Railay - Um

Updated On 19th June, 2018

After a 45 minute speed boat and a 2 and a half hour bus we arrived in Krabi and then got a mini bus to Ao nang where we were left with our bags and no idea where we were heading.

We had the name Railay beach saved in our phone after Peng recommended it but we hadn’t actually researched it so for all we know he could have made I up.

Anyway we luckily heard someone mention they were going there and jumped on the bandwagon.

We were directed along the beach where we were to get a taxi…

…a taxi boat of course.

What more did we expect.

Little did we know the journey that awaited us.

Every sea we have come across so far in Thailand has been that dreamy blue calm paradise that you see in all the pictures but this one, looked more like a Cornish sea.

One a tailboat isn’t really cut out for…

The Thai driver saw us wincing as the waves flooded us and kindly handed us an old life jacket to shield us.

Can’t really say it did much, but it kept the salt out of our eyes for short intervals.

Our backpacks were drenched from head to toe, so much so we didn’t even attempt to move them into some kind of cover.

As we cowered behind the life jacket myself and leanne caught eachothers eye and burst into giggles.

It was a laugh or cry situation.

(not complaining- but we were just literally that drenched and the waves were making it more of a rollercoster)

Journey to remember anyway…

After a rocky ride we eventually pulled into our little cove and waded the rest of the way that the boat couldn’t go, through the water.

We had been recommended to Railay by a lot of people and it happened to be on a lot of the tourist travel options.

But soaking wet with our back packs on and no sun to be seen, it didn’t strike us as a paradise like the other islands.

But you just can’t have it all can ya.

The island itself was very underdeveloped and un commercial, unlike the other islands we have been to.

And the tsunami evacuation signs made us think perhaps the area had been affected. But after google sourcing it clearly stated it wasn’t badly affected by the tsunami…

The place was desolate, we walked from west beach to east beach and passed about 10 people.

I can imagine if you came here with a group it would be a really cool place to hang and chill out as it’s full of Rastafarian bars and lounge areas but for the two of us, it wasn’t so appealing.

We headed to the first accommodation we saw and asked for a room.

We would choose the resort that has 200 unsafe steps to walk up with backpacks wouldn’t we!

But to our luck because it is now officially low season (1st may) we got a pretty nice room with air con for just 300baht each.

king size bed, wardrobe, 2 floors, balcony- the lot!

AND A BATH. which didn’t work:-)

well we thought it was a balcony anyway. Turns out it’s just a sheer drop. Best not have a drink here hey!

Surrounded by pretty cool limestone rocks though. Railay is famous for its rock climbing.

Anyway we had some pizza at a local bar and rinsed their free wifi.

I know it’s all an experience but there were insects EVERYWHERE.

Major noises flying past my ear and landing on my shoulder.

So much so I got paranoia and thought even wisps of my hair were insects.

We decided it was time for an early night (this is a first) and made our way back.

With minimal lighting, civilisation and small if any pathways we were kind of freaked out at this point.

As we climbed the stairs to our place I was prepared for the wooden stair to break and fall into some kind of dungeon.

Honestly felt like we were in a horror film as we too, seemed to be the only ones staying on our resort.

I blame the bad vibe on the weather?

We haven’t had many cloudy days but it does naturally dampen the mood.

We got up the next morning and the clouds hadn’t cleared, infact the heavens opened and we decided even if we stayed, it wasn’t the weather to rock climb and there wasn’t much else to do.

Back down the 200 steps first…

And we hopped on a tailboat back to Krabi…

Mr Thai bailing the boat…

And we were happily outtttta the crazy island.

The whole trip so far has gone without any major hiccups and we had fallen in love with every new destination we had been to.

So we weren’t too disappointed, it was funny at times and all part of the experience. Kind of a shame that we saw Railay in the bad weather, as people wouldn’t recommend it for no reason.

Evidence that the sun really does make everything better 🙂

We spent a grand total of 12 hours in Railay, coming second place to our first visit to Koh Tao where we left after 10 hours (the drunken decision).

But we left that behind us and we were off to another Island… Koh Lanta 🙂