It's the destination, NOT the journey!!

Feeling like we had sufficiently explored the eastern islands of Southern Thailand, and left some blood, sweat, and buckets behind, we embarked on a long journey to the western beaches. It was a 12 hour journey, starting off with another ferry ride (seas we calmer, no diesel smell, thank god!!), then a really cramped mini bus. Then... it got interesting. Arriving in Krabi Town at dusk, most of our mini van got out there. Just us and 3 Swiss guys left. Our driver then drove around town dropping off courier packages, then we pulled up to a "dock" (not really near any water) and were told that a boat would take us to Railay. The Thai man motioned to us that the boat had arrived. Not seeing anything, the 5 of us followed him into the dark, walking between rocks and bushes with our big packs on. The we took an abrupt left down a path that could only be used for filming the creepiest horror movie scenes. Yet, in the pitch balck, off we went. We then saw a lone boat floating in the water. Our driver waded out, tried to get it near us, couldn't, so we had to wade in after him and hop in the boat, which was basically a canoe with an engine (see pic of me in the hat... see the driver behind us??) All 5 of us just looked at each other thinking "this is definitely a genuine Thailand experience!" After about a 30 min boat ride in the pitch black, we saw the lights of Railay in the distance.... then our boat hit rocks and stopped. Our driver motions to us to get out and that we are supposed to walk the 1000m into the beach!! We pile our packs on, basically fall out of the boat (all of us in flip flops) and realize that the way to the beach is paved with VERY jagged rocks for about the first 800m, then a mud pit for the rest! We waded in the pitch black towards light like monsters emerging from the sea depths. I lost my flip flop and sliced the bottom of my foot on a rock trying to chase it down (not easy with a backpack on my back AND front!). We can't believe the guy at the first place we walked up to even gave us a room... covered in mud and sweat! I have attached a pic of the beach we walked through in the day (ropes in the foreground), but it really doesn't do it justice!!
Well, after that journey, we pretty much just crashed. Today, however, we made the best of our time here. Railay is known for its spectacular cliffs, and of course, for rock climbing! And, of course, we tried it!! We had a great time, as evidenced by how tired our arms are tonight! Our extremely small instructor, Jane, was fantastic. We climbed some amazing routes, and made it to 2/4 summits we tried (ALMOST there for the last 2, but couldn't quite find the strength!!) Mars is in the white shorts, me in the black ones. The funniest part was that, on our last climb, about 30 monkeys came out of nowhere and started climbing with us!! I was trying to go up one rock and this one monkey looked me straight in the eye and hissed! The monkeys are everywhere on the island! All in all, a great time in Railay... definitely worth the journey :)

Comments

  1. GloriaJuly 16, 2009 at 9:50 AM

    Good to see you two are still looking stylin' even though you are backpacking! Can't believe you went in that boat, at night, and then out to hike to shore - amazing! Was your shoe worth the cut you got? Rock climbing looks awesome-but not for me. Should have gotten a massage after that climb.
    P.S. Your first room looks like a brothel!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 17, 2009 at 3:10 PM

    Did you stop to think that you might be going through a scene from the movie "The Beach" where the kids find a new Beach and get munched by sharks?

    Was the monkey a male? Might have to add him to the list!

    ReplyDelete

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