Joe and Lou's Travel Blog

For our final full day in Railay we booked a days speed boat trip around Ko Phi Phi. We got up early and headed down the beach. The boat picked us up at 9:15 and we headed out over the open ocean to our first stop, bamboo Island. We had a 30 minute stop here to do some snorkelling. There were many other speedboats already stopped on the beach and many people in the choppy water. Once in the water I found that, although many people were near the beach you had to swim quite far out to the coral to see the fish. With the choppy water and cheap snorkel I found that water continuously came down and I had to blow it out regularly.

On the way to the next stop, Tim and I sat up front. As the boat went over larger waves we got a bone jarring jolt as the boat hit the water. We went into a cove surrounded by massive cliffs, It would have been quite awe inspiring if it weren't for all the other boats and the need to move swiftly through to let other boats behind us have a go. Our next dive spot was round the corner in another cove. Here the coral was nicer and the water less choppy. It was fun jumping off the boat and floating around.

After a mediocre lunch on Ko Phi Phi we walked around the market. We saw a workshop where a group of guys were painting replica paintings on large canvases. We saw Ray Lichenstein, Kieth Harring and work from other artists. It is quite odd to see people openly forging artwork in the middle of a busy tourist market.

Onto the next stop, viking cave. This is a cave with a wooden jetty, wooden structures inside and a guy in a hamok, with a gun. Our guide said we could not stop and look around because we would be shot. I have no idea why we went there. Next up was, apparently, the location where the Leonardo Decaprio movie, "The Beach" was filmed. This was actually the most unpleasant spot. There were so many people all over the beach. We went for a walk further inland and clambered up the jagged rocks for a view of the cove over the other side of the island. It was nice to get away from all the people for a little bit.

Our last stop was the best. We went out into the open ocean between three islands. Here there was a large coral reef. It was great seeing all the different colours and shapes of the coral and the different colourful fish.

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Got up late and, over breakfast, played chinese checkers for the first time since I was little. Around lunch time we rented a kayak and paddled over to Ao Nang. Ao Nang has a long, straight beach with a prominade running along it. There are many resorts, restaurants, street stalls and older people. It does not have the atmosphere of Railay.

We went to an Italian restaurant for lunch. Tim ordered a "vegitable" and cheese pizza. It turned out that it came with salad where Tim was expecting what we would normally get mushroom, olives, capsicum etc. He refused to eat or pay for it and got in an argument with the owner, neither backing down. In the end he did not have to pay. A minor victory but a victory none the less. It is hard not to get into a seage metality, us verses them. The best thing to do is laugh about it and realise you are not the clever and others will be scammed too.

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Finally we feel up to doing some climbing. Luckily the easy walls are in the shade. I guess lurning to climb is like most other things. When you start you don't have the right technique and so you waste a lot of energy. When you are climbing in this heat you sweat profusely and need to continously reapply chalk to your hands. I managed to make it up one of the easiest climbs but only half way up two others. I could make it up to a point where you needed to lung for teh next hold but my arms could not do it. It was what I should have expected considering I did no training. Tim had a great time and did 4 climbs in all. Afterward we were not exhausted, just tired so we hand an early dinner and an early night.

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The ciproflaxin seems to be working. Tim got up and is feeling much better. We bumped into the group we were at the bar with the other day at breakfast. We agreed to join them in heading over to princess beach for the day. We swam, hit and kicked the ball, sat in the shade and Christen and Arian had a go at some rock climbing. We watched an instructor do a climb. He climbed up the wall about 5 metres high then reached over to climb down a stalagtight. Very impressive.

Once back at the resort we got cleened up and met the group for dinner. Stickin with our bland food plan, Tim and I ha burgers. Despite applying 50+ sun screen (I didn' think you could get over 30+) to my face, my nose is bright red. It was nice chatting and spendin some time with some other people. It can be clostrophobic staying with someone you haven't seen in a while.

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Not the best of days. Tim is now sick, worse than I. He spent the day in the bungalo in and out of bed and the bathroom. The imodium did it's job in blocking me up but did not treat the actual problem. Looking in the LP it suggests taking anti-biotics.

I saddled up and headed to the only pharmacy in Railay on the east beach. I bought a treatment of ciprofloxacin for both of us. The pharmacist said she sees many people with the same problem and that it is the different food. On the way back I took a break to swim at West Railay. Taking mums advice to eat bland foods I got us a margarita pizza for dinner. It was surprisingly good. Hopefully the anti-biotics will start to kick in tomorrow.

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I was woken by the sound of construction. They must be clearing the forest to build a new resort. I am still not feeling well but had a good nights sleep. We eventually got out and had breakfast at 11:30.

We headed over to west Railay and lay in the shade for the hottest part of the day. There is a big difference between the people you see in Ao Ton Sai and Railay. In Ao Ton Sai everyone is thin, strong and tanned, even the woman with young babies. In Railay you see some of these people but you also see large, old, pale people. In Ao Ton Sai you feel flabby and weak. In Railay you feel young and healthy.

Later we went over to princess beach. I saw some people jumping off a rock and swam over. An American came up behind me and said he had done the jump before and offered to go first. When he surfaced he said he had scraped his shin on a rock. Now there was a group of us up there, including Tim. There was much discussion on whether it was a good idea to follow, which area not to land, that the tide was going out, techniques to avoid going too deep etc. Then Tim suddenly ran off with arms and legs flailing. He said he hit the bottom but had sandals on so his feet were fine. There was more discussion but the next to jump was a girl so of course the rest of us followed in quick succession. No one else was hurt.

By the time we were walking along the path Ao Ton Sai the sun was almost in the water and a burning red. We tried to capture the scene but our photographic skills weren't up to the task. As we reached the beach the moon was out and there was a large group of people all looking up at the rock. Then a body came falling off the top and "whomp" his parachute opened and he glided down to the beach. We got some pictures of the two others that followed him.

That evening the restaurants were full of couples celebrating Valentines day. We waited for and hour for our food. When we complained the waiter was able to get the order completed in 5 minutes! I think they had forgotten about us.

I have been taking imodium and rehydration saches and am feeling better, still not 100%. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to get on to some more active stuff.

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Well I woke up feeling sick, and it wasn't the booze. I have a stomach bug. We took it easy today, just hanging out on the beach, swimming and reading. I hope I can get over this soon. Lazing around when there are so many fun activities to do. Oh well.

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We moved to our booked, twin room at the resort. It is actually better even though it is cheaper. Tim calls it "rustic". It is made from wood planks with gaps in between some of them and also between the floor boards. The bathroom is made from cinder blocks and has a crogated iron roof that covers about a third, the rest is open. It has a nice feel and you don't need the fan on in the night as it is quite cool.

We hired a kayak and waterproof bag for half the day. It was Tim's first time so I gave him some quick instruction about how to get in and how to row. After a little trouble with steering, he was away just fine. The first stop was Railay West beach. This is the busiest beach in Railay and was quite crowded. After swimming for a while we pushed off and headed further round to the beach they call "princess beach". It is surrounded by an exclusive resort so to get there you go by boat or along the edge of the resort compound. We watched some Thai guys climbing up an overhang from out of the water, then they climbed along the top and jumped back into the sea. With the water below they did not need ropes. They were very strong and had incredible control as they climbed, hanging from their arms and lifting their feet over their heads.

A few hundred meters out from princess beach are a pair of islands. Paddling out to them we passed through the narrow channel between and round the outer island. Here the sea is choppy and I had to make sure we steered the kayak so that the waves were directly behind us to prevent being toppled over.

After returning the kayak we headed towards the path to Railay West. The path requires you to scramble up and down dusty rocks. Luckily the path is well trodden and it is easy to find the best route.

Looking around the bars and restaurants at West Railay I was surprised by how much more expensive they are compared to Ao Ton Sai (where we are staying) even though it is only a 10 minute boat ride away. By the time we finished our curries, it was getting dark and my stomach was not happy. The man on the beach said the boat to Ao Ton Sai would leave when there were enough people. We stood on the beach and waited. People came and left on boats headed to other destinations, we drank beer and waited. Looking along the beach we could see little specks of light in the dark. People were walking from Ao Ton Sai in the dark! We agreed they were crazy.

After waiting another quarter of an hour Tim suggested we see if there were any torches for sale. With our cheap, small torches in hand we headed down the beach contemplating how foolish we were. Despite their build the torches were bright and had groves that made it easier to hold them in your mouth. Useful when you need both hands for climbing.

Following the easier than expected trip back along the path we headed for the "chill out" bar to celebrate. The bars here are great with large open air decks and platforms with cushions, very laid back and lots of Reggae. The barmen all have long hair and sport rasta coloured t-shirts. Here we met and Aussie guy and a couple, the guy is Scottish and the woman English.

With a few drinks under our belts we got up and danced to the covers band playing mostly Reggae music. A Russian woman who has lived in Thailand for two years told me they were very popular until the lead singer took most of the money from a gig the played and they kicked him out. She said the new singer sounds just like the old one. I must say the singer was one of the worst I have heard in a covers band. I think Thai's have trouble singing in English as, in their language, tone change the meaning of a word so singing a word different ways would seem strange. Just a theory.

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We flew from from Bangkok to Krabi Airport. When we were collecting our bag we noticed an older man with a deep tan, long blond hair, a beard, hippie clothing and a carved walking stick. He stood out from the other yoounger travellers in shorts and t-shirts. Along with most people we got the shuttle bus to Krabi town.

When the bus reached, and passed, the waterfront in Krabi town the old guy started houting at the driver aying "this is a cam". The bus eventually stopped at a hotel where we were told to get off. The bus driver then said he would get us a taxi for free back to the waterfront. The old guy was in the taxi with us and explained that the bus used to stop downtown and that they must have a deal with the hotel. When I asked him how he knew where it used to go he said "I live here" and then "that's asia".

Once the taxi got us to the waterfront we were told that the last boat was at 4:30 (the current time) and that no one else was going to Railay so we had to pay for the whole boat ourselves or get a taxi somewhere else and go by boat from there. A guy was sitting at the tourist office desk next to us and we aked him for help but he just shrugged his sholders and looked away.

We ended up paying extra to get a direct boat to the beach we are staying at. Then the guy called his brother to take us. The boat ride was great, the water was calm and the islands of large rock looked amazing. We were surprised to see that the boat was heading for the wrong beach. We asked the driver but he pretended not to understand. We gave up, realising we had been scammed and got off.

To get to our beach we had to walk across the peninsula, along another beach and across some sharp rocks (with our packs on). The sun was low in the sky as we arrived and the beach wa bathed in a lovely, golden light. When we reached our resort it turned out that the tourist office in Bangkok had not faxed our booking through and our room wasn't available. They said we could have a room with a double bed instead! We complained and eventually they gave us a room with a double and a single bed.

For dinner we had marlin, freshly cooked on a BBQ. I haven't had marlin before and it was delicious. We strolled along the beach and looked in at the bars. All were quite empty at 9 pm. At one end of the beach the rock is lit up and we spotted 3 people on the side of the cliff using torches to find hand holds. That is hardcore climbing!

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I am waiting for Tim to get ready for breakfast so I will write some more here. After Tim got up yesterday we headed to Kho San road. This is the main backpacker hang out in Bangkok. The whole road is blocked off and is one big market. There is a bureau de change, police and taxi rank at the entrance to the street. There are many stores and stalls selling clothes, bags and ninja stars! There are also many bars, all paying English Premiership football games. We got ourselves some Phad Thai prepared by a street vendor in-front of us.

While we were walking around a woman approached us and asked us where we were from. By the way she was dressed we knew she wasn't a prostitute so we started talking to her, albeit wearily. She said she worked (I think) in a convenience store up the street and her English was very good. She told us that it was not wise to go to Railay without a booking as it is Valentines day soon and there will be many people on holiday there. She said we should go to the Tourist Authority of Thailand (TAT) and book our accommodation there. She even wrote down the address for us in Thai to give to the tuk-tuk driver. This was our first tuk-tuk experience and quite fun, our driver liked to rev his engine a lot. So we booked our accommodation and took a tuk-tuk back.

We did some more walking around Kho San and a little shopping. We did the obligatory haggling but the prices were very cheap anyway. After a beer we were pretty had it and I was not confident of finding our way back to the guesthouse if I got drunk.

Today we fly to Railay so not sure when I will blog next.

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Arrived in Bangkok at 2 this morning. I had a little rest on the plane but was still pretty tired. After a little confusion the taxi driver managed to find the guesthouse. It is quite far north of central Bangkok so will ride th sky train to get into town. Tim arrived at around 9 am. Having not slept on the plane, he was shattered and has been sleeping since then.

The guesthouse has free rides to the weekend markets so I went along. They are massive. Luckily they are layed-out in a grid pattern so it was easy to remember where you were and how to get back to where you came from. There was the usual cheap t-shirts with crass designs, fake jeans, shoes and watches and people selling junk toys. Some interesting things were bags made from old jeans, cowboy outfits (hats, buckles etc), lots of stalls that only sell camouflage shorts, lots of strange foods and lots of small, clay, castings with symbols and pictures of Budda. People were looking at these in detail with those magnifying manacles that jewelers use. I think they buy them to put in their shines at home.

Well it is about time I woke Tim and we got some lunch. We have free internet access here at the guesthouse so I will probably do another blog tomorrow. The Internet access in Railay is supposed to be ridiculously expensive and unreliable so we shall see how I go there.

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