Railay Beach - Island Hop Last Stop

After Phuket, I set sail for Railay. This journey was another pieced together mess, of course. It's the only way to travel! It went something like this.

• Picked up in Patong at 7am for a 30 minute shuttle ride to the Phuket pier.
• 1.5 hour ferry ride to the town of Krabi. This would have been almost bearable if not for the 5 SCREAMING children and their negligent parents. I'm not proud of it, but I gave a little boy a very dirty look. It shut him up for about 2 seconds.
• Boarded another minibus in Krabi. We drove for about 10 meters before we were stopped by someone banging on the windshield.
• I then transferred myself and all my luggage to a songthaew (pick-up truck taxi).
• I got off the sawngthaew and sat at the Krabi pier for about 5 minutes.
• I got back ON the sangthaew and we drove about 50 meters further down the riverbank.
• I walked about 30 meters back UP the riverbank towards the pier to board the longtail boat.
• 30 minutes longboat ride to Railay Beach.

This beach is very small. It was the first time I arrived in a place and wasn't immediately surrounded by shouting touts offering to take me here and there. This means I was hiking up and down the beach trying to find a hotel in 95 degree weather with 30 pounds of luggage. I passed up a few places that didn't meet my standards. Honestly, the place I chose wasn't much better and I think I got ripped off, but I was too tired and sweaty to care.

The beach was definitely worth the effort. I'll let Lonely Planet set the scene: "Hiding behind a layer of impenetrable cliffs, the gorgeous isthmus of Railay could easily serve as a fantasy cover for a Harlequin romance. It is possibly the most stunning beach location in all of Thailand, home to emerald silk water punctuated by surreal limestone formations, honey-hued beaches and psychedelic sunsets." It later describes the sunsets as orgasmic. Now, I don't know that I'd give it quite that much credit, but I sure don't have any complaints.

Railay was the most chill place I've been to in Thailand (unsure if I'm cool enough to use the word "chill," but it's the most accurate description). It's relatively quiet and has just a few bars and restaurants. All the bars are open-air bamboo shacks with low tables and pillow seating. It was really easy to meet people without the thump of techno music ringing in your ears.

Unfortunately, I was only able to spend 2 nights here. I would have been happy to laze away more time eating pad thai, drinking Beer Chang, listening to reggae, wearing flowy clothes and chunky jewelry... Instead, I took a 16-hour start-to-finish overnight boat/sangthaew/bus ride back to Bangkok. As the Thais would say - "same same, but different." I've come to learn that this saying means "total opposites."

Side story: Many of the Railay residents are Muslim. It's really something to see these women walking on the beach in closed-toed shoes, long pants, long-sleeved shirts, hats, scarves, gloves... all the while trying to sell sarongs and soft drinks to topless Western sunbathers. Talk about a land of contrasts!