I Fell in Love With a Place Called Railay

Oh, beautiful Railay! Railay, my love! Was there ever  a place so fine? But seriously…I love Railay! Coming to this peninsula, just a short distance away from well known Krabi, was a breath of fresh air after the busy, dirty streets of Phuket. No more being hassled by street vendors (“You want a massaaaaaaaage?”, “Taxi! You need taxi, Madame?”, “Come! Look my shop. I know there is something you like!”). No more garbage strewn beaches. Only picturesque landscapes, crowd-free experiences and rock-climbing! If I did not love Canada as much as I do, I may have never been seen or heard from again.

Caitlin and I arrived to Ao Nang by ferry, and sat in the back of an over-crowded, seatbelt-less, converted pickup truck to the ferry terminal for Railay. When I say “ferry”, what I really mean is a longboat. These boats grace post-cards and calenders alike. They are part of the quintessential Thai beach scene, with colourful pieces of cloth tied and braided to the front of the boat, protecting the vessel from harm.  We piled into one of these boats with the other passengers, and were on our way. Soon enough, dark ominous clouds rolled in. Suddenly, the sky opened up and pelted us with large rain drops. Within minutes our luggage and clothes were soaked, as the make-shift cover above us did little to block the rain. Disgruntled and sulking, the blonde girl from England who was sitting in front of me scowled at Caitlin and I as we laughed into the rain, enjoying the warm droplets and choosing to not let a little water get us down.

Beaching the longboat, the driver chucked our bags on the East Beach of Railay and we hopped out into the surf. Caitlin and I were planning on staying in a very reasonably priced guesthouse 10 minutes off the beach, but instead, after a long day of travel we opted to stay in the first place we saw, the “Ya Ya Resort”. Luckily, the Ya Ya was reasonably priced at 300 Bhat per night for a fan room (a.k.a., no air conditioning and quite rustic).

The landscapes of Railay are exquisite. Large limestone cliffs line the beaches, coloured a vibrant mix of red, orange, black and grey. Lush forests of deep green densely fill the area and tumble, garland-like, down the cliffs, contrasting the rust-coloured limestone. A glance towards the ocean reveals bays filled with tall, thin islands of the same limestone, jutting out of the water like the angry fingers of an ocean giant. Such an environment screams of adventure. Caitlin and I heeded the call.