Monday, January 4, 2010

Last day in Railay beach











Railay has been a tropical paradise. We have thoroughly enjoyed everything here; people, beaches, food, bars, tours, and especially the monkeys. This beach is more of a romantic getaway since everyone here comes with their significant other. The other type would be the adventurous climber. Railay is supposed to be one of the worlds best climbing spots. We managed yesterday to make it out on a four island snorkeling tour and it was sooo fun. We saw all types of fish including lion fish! I also had a good time hunting for sea cucumbers they feel like a sac of snot. I even found one that was 2 feet long. Nick found an underwater tunnel that we explored taking us from one side of the rocks to the other it seemed a little sketchy but we made it through
 I made sure to load up on sunscreen on my back which helped me not get burned since we were facedown in the water for 3 hours. We had snorkles and masks that didn't fit our faces too well and caused water to make it up our noses. We also used fins to help us dive deep; the one time I took them off I kicked a piece of coral that sliced and broke off in my foot causing me to chum the waters for any near by sharks :)! 
  Our last night was pretty funny as Nick and Chris were craving hamburgers... Something non Thai. We found a place that had a menu with no joke 150 items on it, one of them being a hamburger with fries ohhhh yeah. I had Indian curry but sure enough chris and Nick downed some tasty burgers. After that it was close to 8 pm and we were so worn out from the long day that we called it quits and went to sleep getting ready to travel to phucket tomorrow.
  The main things that I will miss here are the Thai hospitality, the secluded beaches, and our friendly family of monkeys who showed up daily at our house around 5:30 to munch on our trees. It's definitely a place everyone should visit in their lifetime.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

New Years Eve

New Years Railay Style-

Happy New Years everyone... I hope everyone has been making their resolutions this year  (no cheating).  We have been pretty darn lazy out here ever since we were adventurous with Nat. The beach has been our scene and we love it. It's the perfect place to people watch since everyone here is from all over the world. There are speedo'd men and topless women everywhere. We stayed out on the beach for around 3 or 4 hours before heading back to the villa to relax. Im still trying to get tan but sadly that has proven to be very difficult. The night consisted of lots of dancing and many fireworks which were extremely dangerous. They were lit off probably 10 feet from where we were standing.  One guy got hit by a missfire and lit his pants on fire haha it was funny. I even lit off a mini hot air balloon which soared off into the nights sky and made a wish. We didn't stay out too late but all and all Thailand knows how to party NYE style. HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Day - 19 Railay Day Tour












Day 18 - railay beach exploration
  Today we woke up with the delivery of our groceries! Yes... We mainly ordered snacks of local fruits and some slabs of meat. Delicious!  After breakfast we met up with Nat at the bamboo bar whom I had to wake up because he had a long night of DJing. I asked him where he wanted to take us and he rambled off a bunch of names the last one ending in sunset. I didn't realize we were hanging out for the full day! Wow this was exciting. It was only four of us Phil, Nick, Chris, and myself because Nate wasn't feeling well today. 
  The first place we went to was the lagoon. We hiked up and down red clay walls which were surprisingly large making our trip slow and cautious. If you injured yourself here you would be SOL. We finally made it down in the lagoon which was filled with sea water from high tide. There were beautiful rock formations everywhere. We were literally inside the mountain, in a hole 100 feet in diameter and 200 meters high. Wow... We stayed down there for a while just enjoying this magical place. During our hike back we took an abrupt turn taking us out to see the expansive views of Railay West (the part of town with all the bars and restaraunts) at lookout point. While coming back down from the mountain Nat decided to climb into a tree and jump down like a jungle monkey which freaked me out! He loved joking with us and had a great time singing hooks of recient songs. Next we made it out to the diamond cave which was an actual cave with sparkling rock formations and pleanty of bats. We then picked up some large tortches back at the bamboo bar for our next location. This time we walked down to punang beach which was filled with all sorts of people. Some were nudists and others were Europeans who were way to comfortable sunbathing in their speedos. We turned off the beach and headed into the jungle, once again and found ourselves in a dark cave. This is what we had the tortches for. They revealed to us tiny bamboo ladders that we used to help us to scale to the top of the cave. Here we had expansive views of Railay East, that is where we are staying. We were so high up! We continued to thank Nat as for we wouldn't have known about any of these spots without him. We then made it back to the house after our adventurous day to relax. I showed Nat how to download new songs off the internet making him very excited. The whole trip he told me about Erin and how they met each other. I think he is in love! We then finished up our day on Railay East watching the sunset and relaxing in the sand. When we came back Nat brought his computer and gave us a dj set. The night ended after Chris and I ate at a hole in the wall thai food restaraunt where we both ate for 6 dollars... Not bad! We were joined at our table by a spider the size of our palms. It was crazy looking! We then made it back to the bars to hang out before making it through the town back to our mosquito net covered beds. Whew that was a big day!