|
  | |  |
Kicking Back on Rai Leh Beach
Entry 14 of 85 | show all | print this entry |
|
We caught the 45 min longtail boat from Krabi to Railay Beach - only reachable this way - over placid waters, thankfully. Railay Beach itself was gorgeous - so much unique scenery. We arrived on the east coast, which has no beach itself due to tide variations, and immediately got a room there for 500 Baht for three nights - cheapo in an expensive resort.
  
As it was low season there was hardly anyone there, which gave us free range on the beach on the west coast - 5 mins walk away. The sea was gorgeous and pretty shallow so we could go out some way. There was lots of frisbee to be had on the beach and the Thai people brought out football goals and had mass games everyday.
 
Parts of the island were extremely secluded and could only be reached at low tide, involving climbing over lots of rocks to get there.
 
We also went up to the highlands for great views over the sea.
 
After the first day of relaxing, we were up early the next day for sea kayaking at Ao ThaLane. Against the waves of the open sea this was actually rather challenging, especially when we seemed to be going nowhere despite all our effort (!) but was really rewarding in the end, when we reached the tranquility of the lagoons, breached only by the soothing sounds of the jungle. We floated across here with ease, past various caves and canyons, admiring the scenery. The paddling became a little more ardous and required more dexterity through the mangrove forests we traversed later on which was really enjoyable.
  
And - monkeys jumped off the branches onto our kayak as if it were a taxi, sitting there eating the fruit that our guide fed them! One of them put his arm round Lucy trying to hug her but she couldn't paddle cause it was sat on her oar!
  
We also saw "little crocs" that were large lizards resembling crocodiles apparently, and a vast array of birds in the jungle. It was an awesome trip but soooo knackering! Back at the beach we just collapsed and chilled out for the rest of the day... bit of hacky sack and volleyball/football viewing perhaps...
 
Next day we were planning to go snorkelling but this was cancelled as it was deemed too windy for the boats to leave. So instead we did some freelance rock-climbing! I don't think I'm exagerrating when I say death-defying (close your eyes mum), we traversed treacherous, literally sheer rock faces up and over the hills and down below to reach first a viewpoint over the whole beach, which was like the scene of a postcard - indescribable, look...
 
And secondly to a secluded and hidden away lagoon.
We were the only people there/stupid enough to be there, haha, for awhile and it was so nice! I can't believe we actually climbed those rocks - looking at them, it was unreal, but I'm soooo glad we did, to see what we saw. And I didn't feel nervous about it or anything, we did it pretty easily in the end - all though the state of my clothes left something to be desired... laundry is overrated however!
  
Anyway, after that we were rewarded with more beach time and watched Shrek 3 in the bar in the evening before being up early the next morning for our long day of travelling to KL - leaving from Krabi at 11 to Hat Yai at 4, then to KL. Yeah!
As we'd been warned by locals and tourists alike that the boats to Krabi only depart when full with 8-10 people, we decided to get up early to ensure that we'd make it for the bus to KL at 10.30. It was a good thing we did, as we made it in the nick of time. The arduous journey thus begun with us first waiting for a suitable number of people for the boat to depart, followed by us trawling through knee high water, attempting to suspend our bags above it whilst avoiding stepping on numerous rocks adorning the waterbed, to reach water deep enough where the boats could be moored. Once on the boat we kicked back and relaxed, only to find we were being deposited at a jetty far up water from Krabi, as the waters were too choppy for the boat to make it that far. One suspected the boat men and taxi drivers had devised a devious plan to rinse us of our tourist dollar as we were then accosted by taxi drivers charging a fortune (relatively, in Thai terms!) to take us to Krabi. We rejected these offers and ploughed on up to the main road where we were informed that we could catch a bus to Krabi. A complete stroke of luck meant the bus drove past us literally a minute after we reached the road, and we flagged it down and hopped aboard. The bus went all round the houses, devouring the hour we had to spare, and dropped us off in Krabi to find our own way to the jetty. Bereft of a sense of direction in this place, we decided to utilise another random form of transport - the lift on the back of a motorbike form. With our bags perilously hanging from the bike, and us clutching onto the drivers shoulders for dear life, we veered round corners and through Thai streets before arriving with about 3 minutes to spare at the jetty, our bus getting ready to depart (surprisingly on time!).
The rest of the day's transit was not as entertaining, but suitably long winded, as we made our way in a minibus through the pouring rain to Hat Yai, which to be generous to the place, was a dump, although it did offer us the opportunity to spend our last 60 Baht on hawker food and fruit galore whilst waiting for our bus connection to KL. At about midnight we were hauled off this bus to go through Malaysian immigration, got our passports stamped, and kissed byebye to Thailand.
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries by sianeth, from Thailand or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
56 votes 
