hippie vibe than on either of the railay sides and is very chilled out. Sadly, as the day was drawn to a close we had to say our goodbyes to Jarek and Danuta, who were heading back to London. Jim and I decided to stay on for
GIANT PENIS!!
Now that I have your attention. That is Jarek standing beside it. Notice all the other penises - big and small - in the background. Some fertility god thing, I don't know really... a bit and the next day we rented kayaks and took on the mission of paddling to a nearby island. At least, it looked nearby. It actually wasn't and I was reminded how deceptive distance is over water. So half way there Jim blamed me for our aching arms because it was my idea and I blamed him for agreeing with me in the first place, since he knows I do get these daft ideas from time to time. Never the less, we weren't about to give up and an hour and a half later we arrived at a beautiful, but totally generic beach. There were lots of people there on day boat trips from Krabi so it wasn't the secluded little cove I'd been hoping we'd find but it was very pretty and nice anyway. Of course, so is Railay and we didn't have to give ourselves cardic arrests to stay there, but exercise and adventure were the point of getting the kayaks. I did feel a sense of accomplishment when we'd made it and this was reinforced by the reactions of the people when we told them what we'd done. Most look quite impressed. Some look at us
Quartz Waterfall
Inside a cave at Railey. It's a very easy walk to it. This formation is very pretty. like we were nuts, of course. When we got back to Railay to have a beer with the dive instructor there, who I'd gotten to know through Jarek and Danuta, and told him he laughed at us. And told us we were nuts. Apart from kayaking to the island we also found little caves to paddle through which was great.
The next day we hiked out to the lagoon. The walk/climb is fantastic and adventurous if you are not a proper rock climber and a nice chilled out experience if you are one(popped that bit in for any strangers perusing the site, as Railay is a mecca for rock climbers from all over the world). You spend some of the time climbing up the mountain side, then lowering yourself on ropes (and half climbing, half falling down) to find the hidden lagoon, with a high wall of limestone rocks. Sounds very "The Beach" without all the tourists, right? Well, there weren't too people on the path but there isn't much of a beach either, it's all mud, but very pretty and a great hike to boot. Was very sad to bid Railay farewell, but we have Laos to push
Monkey Business2
Up close and personal. This guy was a lot more friendly that the one on Monkey Island (vietnam). onto. Very excited about that prospect. Wish we had more time to spend there, we've left ourselves a bit short on time, but oh, well, you can't have everything all the time, can you? Tossing up between a sun drenched beach in Thailand and an adventure in Laos - well they're both pretty bloody good choices, aren't they? Can't complain at all, can. Not without sounding like a spoilt twat, anyway...
So we are in Bangkok again at Asha's Guesthouse - our 'home away from home'. Be in touch soon.
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Claire
non-member comment
You look gorgeous Leigh. Have you kept the tan?