Railay, July 23-26, 2008
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2008
1
15
18
Trip End
Ongoing
Railay,
Thailand
Thursday, July 31, 2008
We checked into a room at the Tonsai Bay Resort and had a relaxed evening. The next day the rainy season finally caught up to us (for the first time since Koh Chang two weeks before). It poured all day long, which was a little dreary since nowhere on Tonsai has electricity between the hours of 10 am and 5 pm and it was pretty dark indoors without sunshine. During the high season (October to March) there is a lot of activity on Tonsai, but since it's low season, many of the bars and bungalows further down the beach were closed, so there were fewer things to do. Fortunately there was a great place called the Chill Out Bar really close to our place that was open, and we quickly got to know the Thai owners and their friends, most of whom drive longtail taxi boats in the area. We quickly became friends and spent a lot of time hanging out with them, which was a great way to spend our time in Railay.
One unique point about Railay, and Tonsai in particular, is that the whole area is crazy for rock climbing. Most of our fellow travelers were rock climbers and they spent time scaling the huge rock faces that surrounded the bay. Charlotte and Dave both wanted to try it, but I'm not a very confident or enthusiastic climber (I've always been terrified by it, even in small trees), so I knew right away I'd be happy abstaining. On our second full day at Tonsai, however, I got a bit more than I'd bargained for. It was a bit overcast but not raining so we decided to go for an adventure to a lagoon we'd heard about. We hiked through the passageway between Tonsai and Railay West, which was quite a steep and rocky climb in and of itself, before joining the trail to the lagoon. The turn-off wouldn't have been obvious if there hadn't been a sign pointing to the first obstacle in the course: a nearly vertical climb up a 100-foot wall of mud and tree roots. Once we'd made it up, we realized it had only been a sign of what to come. At one point we were forced to make it down a steep hill of slippery mud using knotted ropes to steady ourselves; it probably would have been easier to slide straight down. As we approached the lagoon, the going got really tough: at several points, the trail required us to abseil down 15-foot vertical rock faces. The moment we got there, the sky opened up and poured down a brief tropical rainstorm, making it even slipperier. As I said before, I'm not much of a climber, so I decided to hang out in the jungle for a bit and leave the more hard core stuff to Charlotte and Dave (we had also met up with a Dutch guy along the way, a more experienced climber who gave us encouragement on the trickier parts). After they returned from the lagoon, we hiked back up to a gorgeous viewpoint where we had an amazing angle from which we could see the entire Railay peninsula. Then it was back on down the mountain, a feat we completed (fortunately) without incident.
Our last night at Tonsai was also supposed to be our last night with Charlotte, who was headed back to Bangkok to meet her sister before setting off for Cambodia. To mark the occasion we ordered a bucket for the first time--all over Thailand you can order a super-size cocktail, served in a bucket (the kind a child would use in a sandbox) and containing a whole flask of rum, usually with a Red Bull and a Coke. They even sell pre-packaged bucket kits in stores around Thailand. We had laughed about all the tourists walking down Bangkok's Khao San Road toting a bucket each, but we had never tried one, so we figured it was time. I don't like hard alcohol, so I refrained, but it was an amusing diversion. The next morning we said good-bye to Charlotte, which was sad, since we didn't know when we would see her (or any of our other friends from the States) again. It had been really great getting to travel with a friend from home.
We were headed for Koh Lanta, another island just south of Railay. But the bad weather the past few days had made the sea extremely choppy, so no longtail boats would leave Tonsai Bay. The delay forced us to miss the tickets we had bought (we were able to get our money back). Since the tide was high and our big bags were too heavy to tackle the shorter but rockier path, we had to take the long way to Railay, which led us through the jungle for about 45 minutes. We were relieved to reach the other side, and after some time we managed to catch a boat to a place where we could hop in a taxi to Ao Nang or Krabi town, the two main departure points in the area. As we were riding in the back of the pick-up truck taxi, it started pouring rain. It seemed like events were conspiring to change our minds about more time on the beach. We had a lot of errands to get done in Bangkok before heading to Myanmar, which was next on our agenda, so on a whim we decided to forgo Koh Lanta (this time) and caught an overnight bus from Krabi to Bangkok.
Once in Bangkok we discovered Charlotte was staying in the same guesthouse as us (the same place we had stayed during previous visits to Bangkok). She had not known we'd changed our minds, so it was a pleasant surprise when we met up. While in Bangkok we checked many things off our to-do lists, and met up with Charlotte's sister, Nikki. We had a few days to kill before heading to Yangon, and they were going eastward to Cambodia with a flexible schedule, so together we decided to spend a few days on Koh Samet, an island three hours east of Bangkok (between Bangkok and Koh Chang). We hadn't wanted to give up the island lifestyle just yet, so it was a welcome turn of events.
