Day 1 Railay Beach
Can my first thought of Thailand be about Cambodia?
I immediately regretted coming to Thailand. Five minutes after leaving the airport I missed our “home” in Cambodia. The people here were not friendly. Krabi itself is ugly. Big, soulless, stinky and ugly. It has none of Hanoi’s character or Siem Reaps vibe. I missed the friendly Cambodians who spoke great English, and were well trained in tourism. Everyone from the hotel staff, tour guides, tuk-tuk drivers and vendors made an attempt to speak English and always showed a friendly respect by bowing with their “hello’s”.
It’s partially our fault. By the time we booked our trip to Thailand, only a few days ago, it was slim pickings. We got the last hotel in our price range on Railay Beach. We knew we were getting a hotel not known for its service, but the discomfort started long before arriving at the hotel. It started with the airline staff, airport staff and taxi driver. We were met with cool stares and our questions were answered with dismissive waves of the hand.
Day 2 – 3 Railay Beach and Diving
Our first full day in Thailand. We woke up to beautiful blue skies and a perfect onshore breeze. Today we decided to explore the area to find things to do in the coming days. The tiny town had no shortage of climbing tours, one SUP tour / rental company and one dive company. I had been excited to try the SUP’ing but after seeing the ridiculous rates and choppy waters I wasn’t convinced the value was there. The scuba diving seemed like the better value and I knew this would make an excellent Christmas present from my parents who love to support our epic adventures by treating us to memories. One of my favourite gifts from my parents was a sailing trip with all our friends in Bonaire. I have the most memorable sunsets and smiling pictures of my parents in my memory photo album from this trip.
The problem with scuba diving is that it had been over a decade since we last dove. I had no clue what we learned. Luckily with the help of YouTube we “refreshed” our skills enough that we decided to book a tour to the Ko Phi Phi islands.
It turned out to be a great day of diving. We dove Koh Yawasam first. A small island about an hour boat ride from Railay. Here we floated inches above the coral and saw a scorpion fish (extremely deadly), giant puffer fish, lion fish, yellow box fish, harlequin sweetlips and admired beautiful coral in the shape of large vases, bowls and sticks.
Our second dive took us to an even smaller island, more of a giant boulder standing proudly in the middle of the ocean. Koh Yawabon. Here we swam along a coral wall, the base of the boulder above. This was also fun and we saw several nudibranch (super cool little things) and two huge lobsters. Their long, spikey legs slowly peeking out of a crevice in the rock wall made them look like crazy spiders from a cheesy, b-rated horror movie.
After diving we set out to explore the local caves. The first was Phra Nang Cave (Princess Goddess). The small cave at the south end of Phra Nang Beach is filled with hundreds of wooden “Linga” (phallic shaped statues). Locals leave the offerings to the princess god in hopes of safe travel by sea and in hopes of fertility.
Next was a hidden cave our dive master told us about. It was reached by bouldering a steep stone path through the jungle. From here we found a large cave and the hidden bamboo ladder that would take us deeper into the cave. The sun was setting, the bats were stirring and the challenging climb through hidden passages in the dark was too much adventure for us. We decided to watch the brilliant sunset from the near empty beach below and save the caving for another time when we had better shoes and headlights.
Live Life Epic 