After our liveaboard trip we decided to head to Railay, a peninsula that can only be reached by longtail boat because it is surrounded by limestone cliffs. This place was pure paradise. Soft beaches, warm water, absolutely gorgeous scenery - this place had it all. You know what else it had? Rain, and lots of it.
We arrived just as the clouds started floating in and quickly trekked across the peninsula to the cheaper side where the beach was muddy and covered in mangroves. We hiked the stairs up to the bungalows that had been recommended and immediately agreed to stay there. We sat on the porch and in the hammock watching the rain pour down around us. It was then that we met our next travel friend, Kevin. It was approximately 4 pm as he left the bungalow next door, walked by, and casually greeted us with a "good morning." We laughed it off and wondered who this kid was. Little did we know that the very next night he'd invite us to join him for dinner and we'd be spending the next 9 days coming up with adventures with him and his French friend Martin. We had an early dinner at the bungalows' indian restaurant (my new favorite cuisine) and called it an early night.
We awoke in the morning and quickly agreed we would not be spending another night in our soggy bungalow, as cute as it was. We were out of the door by 8 am and made it into another bungalow with more substantial walls just as the rain started for that day. Whenever there was a respite from the deluge, we'd rush out, explore a bit, and run back to shelter in the pouring rain. This went on for about 4 days, until the day we'd been planning to leave when the sun finally peeked through the clouds. The rain wreaked havoc on our laundry intentions (no dryers in Thailand), and slowed the healing of my poor infected toe that got chewed up from the scuba fins (I prefer to say that I got attacked by a triggerfish - hey it ALMOST happened!) But we didn't let the rain dampen our spirits.
We spent one whole day watching movies and playing Skip-Bo before we decided that we would not be stuck inside and we'd be happy braving the rain. We spent a few hours each day exploring the caves that littered the 3 beaches around the peninsula. Finally, when the rain stopped for a few hours Kevin, Rita, and I rented a Kayak for a few hours and explored the same caves from the water. We would kayak through islands and have to duck our heads to keep them safe from the rocks. It was the one "I'm not leaving Railay until I do this" activity that I had in mind and it definitely lived up to my expectations.
When the sun finally came out the next day, we decided that we'd take a hike up to the lagoon and the viewpoint that Martin had suggested. We had walked by the trailhead a few times and completely dismissed the idea due to the fact that it was basically rock-climbing in mud. Eventually though, we were convinced to do it, and my toe was finally able to fit comfortably inside my sneakers. It was an interesting and slippery hike, that was probably not the safest to do, but the views at the top were more than worth it. We could see the entire peninsula and all the cliffs. After standing in awe for a while at the view, we headed down to where the lagoon was. At one point we had to repel down an incredibly steep hill that was covered in mud. Unfortunately because the trail was so sketchy we couldn't get to the lagoon itself, but we made it to where we could see it between the rocks. We eventually made it to solid ground, but not without getting covered head to toe in red mud. In short, it was awesome.
The rest of our time in Railay was pretty uneventful as we were finally able to enjoy the beaches - and all the monkeys that hang out on them. We ended up extending our stay even a few days longer so we would be able to enjoy the sun. That, and we'd heard a number of differing accounts about the state of the roads we'd need to take. We knew Koh Tao had needed to be evacuated because of the flooding, the railroad had been washed away at one point, and our friends had been picked up by the Thai Navy as they were trying to travel north - so we didn't want to risk traveling until we knew that it was safe. Even so, we ended up catching a flight from Krabi to Bangkok because we couldn't get a clear answer about the roads.
Railay is a place that I know I will go back to one day. There was always something to do, even in torrential downpours, and it was probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We met a number of wonderful people, including a couple from Australia who invited us to come visit and stay with them anytime, Ida and Tim from Norway who were traveling around the world, Sebastian from Germany, Marco from Israel, and of course our buddies Kevin and Martin. Kevin was headed back to Canada, and Martin was headed north, but Railay wasn't going to be the last place we saw him...
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| The main shopping street - impacts from the flood |
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| the view from our hike! |
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| The hike at its least steep part..."DANGER. slippery area ahead"...yep. |
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| beautiful sunsets |
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| absolutely stunning |
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| caves everywhere! |
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| we kayaked all around here |
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| longboats take travelers to and from Railay |
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| so. much. rain. |
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| cliffs behind our bungalow |
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| Michelle, Rita, and I with our new friends Sebastian, Martin, and Kevin |
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monkeys visited everyday!
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