Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Railey Beach (Rai Leh)
Still haven't decided what was fitter - the beach or the vanilla shake. *Dreams of vanilla shake. Mmmm*.
Railey - a proper tropical paradise like you've always imagined - white sand, jungle, mangrove forest, longboats... it has it all. Railey is actually a group of three main beaches surrounding a headland that juts southward from the Andaman Sea coast, and is surrounded by impenetrable rainforest & rock formations that offer the best climbing in the region. Climbing would unfortunately prove elusive on this occasion due to circumstances beyond our control (monsoons, nuts), but we still managed to cram in lots of sunbathing, sea kayacking (see Mikey Pulls a Blinder #1), doing poi on the beach, skinny dipping (which admittedly I started but some group members took perhaps just a little bit too far, didn't they ladies...), and best of all shaking hands with a wild monkey! Who cares about rabies when they're just so damn cute! I had such a good time at Railey that I actually could have stayed for ages. Quite like Terry did in fact...
Terry was a loveable (ish) ex crack & heroin addict from Stockport (South Reddish to be Precise - Plastic Cheshire). He was one of those oddball peaople you can imagine working in a seaside resort arcade in the UK, but with duties limited to lavatory cleaning or stocking up the teddy bears in the grab machine as the CRB check indicated it was probably not advisable to let him be in charge of replenishing the change machine. You knew Terry wasn't in Railey because he liked it, although I'm sure he did, he was there because no b***** would ever find him there. I never did get to find out what he was in prison for in Malaysia only a few months back, but you sometimes you realise it's probably best to either stick to the relative pros & cons of Asda Hulme versus Asda Longsight as a topic of conversation or just shut up and drink your beer.
***
Mikey Pulls a Blinder #1 - "Those islands don't look too far"
But oh yes they are. So far in fact that Mikey actually gets sea sick on the Kayack & spends most of two hours hung over the edge whilst poor Jamie tries to paddle back to the very distant shore to avoid us both being dragged off by the current & eaten by sharks.
Mikey clearly got a bit confused by which islands the man was referrig to when he said you could wade to them at low tide - he actually meant those other islands over there that are about 50 meters form the shore, not the ones you have to get a bloody ferry to! (Note to self - ask mother if I was dropped headfirst at birth)
***
Near Death Experience #2: 'The Curious Incident of the Nut in the Night'
Railey was the perfect spot to enjoy some refreshments after a long day and unwind - definitely what was needed after the arse holes at Lloyds TSB decided they didn't want to let you take your own money out whilst abroad but they would let other people do it for you (donations to the phone bill fund will be gladly accepted).
But then the dreaded curse struck and Emily came into contact with a killer peanut! This was pretty unfortunate in that non of us had touched a nut so it must have been from a trace on a glass or crockery. This isn't the place for an in depth look at anaphylaxis, but it is the place to big up the group effort for chartereing a private longboat & connecting taxi service (sans any taxis for miles) to get us to the nearest big city hospital in the middle of the night in less than 45 minutes. Big up to crazy lady Ning too as it was the speed of those flip flops down the beach that got us the boat in the first place.
Anyway, with Emily not dying (#1) and drugged up to the ey6eballs, it was time to go home. Hmmm, easier said than done post midnight in the middle of nowhere, especially whhen a sea crossing is involved. Getting back to the landing pier at Au Nang was easy enough, but longboats at this hour proved to be elusive so a night on the beach it was to be. Predictably hunger set in so the group split to go to the 7Eleven (think the Spar - times their number by 1000, & then wonder how they have formed a business model on not actually stocking anything that you might actually want to buy) to buy provisions. That decision was the moment in ANY horror film where the audience collectively shouts at the screen begging them to stay together or otherwise they will clearly be carted off one by one into the night and hacked to pieces with a chainsaw. It did not help at this point that the 7Eleven was located literally on the set of Wolf Creek and theat there were packs of stray dogs, a pick up truck slowly reversing with it's lights off (no, really), and the obligatory normal-acting-but-clearly-in-on-the-plot shop worker with a knowing smile all present. All it needed was heavy rainfall and we'd have been well & truly screwed. Add to this the clearly illicit port activities & the presence of 'the others' further down the beach & in the jungle (think Lost, seasons 1/2) & you can begin to appreciate the decision not to light a fire & draw attention to ourselves.
Two things about this were truly amazing though. The first was the blanket of stars that were shining above. I've never seen the night sky without any light pollution & you really could see thousands of them. Even saw a shooting star at one point for the first time ever! Was a little bit disappointed that I was a bit too southerly to see Ursa Major ( ;o) ) but I kinda knew where it would be over the horizon. The second thing, which really did make it all worth it was the sun rise. Tiesto dude, if you're still looking for that bloody sunrise after all those albums, well here it is, I've found it! (For those that haven't clicked yet - my blog contains a few musical inferences from what I was listening to on my ipod when I created it)
Am really glad we saw such a wonderful sunrise on that day, because the next couple of sunrises would be viewed in a very drunken haze...
- comments