Advertisement
Published: April 9th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Well, we're ever so sorry its been so long since the last entry (blame the expensive island internet!!!)......
We left Krabi town on Thursday 23rd March and got a longtail boat to Railay (on the peninsular of Krabi). It took about 45 minutes and, luckily, the rain held off for the journey! (Did we mention we had rain in Krabi - we're sure you'll all be glad to hear that!!!) Had some very tricky moments trying to clamber out the boat (with our huge rucksacks) while it was still in knee-depth water!!!
We arrived at Railay East. Its a lovely place - very scenic - there are two sides that consist of Railay East and West beaches and Phra Nang beach - all surrounded by huge limestone cliffs (and you can walk to each in a matter of 5 minutes). Its an expensive place though as it has a lot of 'posher' resorts so we traipsed around for a while (wishing we had more money!) We finally found a nice room that was at the top-end of our budget, but cheap for Railay - so we were happy. We stayed on the east beach which isn't as nice as
Traffic Lights
The very amusing traffic lights in Krabi (nice pants!) the west because it has mud and mangroves but the atmosphere was better. It had more bars and some nice shops.
After having some lunch the heavens opened again - so no sunbathing for us. Instead, we did a little shopping and walked along the beachfront of Railay East. We found the Thai 'Delboy' in one of the local stalls. His name was Toby and he was great - a bit of a 'geezer'!!! He let us take cover from the rain in his shop. He was telling us about when the tsunami hit Railay which was interesting. It wasn't hit too badly (compared to some places) but he was the one who led people up to the cliffs to a cave for safety. They had to wait there all night and then a helicopter landed on the cliffs the next day to bring them aid. It was good to listen to his stories because when you arrive at the islands you just can't imagine what it would have been like for the people here (nor imagine where they could have gone to avoid it). We were talking for well over an hour and the rain had stopped. We
Cave Woman!
Karen in a cave on Railay. also brought a groovy bag from him!!!
It rained all night and morning - it was such a shame because it was a lovely place but there wasn't too much to do when it rained! It stopped in the afternoon though so it gave us time to venture out and explore. We walked to Phra Nang Beach which was beautiful. It was by a cave and a lot quieter than the West Beach. You got great views of the other islands in the sea.
In the evening we went to Sons Bar that was having its 'opening night'. Had some free punch and played connect 4 (great!). Also had free bar-b-q food too and a fire show. Needless to say we ate lots (just mention the word 'free' and we're there!!!).
The following day we were up early and caught the longtail boat from Railay to Ao Nang. Railay was lovely and we probably would have stayed longer had the weather been better.
Saturday 25th March - arrived in Ao Nang at lunchtime and found a really nice hotel room (with a TV too!) for the same price as Railay. Headed straight out to make the
most of the sun in between showers. Sunbathed on the beach. We managed an hour or so and then...down came the rain (this was becoming a bit of a theme!) We got 'scooped up' by two lovely thai ladies who wanted us to have a massage. We obliged and, what better way to spend a rainy afternoon, than by having an oil massage on a covered bamboo platform on the beach!!! Very nice and relaxing (& cheap) and we soon forgot the rain. We also got free fruit at the end (FREE again!!!)
Spent the evening in an Irish bar watching a very entertaining Merseyside Derby (Brits abroad eh?!) It was raining after all and - what a match!!!
The sunday was another day spent dodging the rain! Had two lovely phonecalls home to say 'happy mothers day'. Great to speak to family. Explored Ao Nang a bit more - its very 'resort-like' - Jamie thinks its like Blackpool, or Skeggie!!! We stopped for a drink at one of the street hawkers and drank with a nice interesting couple from Buxton - one of those cool random moments!!!
Monday 27th March - We left Ao Nang in
Railay West Beach
Bleak view of Railay West (not raining at this point - one of the rare moments!) the morning and caught the bus to Phang Nga. Its a province north of Krabi and took about 2 hours. Arrived at lunchtime and booked a tour to leave at 3pm that same day. It involved that nights accomodation and a whole days tour the next day (and all food).
So, grabbed some lunch in Phang Nga town and then we were soon back on our travels again. Not that far this time though - just a short tuk tuk ride to the pier and then a longtail boat to Koh Panyee - an island with a floating Muslim village. It looked great - all the buildings are on wooden stilts in the water. Our guesthouse for the evening was the end building in the village. It was such a bizarre experience - our room had a wooden floor and, through the boards, you could see the water underneath! We tried not to drop anything small on the floor!!! It was a really nice room.
We went out to explore the Muslim village further. Its hard to describe it and do it justice. It was a really weird place - good - but weird!!! It was a strange
mix - cut-off from the mainland and appeared poor in some respects (somewhat delapitated), but then had a market with stalls selling all sorts of goods for tourists. Right in the middle was a really big, posh house and also a coffee shop!!! The main source of their income is fishing so there were lots of seafood restaurants. We visted the Mosque, the school, and then met two local girls who were friendly but very cheeky. After trying to talk to us for a while they then followed us around for ages, giggling!
In the evening, we watched the sunset from the veranda of our guesthouse. We then had a lovely meal, with a great variety of local food - Rice, Tom Yam soup, stir fried vegetables, chicken curry, fresh prawns and also some lovely fresh pineapple - yum yum!!!
The next day we were picked up at 8.30am (after breakfast) to start our tour of Phang Nga Bay. We met up with our tour guide - a friendly man called Kon - and the rest of our group (about 10 of us in total). The rain had stopped!!! The tour was in a longtail boat and we
Many Ways to Have Fun with Connect 4!
Also a result of free punch, free connect 4, free food!!! visited mangrove swamps, several caves and beautiful lagoons - one in particular at Hong Island (means 'Room' Island). We had luch on a small, secluded beach and swam in the sea. Then we went on to 'James Bond Island'. They filmed The Man with the Golden Gun there (Russell Edkins we thought of you - you would have loved it and we needed your info of what bit was filmed where!!!) It was amazing, very beautiful - although it was so full of tourists!!!
The tour then moved on land and we visited a temple where wild monkeys were all gathered in front. It was slightly scary! We brought bananas to feed them. Rather than the 'cute' image we had of monkeys - they were very greedy and, each time we tried to throw the banana to the tiny baby monkeys, the older bigger ones would steel them. The baby monkeys were petrified of the older ones. They were all so nasty to each other! They would also swoop down from the trees (too close for comfort) to steal bananas out of your hands if they could. Relieved to leave the monkeys behind, that was the end of the
Us at Sons Bar, Railay.
After trounsing Karen at Connect 4. tour. It was well worth it and we had had a great day.
Back at the bus station, where we were dropped off, we got the bus straight back to Krabi town, where we stayed another night. We booked our ticket to go to Koh Phi-Phi the following morning. Had some very scrummy street food at the night market in Krabi.
On to 'The Beach'..............................................................Hopefully some good weather too!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.105s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 13; qc: 62; dbt: 0.066s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
jess clark
non-member comment
wow
wow all looks awsome karen, not jelous at all!lovin the connect four and cheeky girl pic the best tho...keep sending them!