Sunday 4th January 2009

We have really enjoyed our three days spent on Railay. Although its just around the corner from Ao Nang, Railay - hidden amongst the limestone cliffs feels like you have lept into a completely different world!

We arrived by longtail boat to the backpacker area on Tonsai beach, and were pleased to find this an area that had maintained a serine, unspoilt atmosphere. Here, there is no transport, huts are hidden beneath the trees and there is generally a really friendly laid back atmosphere. The beautiful limestone cliffs make Railay a great social network for people who come here to climb from around the world.. and after speaking to quite a few climbers it is apparent that Railay is one of the best climbing spots in the world.

Looking round for a place to stay was quite tiring - as all the accomodation is set beneath the trees on hills - but it wasn't long before we eventually found cheap huts to stay in... the downside was it couldn't have been further up the steepest hill, but oh well!!

Once we got settled in we decided to explore Tonsai beach area, and take a walk around the bay to Railay West beach... and what a walk it was!! Chris's bright idea was to scramble round the bays rocks, as the tide was quite low.. But to be fair everyone else was doing it!!! However if I knew before getting halfway round that it would be such a hard task I would have just got a boat round and left Chris to it! haha. We then decided it may be easier to swim round, and let Chris carry the bag and stay on the rocks - however I tried, and panicked! Luckily by this point we were practically there.. phew!

I was happy to find the hard walk was well worth it - the beach was perfect - white sands, clear water and not so choc-o-bloc! This beach was clearly the expensive one in terms of accomodation - even the little boys who come round the beach selling drinks were ridiculously expensive!

Once we had lazed around the beach all day we decided to take a different route back to Tonsai beach - which we had seen alot of people doing.. literally a scramble up the rocks at the corner of the beach- it was a sweaty walk - but by far a better choice!! Especially nice to have a cold drink and food on the beach after the long walk.

Chris and I had grown fond of playing connect 4 - so after a few games - and Chris being the reighning champion we headed out for a drink and went to a bar at the corner of Tonsai beach with the limestone cliffs towering over us, which were all lit up. There was even a climber doing some night climbing which was very good to watch.

The next day was pretty similar to the first. After our muesli and yoghurt, toast and jam and a cup of tea we were set to walk over the peninsula again to Railay West for the day - again just chilling out on the beach and soaking up the sun.

The day before we left we had an action packed day ahead of us. First we walked to Railay west as usual, and then we had to cut through to Railay east to start the hard climb to the famous lagoon. As the lagoon is controlled by the tide, we wanted to make sure that we would be there for high tide. So we asked the locals, who told us it would be 1pm. If you go when it is low tide, its just a huge pile of wet soppy mud. Bearing this in mind, we started the walk at about 12 pm after having a quick dip in the sea. To get to the lagoon was one of our biggest tasks yet. There was even climbing involved, which I wasa little dubious about doing at times. The reason its so hard to get to is because the lagoon is literally a basin in the middle of a huge hill. So you have to walk all the way up and climb back down to get into the middle - a bit like entering a volcano. Anyway, once we had climbed to the top of this hill in our flipflops (not our best idea yet!! haha) we checked out the beautiful viewpoint over Railay West and East, which was very similar to the big strip of sand joining the two islands on PhiPhi, but alot less developed, with hundreds of palm fringed treetops! Very relaxing after a hard climb up the ropes!! After a drink and a rest oit was time for our climb to the lagoon.. On the way down we saw another couple who had turned around as the girl wouldn't climb down parts - as it was literally like climbing!It was nothing too major, but you do have to be really careful! We have heard in the past that there had been many accidents there - at points Chris was having to talk me into carrying on, then I started to enjoy it! It was pretty scary at times as the drops that we had to climb were practically verticle. When we finally arrived at the lagoon we were really gutted as it was only a little full. It was still worth the trek.. but there was confusion when we were speaking to the locals. (They said that the tide started coming in at 1, where we though it was going to be fully in at 1pm.)

After a hard walk back up.. although it was easier climbing than descending- it was time for some relaxation on Pranang beach (gorgeous), which is where the caves are. After eating a corn on the cob and some fruit on the beach, I sunbathed.. whilst Chris went and checked out the caves. He got some great views of the surrounding oceans and islands. The caves had huge stalagmites and stalactites (I can never remember the difference!haha). Later, we went for a walk along the beach, where there was a beautiful swing in the tree - which I relaxed on for a while- while watching aThai guy with his monkey fooling around. They were so funny. On our walk back to our beach, we passed the nicest hotel we had ever seen. Where villa's and appartments cost about 100,000 baht per night. They were amazing. With beautiful well kept gardens.. how anyone can afford it I dont know - except for the rich and famous!haha. We asked the security guard if we could sneak a peek - but he refused to let us. I dont think he would have minded but he would have got into troiuble for it so thats fair enough! Anyway, we carried on back to our mosquito ridden hut, envious as hell.. along a very different, scenic route. Again, hard as it was very hilly, but fun.

As we had skimped and saved the last week or so, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner- as it was our last night on Railay. We saw a newly opened Indian restaurant on our afternoon walk, which looked gorgeous and so relaxed so we returned there. It was great, as it was an English couple whohad opened it- and they were so nervous as to what the turnout would be - and to no surprise it was packed!! They had a great first night, which was nice to see. The food and drinks were amazing.. they got it just right! We ate so so much - poppadoms, potato and onion fritters Indian style, 2 Rogan Josh's, 3 rice and a fresh lime and soda drink each.. Yep, I know what your all thinking (But afterall I AM with Chris!!haha) It was so filling, we havent been that full on our trip so far- surprise surprise!! The food sweats were out of control - but well worth it! As it was their first night, we left a small tip. After a relaxing while longer we called it a night as we could hardly move! To finish the night off we had a world championship match of connect 4 (geeks hey!) which I won!! AT LAST! He thinks I am getting better, so he will have to rethink his tactics!!