Phuket to Krabi - Railay Bay

We made our way down to our mini-bus pickup location right on time and got some breakfast during our wait.  The bus was about a half an hour late, but as is expected in Thailand. We squeezed into a packed van/bus which then dropped us off at some random location where we had to switch out drivers and vehicles.  Our new driver packed everyone and everything like sardines while leaving the front seat open for his girlfriend or wife whom he continually jabbered with during the drive.

Yet, that was the least of our concern since he started the journey by honking the horn, exclaiming to the passengers, “Beep beep!  Do you know what this is for?” and then cut off drivers while honking the horn.  The driver spent most of the time driving in the oncoming lane trying to pass buses, trucks, cars, and everyone on the road even though the horsepower required to execute the maneuver was far beyond this little van’s capabilities.  Several times we all stared head-on into the flashing headlights of a massive truck or bus.  One instance in the oncoming lane there was a car passing a moped that was forced to run it off the road to avoid a head-on collision with us. I didn’t see if the driver or passenger were harmed or even alive after a stunt like that.  There was lots of green vegetation which I hoped softened their crash.   We finally made it to Krabi, but it was some po-dunk spot with no real hub or transportation to Railay Bay.  We were instantly swarmed with more aggressive travel agents who insisted upon giving us “special deals” for lodging.  All estimates were far beyond what I was planning on spending anyhow.  Though the sad thing was in order to get to Railay Bay, we had to charter through this scam operation because it was our only available option in this part of town.  I regretted not arranging transportation to Railay Bay, all in one package.  Though, it wasn’t too bad with a trip to the pier and a boat ride to Railay Bay, so I couldn’t grumble too much. 

We boarded a long-boat near the pier.  I was impressed by the simplistic nature and mechanics of the longboat.  Just a simple 4 cylinder engine from a car with an extended driveshaft to a propeller.  They were incredibly noisy, crude, and messy… but they did the trick.  Their speed seemed adequate, and we got to Railay Bay in just a few minutes.  I was impressed with the scenery, cliffs, and jungle. 

Soon, we pulled into the sandy bay and pulled our luggage off the boat.  I had a few places in mind of where we could find lodging, and the plan was to just work our way in that direction.  We stopped at one resort which wanted entirely too much money and weren’t negotiating their rates at all, so we left.  While nearing the end of the strip, some resort employees coaxed us up to their resort and even assisted us with our baggage.  They showed us a room which appeared to be adequate.  When we returned to the office, we had a bit of negotiation to do since they also wanted a large amount.  What we wanted to pay for was entirely too low for them to accept, so we started to pack up and leave.  They chased after us and decided to make another offer, but again it was way beyond what we were willing to pay.  This pattern repeated a few times until we made an offer that required authorization of their offsite manager.  We signed the papers, and unloaded our stuff.  The air conditioner worked…. When the power was on that is, and it would on occasion cut out.  First order of business was to explore our little peninsula, which for intents and purposes was a little island due to the fact that the only method of transportation to and from was by boat.  There were a few other places where we could have stayed, but it seemed we got a great location and price.    We explored on the other side of the bay and there was a wonderful beach with amazing views.  We would return with swimsuits and towels.

Checking behind our hotel there was a network of caves we couldn’t resist exploring.  I made another note to return with my camera gear since I only had the point-n-shoot.  On our way back, there was a group of monkeys swinging in the trees and crossing the footpath ahead.  I approached them with my little camera, and a larger male charged me, letting me know when I was getting too close.  They were fun to watch.  Later I noticed they were all along the rooftops at our lodging eating some sort of fruit.  From inside they were making a lot of noise crawling around up there, so I took a few shots.

While I was outside, I got attacked by hundreds of mosquitoes.  I wrapped my towel around my bare legs and put on my long sleeve shirt to avoid being bit.  After standing up, I shook the towel to see a cloud of aggressive mosquitoes erupt from the fabric.   I experienced several dozen bites, but thankfully didn’t swell up in discoloration as much as poor Kelsey.  We then made our way back to the beach and spent a few hours playing in the waves.  I got stung by something, either a jellyfish or a nasty swarm of sea lice.  Apparently the ocean creatures hate me.  After drying off, we had some overpriced, but delicious sticky rice, mango, and coconut milk.  It was by far my favorite dessert out in Thailand.  With the sun going down we attempted another little photoshoot on the beach, but nothing seemed to turn out that well, so we headed back.

On our way back we were invited to see a Thai Boxing match at a place not too far from our bungalow.  There was also some party going on at a local restaurant/bar down the way. After cleaning up, we went to the bar near where the boxing match was going to be taking place.  There were some delays, so we sat on the padded mats of the bar and played Connect Four while waiting for the match.  There was no sign of any activity near the rink, so we just lounged around for a bit.  Soon a massive storm came rolling in dumping insane amounts of water.  It didn’t last long, but we wanted to leave since there was no sign of anything happening with the boxing match, and we were getting a lot of second hand marijuana smoke in that particular place and was starting to give me a headache.  We migrated to another bar that had loud music, but advertised cheap food and fire dancers.  We made our way out to some outside seating and munched on some tasty Indian food and watched fire dancers get uncomfortably close to us in their display.