Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
I have had a pretty amazing past three days and have fallen in love with a beautiful island. It should really be called "mmm maybe one more day island" because that's what it seems to be. It's a super tiny island with a really chilled out vibe with a very similar party scene, such a perfect balance of party and chill unlike most of the other islands around the area. When I was in Krabi I was thinking of hitting up Railay, Ko Lanta and Koh Phi Phi all before meeting up with Bryan! Now that I have spent two days here, I may just stick around until I need to leave. The high season is starting to kick in and things are getting a little more pricey but I know it will be the same everywhere I go from here so might as well be forking out the extra cash in someplace I enjoy.
My night in Kraby after my last post was definitely one of the best nights I've had since leaving home. I ended up getting some Pad Thai and Spring Rolls at the night market for dinner. I ate alone feeling pretty great after writing my last post. Sometimes it really helps to just write everything out and really get to feel what I'm feeling in those moments while expressing myself trough writing. I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner alone at the night market, people watching and being by the pier. After my dinner I noticed the sky was looking pretty incredible and as though there was a little storm rolling in. I took a wall down to the pier and sat on some steps watching the storm with some of the craziest lightning I've seen in a while from the distance. While I was sitting there taking in this beautiful light show, a Danish boy who was also just backpacking solo asked if he could join me. He was extremely easy on the eyes and had really great energy so I was more then okay with him joining. He ended up being a great guy and we spent about the next hour and a half sitting there, watching the storm and getting to know each other. As the storm got closer and began to spit rain we decided to make a run for it back to the hostel in which we were both staying at. When we got back we went up to the rooftop bar which was covered in most parts where we would continue to watch the storm, talk and not get soaking wet. We also played a round of Jenga before parting ways for a bit before we met up again to have a few drinks and listen to the live music that was playing upstairs. We ran into a couples guys in which he met the night before and a girl they were hanging out with. Everyone was super cool, the music was awesome and we played another round of Jenga which happened to he the best Jenga tower I have ever seen to this day. We eventually made it to a bar across the street so the boys could watch "football" since they were all Europeans and super into the game. We hungout and mostly talked about music after the game which I am always a fan of conversation wise so it ended up being a really great night. The two guys I met who were travelling together were planning on also heading I Railay the next day so we decided we would all take the 10am longboat together. We had heard from the girl we were with that its better to go to the pier with more people because they wait until the boats are full (min 8 people) to take you over, regardless of the departure time. I of course woke up and was all ready to go even though I wasn't feeling the greatest from being out all night the night before but the boys were no where in site. I waited until almost 10 hoping that they'd still show up even though we agreed to meet at 930 but no dice. I was a little sad because I had a great night with them before and was hoping to hangout with them a while longer and at least say goodbye. I surprisingly haven't run into them yet but I guess that's what it's like when you are travelling. You meet great people, have amazing days/nights together and then never see each other again.
I walked down to the pier with all my gear and was the second person waiting to catch the next 10 am boat. This meant we needed to wait for at least 6 more people and a guy to get back with more gas until we could go. This is what they call "Thai time". Luckily I didn't have to wait to long because more people started to show up and the gas got there around the same time as when we got a full boat. The ride over was only 45 minutes and beautiful. I was buzzing from the night before! Still a little drink perhaps and happy to be heading to the island that id heard so many great things about. When I got off the boat I decided to head east which was where I was told was fairly cheap and had the best vibe. As I was walking I started talking to a girl who was also traveling along walking just ahead of me. She was on the same boat as I was and we decided to find somewhere cheap to stay together. She had a better guide book then me which mentioned cheap accommodations on Ton Sai so we headed over to the far west instead. When we got to the west beach the tide was too high to walk over to and we were told we could either pay 300baht for a longboat over or wait until 4pm until we could just walk. At that time, it was only about 11:15am. We decided to grab breakfast and while checking out the restaurants on the west side we realized everything was pretty pricey. We then started to make our way over to the east side where I had heard had good cheap accommodations and good vibe. A lot of places either didn't have rooms or weren't opening until the high season started the next day. But then we finally found a place with pretty s***ty bungalow huts for cheap. They were able to give us a room with two thin foam mattresses and a toilet and shower within the room for only 300baht. It was nice to be able to share a room and get something that cheap for the night but it was a pretty big s*** hole. It didn't feel clean at all, the bathroom was pretty unpleasant and you could hear bugs chewing on the wood at night. Neither of us really slept and decided to checkout the next morning.
We spent the rest of our first day in Railay just waking around the island. It's pretty small and I think we walked up and down the whole thing throughout the day. We were able to make it over to Ton Sai once the tide went down which ended up being my favourite part and I couldn't wait to get out of our current accoms and over to that side of the island. The vibe was very chilled out and friendly. I could see myself really enjoying my time in Ton Sai an hopefully being able to meet some climbers and to just climb around while on the beach! Railay is very well know for its rock climbing and is said to be one of the best spots to climb in the world. That being said, it attracts tons of climbers who seem to hang out over in Ton Sai. It may not be the nicest beach on the island but I found its charm and super relaxed vibe to be exactly what I was looking for to spend my next couple of days.
I had heard about a deep water soloing tour from the girl I had met the night before and was super eager to try it out. While we were waking around I signed up to do the full day trip the next day. The trip was to go deep water soloing which is rock climbing without any ropes or equipment apart from shoes on the giant limestone cliffs in the water which you climb however high as you would like and then jump off into the water. The highest I went was about 10 meters which was high enough for me. It was pretty scary but a lot of fun!!! I've been cliff jumping before and have always loved the rush but its taken to a whole other extreme when you are climbing up steep rock faces to do so. After we all had a few climbs and jumps we boated over to a small hidden island close by to eat lunch which was provided and could swim and check out this cool little cave until we headed back on the boat to go somewhere else and snorkel. This was my first snorkelling experience and I really enjoyed it. Fish have always kinda freaked me out and the idea of snorkelling in the ocean was a little creepy but I knew it was something I wanted to try. It actually helped get me over the little bit of fear I had left towards fish. It was a lot of fun and I was glad I did it. After snorkelling around we got back in the boat and headed to a different spot to do another climb and jump. This one was apparently an easier climb but about twice as high of a jump if you wanted to get to somewhere comfortable to jump off of. The girls decided to sit this one out as the two boys and our guide went out and impressed us all. The climb looked a lot harder but they all said it was infact easier, just scarier to jump from. Our guide was like a monkey and ended up making it about at least twice as high as where the other guys got. It was super impressive to watch him climb like that and jump from such a high height. It would of had to be about 25m at least! We then sailed back to the mainland and all in all it was a pretty amazing day. I met some super cool people who were all just so like minded it was awesome. Our guide was Australian and has been living on Railay for a year now guiding this tour and just living an amazing life. There was also a couple from Spain who have been in a long distance relationship and finally getting to see each other after a long period of time. The guy lives in Koh Tao ( another island, up on the gulf coast close to Samui) where he is a diving instructor during the summer months and then goes back to Spain to teach skiing over the winter season. Pretty much sounds like the best life ever, especially for someone who was equally into both activities and doing them for a living. They were really cute and seemed happy to be reunited. The girl didn't speak much English so I didn't get to know her as well but she lives back in Spain while he has been away each summer for the past 3 years. Then the other couple consisted of an American female (from Maine) and a Japanese dude! I really got along with this couple right off the bat! They told me they were traveling for two months before heading back to Japan where they worked in the ski and snowboard industry as instructors. Everyone was living such incredible lives. I talked about how I used to live in Whistler and we found it pretty cool that we all had such similar likes and views on just doing what make you happy, living life to its fullest and not feeling the pressure to work in an office and make lots of money. As long as you are doing what you love, life is good. Today had me thinking again about what it is I want to do next with my life.
After we got back I ended up sorting out new accommodations for tonight after trying a few places which all seemed to be full. Like I said before high season is just starting and it's already starting to show. Prices are going up and availability is going down. I'm hoping this wont effect the length of time I can stay here because I would like to have at least a few more nights here before moving on. I ended up having to take a room for 700baht a night because it was the only thing I could find on the east side. I was hoping to stay in Ton Sai but by the time we got back it was to late for me to walk over in the pitch dark. Plus the chances of me doing so and there being nothing and having to come all the way back with all my stuff just wasn't worth it. I am going to try and find something tomorrow morning that's more in my price range and hopefully on Ton Sai. I learned about a path that takes you there even when the tide is high so I won't have to wait til the late afternoon to walk across.
After figuring out my room situation I met up with the group I was with today for dinner at a really good Thai place where we just ordered a bunch of dishes and shared everything. The food was great and it was nice to try some new things. I'm loving all the Thai food and feel like I will never get sick of it. Everything is so good! After dinner we went to a bar and watch a Muay Thai fight before all parting our separate ways. I just came back to my room and wrote this blog and am off to bed now! Amazing day and can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring :)
- comments