Saturday, July 20 9pm
Chaing Mai, Thailand
I am posting a large number of pictures. This is because I am at an internet cafe where it is easy to post them. They do not yet have any context, but they will.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Days 2-4 in Railay Beach
Day 2: Sunday, June 30
We woke up around 10 and checked out of our apartment building. A cab took us to Don Mueang airport. We booked a $60 flight to Krabi the day before. The flight was only about an hour long and rain clouds below the plane created a rainbow over the countryside.
From the airport, a bus took us toward Krabi town, where I had found a well reviewed hostel. On the bus, we met a Russian man with his wife and newborn. He lives in Pattaya (the Myrtle Beach of Thailand) and works in real estate there. He was heading to Railay beach, and said that it was quite beautiful. So we took the bus to a beach where a longtail boat drove us about 15 minutes to Railay beach. Railay is on the mainland, but huge rock formations prevent roads from accessing the area. When we arrived, we walked past the beachfront resorts down a trail that wound around shear rock faced that jutted up from the earth. On this path, we passed a large family of monkeys.
At the end of the path were a group of huts called the Cabana Bungalows run by a soft spoken Thai woman. We stayed in a bungalow with electricity, running water (cold), and a mosquito net for the bed. It cost 250 Baht/night ($8.33) and even came with a free 4 inch diameter spider.
We were weary from our travels, so we ate a good meal at a restaurant on the beach. We laid down on the beach and fell asleep for half an hour, or maybe 2 hours. Then we walked back and went to bed.
Day 3: Monday, July 1
We woke up and saw that it was a beautiful day.
We walked over to a coffee shop for breakfast, where this photo was taken.
That mango shake was delicious. After breakfast, we got an hour long massage. They are comparatively expensive at the beach, 300 Baht ($10). Then we hit the beach.
As it does almost every day, it began to rain in the early afternoon. So we took a short walk to a cave and engaged in some spelunking. The cave was quite cavernous.
That hike was also rather steep, so when we reached Railay again, we went for a swim. Then we went to hike to the top of the Railay viewpoint. We originally walked right past the trail head to the view point when we were looking for it. We didn't see it because it was almost vertical. It wasn't quite a shear rock face, but was probably sloped about 20 degrees from vertical. Ropes tied to trees aided our climbing, but this was by far the most strenuous hike of the day. When we arrived at the top, we realized that it was more than worth it.
As we began our descent, the late afternoon torrential downpour began. This turned the rock face into more of a waterfall, so it took me a long time to get back down. Spider monkey KA is a much better climber and was able to get down quickly.
Exhausted, we walked back to the bungalow and showered. We went for another massage and had dinner. Then we went to sleep to prepare for our trip to Koh Phi Phi.
We woke up around 10 and checked out of our apartment building. A cab took us to Don Mueang airport. We booked a $60 flight to Krabi the day before. The flight was only about an hour long and rain clouds below the plane created a rainbow over the countryside.
From the airport, a bus took us toward Krabi town, where I had found a well reviewed hostel. On the bus, we met a Russian man with his wife and newborn. He lives in Pattaya (the Myrtle Beach of Thailand) and works in real estate there. He was heading to Railay beach, and said that it was quite beautiful. So we took the bus to a beach where a longtail boat drove us about 15 minutes to Railay beach. Railay is on the mainland, but huge rock formations prevent roads from accessing the area. When we arrived, we walked past the beachfront resorts down a trail that wound around shear rock faced that jutted up from the earth. On this path, we passed a large family of monkeys.
 |
| Monkey Business |
At the end of the path were a group of huts called the Cabana Bungalows run by a soft spoken Thai woman. We stayed in a bungalow with electricity, running water (cold), and a mosquito net for the bed. It cost 250 Baht/night ($8.33) and even came with a free 4 inch diameter spider.
We were weary from our travels, so we ate a good meal at a restaurant on the beach. We laid down on the beach and fell asleep for half an hour, or maybe 2 hours. Then we walked back and went to bed.
Day 3: Monday, July 1
We woke up and saw that it was a beautiful day.
 |
| Our Bungalow |
 |
| The view from our Bungalow |
We walked over to a coffee shop for breakfast, where this photo was taken.
That mango shake was delicious. After breakfast, we got an hour long massage. They are comparatively expensive at the beach, 300 Baht ($10). Then we hit the beach.
As it does almost every day, it began to rain in the early afternoon. So we took a short walk to a cave and engaged in some spelunking. The cave was quite cavernous.
We got back in the ocean when the sun came out for a while, then explored the area some more. It was then that we discovered that there was an entire other beach, East Beach, that we did not yet know about. It was not as pretty as West Beach, but had many restaurants and other businesses. We were tired from a busy day, so we had dinner and went to sleep.
Day 4: Tuesday, July 2
Kathryn Ann got up around 7:30 and began exploring the area some more. I woke up around 10:30, went for a swim, and ate breakfast. Here, KA found me and regaled me with tales of her travels. She had found yet another beach, just a short walk from the south end of East Beach. After breakfast, we walked to this beach and swam across the water about 40 yards to a small island with a few small caves that flood at high tide.
We then walked back to the Bungalows where the woman who ran the business told us about a trail that began near our hut, went over a ridge, and ended at another beach called Ton Sai. So we put on our hiking boots and set out. About 200 yards down the path, we found this informative sign.
The path was very steep and would over the mountain for about a mile and a half. We arrived in Ton Sai and found that it was visible from West Railay Beach. We found a path over some rocks that led back to West Beach.
 |
| Ton Sai from the rock path |
That hike was also rather steep, so when we reached Railay again, we went for a swim. Then we went to hike to the top of the Railay viewpoint. We originally walked right past the trail head to the view point when we were looking for it. We didn't see it because it was almost vertical. It wasn't quite a shear rock face, but was probably sloped about 20 degrees from vertical. Ropes tied to trees aided our climbing, but this was by far the most strenuous hike of the day. When we arrived at the top, we realized that it was more than worth it.
 |
| Railay from the viewpoint, facing north. East Beach is on the right and West Beach is on the left. |
Exhausted, we walked back to the bungalow and showered. We went for another massage and had dinner. Then we went to sleep to prepare for our trip to Koh Phi Phi.
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