Railay Bay, Thailand 11-10-09

After 7 days of non-stop partying, I needed a detox and a place to relax and couldn’t ask for a more perfect place for that than Railay Bay. To get there, James and I first had to take a 3 hour boat from Koh Phangnan to the south of Thailand into a city called Surat Thani. From there we took a 4 hour bus to Krabi and then hopped onto a long-tail boat which beached us on the shore on the east side of Railay Bay.

We searched a couple places and found a guesthouse on the east side called View Point which had pretty nice accommodations; AC, hot water, and 2 full sized-beds, a swimming pool, internet café, massage spa, and mini-mart. The room was 400 baht a person, so $12 a night... not too bad at all. The guesthouses, cabanas, and rooms are far cheaper on the east side of the island than the west. You can expect to pay at least double for everything on the west side of the Bay, even though it is only a 10 minute walk away. This is because of the sunsets, views, and better beaches on the west side. But, 10 minutes is 10 minutes and we weren’t fussed to half to walk a bit each day.

On our boat from Koh Phangnan to Surat Thani we met a group of people from the UK and for the next 6 days we spent all of our time together. Scott, Danny, Sophie, Dugan, and Daniel were from England, and Amanda was from Scotland. They all were so much fun and the perfect group to be with on Railay.

I was starting to feel a bit of a cold come on my first day in, guess my immune system was a tad weak after seven days of partying with no sleep. So Railay was my chance to rest, relax, and soak up some sun.

Most days we all walked over to the west side of the island where the beach was long and gorgeous with limestone mountain peaks surrounding it. We would lie on the sand by the water and every 5 to 10 minutes would be pleasantly interrupted; an older Thai lady would walk by offering us massages, foot scrubs, and manicures, then a Thai guy would come by selling water, beer, and soft drinks, a man with a huge bamboo pole over his shoulder carrying a grill would set-up-shop in front of us and ask if we wanted grilled, buttered corn, and always we could walk about 15 steps to our left to buy cold fresh Thai coconuts, pineapple, dragon fruit, and other fresh fruit, or purchase grilled chicken, fish, corn… or instead walk 10 steps in the opposite direction to order Pad Thai or a crepe from the Thai people working on the long-tail boats that were docked along the shore but mostly in the water.

Almost every day on the beach we all got 40 minute Thai massages for $3 US, and everyday I bought a coconut, fresh fruit, and a Nutella-banana crepe. We read our books and would lounge on the beach, jumping in the ocean every so often to cool down. This was paradise for me and we kept reminding ourselves how perfect this place was.

A five-minute swim out were rocks that were climbable and from the top of them was a great point to cliff dive. Our first couple of days here we just climbed and jumped, climbed and jumped, we even would show others “the ropes” on how to get up and where to jump from. A few days of this and I was already feeling much better.

The next day James and I signed up for rock climbing, Railay is known for their superb rock cliffs and this place is a hotspot for climbers from around the world. In the past I had climbed on indoor rock climbing walls, but climbing on a real stone cliff is completely different and so much better! The steps were steep to reach for and the distance up was much greater than an indoor gym. My first climb up was about 70 feet and from there the ending points continuously amplified. Seven routes later I was at the tallest of points on the wall face and exhausted. My arms and legs were so frail I almost slipped off the mountain, but didn’t (luckily, even if I did a safety line would have caught me). But the view from the top was well worth it and it felt really good to be active again after being idle for a few days. Our guide, Kay, was a super laid-back Thai guy who you can tell has never taken a day in his life seriously. Half-way through the climbs he pulled out a joint and smoked as he belayed James. James and I laughed about it, and Jay felt confident in Kay’s abilities to belay, so he kept climbing. Gotta love the Thai.

The night-life on Railay was pretty mild, usually for dinner our group of 8 would get together and have a nice Thai meal (pad thai, noodles, fried-rice dishes, stir-fry, grilled fish, seafood, or Thai soup) and then have a drink or two before heading to bed. I stayed sober for most of my time there since I wasn’t feeling 100% yet, but James and the English guys partied almost every night. Don’t know how James is still alive after 2 weeks straight of boozing… oh right, he’s Australian.

Our last couple of days on Railay we laid on the beach, had massages (we were now the Thai lady’s best customers and she would walk straight up to us as soon as we got there, ready to massage), fed corn and bananas to the wild monkeys in the trees behind us, and just took it easy. I finished the book I was reading, “The Lovely Bones”, and picked up two others from a book exchange store, “Monday’s Child” and “Eat, Pray, Love”.

Our last night together we walked to the west side of the island and watched one of the most remarkable sunsets I’ve ever seen; afterwards we had dinner together and then packed up for our morning departures.

Amanda, James, and I are headed to Koh Phi Phi; while Scott, Danny, Sophie, and Dugan are headed to Australia. They obtained one year working visas in Aus and I’ll be happy to see them again when I get there.

And as for now… after 6 days on a tropical and semi-deserted beach, I’m ready for the western world again. Koh Phi Phi is known as a mini-Koh Phangnan, but not as intense and there are other things to do on the island as well... snorkeling, retreats to Maya Beach, and great scuba diving. I’m ready!! J