Krabi, Thailand

Just this past weekend, Steve, Phil, B. and I take a trip to Railay beach, in Krabi, Thailand. Railay is the place to go in Southeast Asia for rock climbing. Steve and Phil left on Tuesday to go climbing and Bernice and I followed on Thursday.

The flight went well, we took a cab from the airport to reach Ao Nang -- a really touristy beach with boats going to the different islands in Krabi.

Railay Beach is a peninsula which can only be reached by boat. Bernice and I join a few people who are waiting for a long tail boat which will take us to Railay. There are tonnes of these limestone caves and walls all over Railay, and this is where the climbers climb :). The beaches had white sands, that were so soft, and the water was so clear.

This trip was quite different from the other trips that I've been taking with my travel buddies, since we stayed in one place the entire time. It was more relaxing this way, and we spent much of the time roaming the beaches. There were 4 main beaches, 2 on the east side and 2 on the west. The peninsula was pretty small, and can easily be walked in about 20 minutes.

I got bitten pretty badly on this trip. I am now convinced that the tastiest part of me are my ankles. Its where all the mosquitoes head straight for! I can spray my entire calf, and leave everywhere above me knee unsprayed, and they would still find that ONE spot on my ankle with a little less bug spray and bite there twice! grrrrr ...

Other than that the trip went relatively smoothly. I find myself to be a bit irritated easily on this trip, I think that was due to a combination of my 30 something bug bites, and being a bit traveled out. I had to concentrate really hard to not scratch them... they were super itchy!!!

It was quite a relaxing little adventure, getting to Railay Beach from Ao Nang. We actually had to wade through the waters to reach the long tail boats, since it was low tied, the boats were further in the water. It was interesting. Later we find out that all the area that is sandy at night will be completely submerged in the late morning due to the high tide.

This is probably one of my favourites shots again the two limestone cliffs in the water.

Steve and Phil had found a beach bungalow for about 400Baht/night. Bernice and I also get one, but we get one with a washroom since it was only 500Baht per night. (100Baht = $5 Singapore). Our room came with a mosquito net, which worked pretty well. We also had a personal alarm clock, aka the rooster.

The little guy would crow every morning at 5AM, and would not stop until he saw someone come out of our bungalow. At the end of the trip, I would wake up after it crowed, at 5AM, walk outside, stand there for a few minutes to make sure it saw me, then go back to sleep! And it worked! :)

Yes! I'm able to outsmart the rooster! My life is now complete.

The food was really good, although not cheap. B. and I tried muesli, and our first attempt was quite unsatisfying. It was basically some mush mixed with yogurt and dried fruit. The second time we had it -- at a nicer restaurant -- was quite good. I think I'll take this back with me to Canada, its a really healthy breakfast.

We also had barracuda our second night, and it was a very interesting texture. Very firm meat for a fish. We also had curry every night! Awesome-ness. T

The Thai pancakes (aka Roti) was also very good, and that was often desert. I especially like the pineapple roti with condensed milk or honey sauce. We were on a mission for mango sticky rice, but unfortunately, it was not meant to be. We were either too early, or too late, or they had finished selling out for the day! :(

The guys mostly climbed, and B. and I entertained ourselves by chilling along the beaches, and enjoying the beach atmosphere. Our first day there, we slept in (despite the rooster), and spent the rest of the day on the beach. It rained in the afternoon for a bit, but the rocks shielded us away from most of the rain, but did not keep the mosquitoes away. Darn it.


Below is Steve and climbing with Phil belaying. Looks neat, eh?

The second day, we all went diving together. Steve and I did the introductory dive, and on our second dive, we dove with B. and Phil.

In Vietnam, where I did my first dive, it was one-on-one attention, and diving in a group made me more uneasy. The visibility was poor, and it was hard to look at the fish, because once I took my eyes off the dive master, I would be a bit panicky until I found him.

I even lost the group once, and kept floating towards the surface. I panicked at first, then tried to calm myself down, and told myself that I could always get to the surface slowly. I later started seeing some bubbles and followed them down to find my group. And then I stuck with the dive master the rest of the time.

That's myself and Steve on the long tail boat while Phil and Bernice did their last dive.
Although I was a bit disappointed in this dive, I still got to see some pretty cool stuff. I saw a sting ray, a sea horse, and a lion fish, amongst other things, such as corals and some pretty tropical fishes. I made sure to take a picture of myself in a wet suit, this time!

The third day, B. and I met up with Steve and Phil for a hike / climb to a view point at the top of one of the mountains. As we waited for the guys to finish their climb, we take pictures of the monkeys just hanging out in the trees near by. There are also lots of little crabs in the sands due to the low tide. I felt like filling up their holes with sand to see what happened, but I was afraid they would come out and bite me. Yes, I'm scared of tiny crabs.

Below is a view of the peninsula from where we climbed to the top of one of the "mountains."

The journey up to the view point was more of a climb than a hike, and I felt like I got a little taste of climbing. Although the climb was a bit of work, it didn't feel too dangerous, and there was rope and rocks to hold on to as we moved ourselves upwards.

I need to get a few pictures of me climbing this. The view at the top was gorgeous! We could see most of the peninsula from there. And we see even more monkeys. They even seem to "pose" for pictures. Smart little guys.

We head back down for some lunch, and play some Risk before the guys go off for more climbing. Dinner than night was more Indian food at our hostel's restaurant, and we watch MI:II.

Oh yes, that night was when I took a shower with a cockroach. I saw him just as I was starting to shower, and tried to wash him away but couldn't. He ended hiding under the sink on this little ledge. At that point, I felt a bit bad for scaring it so much, and decided we could co-exist during my shower. That was one of the quickest showers I've taken!

On our last day there, B. and I decided to get up early for some kayaking, but were unsuccessful in finding a shop open on the side of the beach we wanted to kayak on. So, we opt for a Thai massage instead.

It was an interesting massage. Some parts were just really relaxing, and other times, was very painful! I think, my favourite was the head massage. It was pretty painful when she stood on me. Ouch. I really thought my legs wouldn't be able to take it. I'm surprised I'm not in too much pain today!

This is a picture of me on the long tail boat on our way back to the Krabi, to get to the airport.

We head back to Krabi on a long tail boat and meet a couple other Canadians who are currently teachers in Bangkok. The boat ride back was really nice, beautiful scenery.

We went to Krabi town, which is pretty close to the airport. I get to do some souvenir shopping, but wasn't able to pick up too many things since I was out of money at that point.

Being on the long tail boats, I wonder how much tourism could be destroying the natural habitat of Thailand (and other areas), if people are not careful. These boats can't be good for the environment, but they are the main means of transportation for tourists.

The coral reefs, and the natural beauty of this island is amazing, but I notice that there quite a bit of litter on the beaches. It makes me sad that something so beautiful might not exist, if we don't do something to preserve it.

Below is one of my favourite sunset shots with the boats in the background. Very peaceful. Despite mosquitoes.