While we were on the longtail boat heading to Railay beach we fell in love with our surroundings. Railay is one of Thailand's most sought-after beach areas. In just one small peninsula we were surrounded by white sand beaches, soaring limestone cliffs, viewpoints, the diamond cave and a lagoon hidden inside the cliffs, shaped and fed by the changing tides. We stayed on the east side since it was cheaper and noticed that there are no roads; only footpaths, no buses, no cars, just longtail boats. It was a great way to get away from the party island life and here is where I was going to rock climb.
Beth, Liz and I were going to stay in the Diamond resort for one night and Beth was unfortunately leaving us the next day to join her tour group and Liz and I would have to find a cheaper place to stay. Luckily we got in early and had enough time to kill to explore the island. The hotel gave us a map of the peninsula and it looked like a little kid drew it with intent to look like a treasure map. First stop the Diamond cave.
After going to the caves in Laos, which were extremely disappointing, we were hoping that the diamond cave was a proper cave with stalagmites and stalacmites. Phra Nang Cave, known as the Diamond Cave, is on the east side of the peninsula.it was beautiful , but small and in the middle of the cave was a large shimmering limestone that looked like it was covered in glitter.
We got a little hungry so we decided to grab some food at a place called Ya Ya's. Here is where we met Tyson and Phil from Canada and Nick from Australia. These guys were traveling together and were heading to Vietnam after Thailand to ride motorbikes throughout the entire country. I tried to coordinate rock climbing with them but they looked like they needed some rest. After we ate we tried to walk up to the Lagoon but it was pretty high up, steep and we were wearing flip flops. Plus it was getting late and we did not want to head back down in the dark. We decided to head over to the west beach to check it out and it started to down pour. We stopped at a cafe and ordered some tea. Liz asked for some milk and they brought it to her in a baby bottle with the tip cut off. We were a little weirded out but we found ways to amuse ourselves with it since Beth decided to take a nap in her chair and we took pictures of her sleeping with the baby bottle. It was time to head back to the hotel but it was raining, and there was thunder and lightening. We had no idea what path we were on and the ground was covered in mud and massive puddles. It felt like we were walking through a swamp. The thunder was so loud that Beth and I started to scream. Liz lead the way back to the hotel and the locals were laughing at us because we screeched like little girls.
Got to the hotel, watched some TV and passed out.
Oct. 27th: This morning we said farewell to our beloved Beth and Liz and I headed to the Ya Ya hotel. We then headed to the west beach and we ran into two girls from England named Rachel and Anna. They are sisters traveling together. They were going rock climbing at 2pm so I was going to meet them and join them. They told us to check out the cave full of wooden willies. When I say willies I mean mens....... yah know. Here is a link to a picture of the cave it was well.... interesting. http://evsglobalchange.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/the-phallus-shrine-in-phra-nang-cave-rai-lay/
"Dedicated to the spirit of the drowned princess (phra nang) who gave the beach her name, this small shrine in a small cave is notable primarily for the dozens of carved red-tipped phalluses donated by fishermen seeking her favour." We then walked a long the beach and I was able to order pad thai off of a long boat. I love this country! Any time I want pad thai its right there even on a boat on the shore.
Unfortunately it started to down pour again. No rock climbing for me today.... sad panda. We headed back to Ya Ya's for some tea and thats where I met Meeka and Sarah from from Canada. They were only traveling for a short period of time but I was able to coordinate rock climbing with them for the next morning. Thats why I came here to rock climb!!! I wasn't going to leave until it was done!
That night Liz and I went to the last bar all the way at the end of the east beach. We made so many friends on that beach everyone joined us..... Tyson and Phil, Rachel and Anna, Meeka and Sarah and this awesome guy named Darren from England who is traveling to China to learn Kong Fu. Had an amazing night!!
Oct. 28th: Woke up at 8am to meet up with Meeka and Sarah to go rock climbing. They took me to the company where they booked it and they were able to take me as well. The guide was hilarious and called me his American girlfriend. So it was me Meeka, Sarah and this woman who was really annoying. I don't remember where she was from but she only went rock climbing for 1 day and thought she knew everything. I think she was trying to be helpful with trying to explain how to climb up the cliffs but she was extremely bossy and yelled.
Anyways, I climbed up 4 different cliffs and climbed up to one that had a cave in it. Once I am able to download my photos I will attach a link for everyone to see. I had a blast with Meeka and Sarah those girls were hilarous. We then headed back to the rock climbing office where we needed to hop on to a longtail boat to get back to the mainland in Krabi to hop on a ferry boat to Ko Phi Phi. I ran to the west beach to grab Liz, who was having tea with Darren, and we ran back to the office and got on the boat. On the boat we met a girl named Anita, from England, who was teaching English in Bangkok and was on holiday.
We arrived in Krabi and when we got off the long tail boat all these Thai men surrounded us asking us where we were going and carried our bags to the ferry office. They marked our hands in pen for Ko Phi Phi. We then got on a van to the ferry that took us to Ko Phi Phi (The Island of Free Buckets).
When we got to Ko Phi Phi Anita was extremely helpful. She showed us the way to the cheap hotels and where to find the greatest pad thai on the island. We walked towards Harmony Hotel and low and behold who do we run into... the crazy Canadians Dustin and James!!!! Emma and Kerry were on the Island as well! Basically everyone we had met at the full moon party ended up at this island.
That night we walked around the island where people pass out flyers for happy hours and free buckets. This is why I call Ko Phi Phi the "Island of Free Buckets" because there are a number of bars a long the water that will supply you with free alcohol. So much for getting away from the party island life here I go again!!!
Oct. 29th-Nov.2nd Life on Ko Phi Phi:
I had soo much fun on this island all of our friends that we met on other islands made their way here and they all stayed at the harmony hotel. Our gang which consisted of Wayne, James, John, Sophie, Kat and somehow San Diego managed to change his flight to head over and then Tyson, Nick and Phil made their way over as well. It was nice to be on an island where you know everyone.
During this time frame Liz and I discovered our favorite restaurants and had breakfast at a bakery near our hotel every day and had dinner at Calamaro which was a restaurant that served everything but specialized in Italian food.
For Halloween I wore my full moon devil horns and watched a little girl Thai box and watched John and Wayne get in the ring and Thai bo for a free bucket. We either danced the night away or stayed at our hotel watching free movies when it rained.
On Ko Phi Phi we were able to see the most beautiful viewpoint, which is the picture above, we visited long beach and I was able to schedule a tour to monkey beach and Maya bay where they filmed the movie The Beach. We also experienced Thailands rainy monsoon season. It was a shame that it rained a lot while we were on the island but we lucked out on the weather when we went to see Maya Bay.
To all the friends that I have made on this trip it has been an absolute pleasure meeting all of you. We had such a great time on Ko Phi Phi even though it rained for a majority of the time, and my legs were covered in millions of misquito bites, it was totally worth coming here.
Nov. 3rd: Liz and I decided to check out Phuket for the day and then take an over night bus up to Bangkok. Some advice about going to Phuket... DO NOT EVER EVER EVER GO TO PHUKET!!!
The second we got off the ferry to Phuket there are taxi drivers harassing you. There are no tuk tuks here and you have no choice but to take a cab with a set price. We told the cab to drive us to the bus station so we could book our tickets for Bangkok. We bought our tickets and walked to a cafe to eat some breakfast. We then found a tuk tuk driver to drive us around the island to all the major points for 40 baht. We were not impressed at all with Phuket. It was dirty and overcrowded with tourists. After our tuk tuk tour we took a bus to one of the beaches and it just didn't compare to Ko Phi Phi. We could not wait to get out of here.
So some news: Here is where Liz and I discussed the fact that I would continue to travel with her to Vietnam and Cambodia. These places were not on my list but hey carpe diem! Why not right?
We walked into an internet cafe to check flights from Bangkok to Hanoi and met a woman who we ended up paying 100 baht to drive us back to the bus station. Now I know I am a horrible horrible driver, and those of you who have been in a car with me know this, but this woman could not drive for her life. Liz was soo stressed out for the first time I thought she was going to strangle this woman. We made it back in time to the bus station ran to a seven eleven for snacks and ran back to catch the bus.
I'm going going back back to Bangkok Bangkok.
No comments:
Post a Comment