Beautiful Railay
Trip Start
Dec 05, 2005
1
8
14
Trip End
Mar 15, 2006
Krabi Province- Railay Beach,
Thailand
Thursday, January 5, 2006
Naturally.... Neither of us bothered to remember to set an alarm clock for the morning of the 22nd. 'Thai time' indeed. So. I awoke with a start at the ripe hour of 7:24... Flight to depart at 8. Jordan drove like the wind, and we made it to the airport- Five minutes after final boarding call. We spent a quality seven/eight hours at the Koh Samui airport where we got to know flight attendants, baggage staff, and wait people quite well
Another traditional Christmas Eve
. That being said, we flew standby, thankfully, on the 4:00 flight to Phuket. From there, we took a bus to the terminal, and were seated by some Canadians that I made conversation with, and found that they had hired a van to take them to Ao Nang, the very beach/port needed to make the boat trip to Railay. Jumping ship with them, and splitting the bill, we watched "Madagascar" on the way (recommend if you're feeling silly) on the way to Ao Nang, boarded a longtail, headed for the beach.The feeling I got as we pulled up to Railay was one of apprehension and glee... The last time I was there was absolute magic, complete with Luke's company, and here was the familiar beach, waves, lights, smells, and now I was headed there with every one of our friends and his family except for him. I shouldn't kid myself about that, though, as I know he lived with us through our weeks the whole time in one way or another, and of course still touches us as we head our ways.
I met up with *everyone*... It was great to see all of them (you). All in all, 28 people made it over to be with each other and celebrate Luke. We all did so well, I am so proud of all of us for getting ourselves together. Particularly of Sage, who did a great (and I mean GREAT) job of putting together group activities for everyone, not easy- good job, girl
Chas rocks it Thai style
.On 12/24, we boarded a charter bus (thanks to Sage) headed for Khao Lak. I was grateful to go, but apprehensive of the journey. The bus was a double decker, seated 50, so the 28 of us rode comfortably, amidst alternately thumping or soothing music of Pearl's choosing- her being our DJ with the luckiest bus drivers you ever knew- and her narration of our journey was epic, over the mic, entertaining to say the least. Very funny girl. We stopped at a very strange market on the way up where I found the best "Thailand" shirt of all time, and Paul bought it for me as a keepsake- "Thailand", it says on top, and then there's a big picture of a bowl of soup, and then underneath, it says "Tom Yum Ghoong", which means shrimp soup. I mean, if you are going to wear a Thailand t-shirt, it might as well be a soup shirt. Thanks again, Paul. You'll see it again at OCF, guaranteed.
Sage handed out sort of Thai versions of leis to all of us.. very sweet and touching moments, I can't possibly really write about it. We kept driving, driving, and a few hours after departure, we rolled in to Khao Lak.
Everything is gone. That was my first thought as we came in
Creatures in the rain...
. It used to be a huge tourist attraction and is now tumbled stretches of beach and ruined underbrush, a real tribute to what happened there in the tsunami. There is a police boat, approx. 100 feet long or so, that got tossed inland by some kilometers that you could see from the shore-side of the road. It's being left alone as a memorial. It's a huge metal boat that is as far away from the actual ocean as you could imagine, leaning on one side. The foliage was visibly bent and decayed, the beaches empty, void of buildings and people, and the buildings that stand are wrecked, fortunately under repair... But wrecked. It was shocking to be there and see it in person. I'm so glad we went, though. We needed to make our pilgrimmage.We disembarked from our bus at the Thai Orchid resort, where Luke was staying at the time of the tsunami, and sort of breathless, all kind of got off the bus and wandered aimlessly about. Nicki called us together and we gathered under a couple of tents that seemed to have been there for us (although they of course weren't) and we had a very intense and beautiful pipe ceremony for Luke and Angie. I actually haven't felt quite so calm about the entire thing as when the pipe was handed to me and I spoke. I don't know if it was the feeling of tuning out to say something and not break down, if it was the actual calmness one feels when finally speaking out about something horrific, or if it was feeling the greatness and truth of our group and each others' love and Luke's love of all of us that came over me, but it was there
Everyone's gotta do it
. I can't speak for everyone, but I know that after our ceremony, and after taking deep breaths and wiping our eyes and noses, we all gave out a BIG HOLLER CHEER and bolted towards the Andaman sea for the most joyful swim I, personally, have ever had. We dunked each other, splashed, laughed.... Personally, I was grateful that I was able to forgive water as an element period, and this particular sea/beach and enjoy being there with my friends. It was amazing. Of course, I'd packed a swimsuit... And left it on the bus as it took off for a spell while we had our moments at Khao Lak, and I wasn't the only one, so I know that some of us had a fairly uncomfortably salty ride in our undergarments on the way home. But- not too far from the Thai Orchid Khao Lak hotel, we stopped at an unbelievably beautiful restaurant high on the hill and made it our "Christmas Eve" dinner. 28 people descending on an unprepared village restaurant is rarely pretty, but we did a good job, and it was delicious. Boarded the bus back, and 'the boys' went downstairs of the bus to what Ruby dubbed the "7 1/2th floor" (see 'Being John Malkovitch'- a half-floor that you basically have to crawl into) to play some dice/poker and drink some beer. Ryan mentioned that seeing Warner try to load his frame into the tiny bathroom was the funniest thing he's ever seen. I didn't go there, but was told that entering and exiting the bus' bathroom was like being reborn. Pretty hilarious. Anyway, on the top floor from the 7 1/2th, we could hear a collective cheer or groan come up every once in a while as I'm sure someone lost or gained 20 baht. It was funny.
We came home later that evening and were dropped in Ao Nang, and it being Christmas Eve, there was Santa and..
Muslim Kitty
. Oh, how badly do I want to quote, but I'm sure this is a family magazine... So I'll just say, Santa and his Silly Gosh-Darn Elf, so said Warner, right smack dab in front of Santa and Elf... And I snapped next year's Christmas card photo for Marni and Warner. The really funny thing, other than it being a Buddhist country and Christmas here being a total sham, is that Thais have never seen snow, so when you are decorating, say, some fake reindeer with cotton balls, those cotton balls are nowhere near representing where snow would actually fall on said reindeer, or sled, or Gosh-Darn Elf... It's really funny. As is everything here, really, it's just a wee bit off and ends up representing something completely different by English-speaking or snow-familiar nationalities' standards.Well, it was a fun late night. The best part was that Tang asked Warner when he was... And again I'd love to quote... Asked when he was going to take that Silly Gosh-Darn Santa hat off. That was great. We had a wonderful time, danced the night away at the Gecko bar, and that was that. The rest of the days that everyone was there, we had a few get togethers- but most importantly, Luke's family organized a "hands across Railay" ceremony that took place at the time of the tsunami, and people gathered en masse to be a part of that... And then on the night of the 26th, we lit two big beautiful lanterns that flew up into the sky for Luke and Angie.. As did many others, they were flying over the limestone cliffs in the hundreds. It was beautiful. I am so lucky to have been able to be there.
Sawadee Be Mai! Happy New Year's, everyone. Those that didn't bolt for the north had a great time hanging out together and dancing 'on the dark side' until the wee hours, and then a few of us dared to streak from the beach to the ocean, swimming around in the phosphorescence..
New friend Jana!!
. It was awesome. Lots of cool people doing lots of fun things....Then, days following, we went on a couple of speedboat rides. The first we went on was relatively eventless, if you count stopping on beautiful islands, lunching at a fairly deserted beach after riding in the back of some pickup truck on a dirt road to your destination, climbing ladders into a village... well, if you call that eventless. The only reason I say so is that the next speedboat ride we we went on... Started GREAT. We stopped at Paradise Cove which we all knew and remembered... Went on to have lunch and pet cats at a Muslim village on an island.... And then headed back to Railay in what surely rivaled whatever took the USS Minnow to the coconut beach that Gilligan has been familiar with for all these years. Oh my GOD. The rain came down, the boat tilted at 45 degrees, the ocean came over the side, everyone was soaked, everyone except for me thought it was funny, it wasn't freakin funny, that's all I have to say. Nicki said I was brave as I did my best not to vibe everyone else out with my "Yikes" mentality. Bottom line, we applauded the boat driver when we FINALLY met shore, (I popped my head up now and again checking for a shoreline that I might swim to if necessary), my camera stayed dry due to my hunched position and my expensive camera bag, and everything was A-OK. A hot shower, a HUGE and I mean HUGE lizard sighting, which was killer and I have photos, and a few bug bites (them musky-toes like that there rain) all was okay by me
Outty
. What a trip. Really.So... One more day of rain (eew, don't want to go there, do we, Marn...) and a few of sun later, I left last night, it being the 5th of January, on a bus and then a bus and then a bus and then finally a train headed for BKK. More about that later- it's really comical. Got here this morning and spent today trying to find where I was going to want to stay- took the CITY BUS from the train station (I mean the real bus, 6 baht bus, way braver than the airport bus I took when I first arrived, I'm talking no English, no other Farang... It was crazy.... Sadly, I wouldn't even take public transport at home...) and ended up here near Khao San Road, where I'd actually intended to go, no less; the famous traveler crazy place in Bangkok. More on all of that later, quite a day... I love Railay and I love my family of friends more than anything in the world, but I'm back on the trail of adventure and I'm so so so happy to be here. How am I ever going to come home??? ...I asked myself that question earlier as I sat in front of my guest house eating glass noodle spicy salad and staring at the various vendors of bizarre objects riding their bikes or pushing their carts, calling the name of their wares and fare, ding ding dinging their bells...
I'll write more tomorrow after my return to Chatuchak market about my BKK return/adventure on the crazy train (and bus)... For now, goodnight! Boy, I hope I don't have to come back here again. Love Bankgok... Comfortable here, now... But the third time's the charm in a month. For sure.
Til later then! Chock Dee Kah!
