Railay and Ko Phi Phi

Railay

Railay is a small peninsular, just west of Krabi. Although it is part of the mainland it is only accessible by sea.

As soon as we had booked the ferries and hotels for Railay and Phi Phi, the weather decided that it really was the monsoon season. Overnight it rained heavily and a strong north westerly wind buffeted the guest house. Steve's health also took a turn for the worst, developing a high temperature and a penchant for sitting on the toilet, so he was in no mood for a rough boat ride.

Our long tail boat crew hardly looked old enough to be out of school let alone take seven limeys across the rough sea to Railay Bay. These boats ride over the waves rather than cutting through them and crash down hard into the troughs. It was an exhilarating, saturating forty minute ride. Arriving at low tide, necessitated a long wade through the shallow water to the shore with our luggage. Our first impressions were of a beautiful sheltered bay protected by towering karst cliffs and jungle clad slopes.

After checking into our accommodation and washing off the salt, we went to find lunch. Thinking that food would help, Steve ordered fried rice, took one mouthful and could eat no more. When he got up to go back to the hotel, he became very faint and "the nurse" ordered him to sit down. Good job, otherwise he would have fallen down. He spent the rest of the day in bed watching films on satellite TV.

Next morning feeling much better he managed the full breakfast. The coffee was served with a novel milk jug.

We explored Railay and walked past the Rayavadee resort where rooms range from 600 to 1000 pounds per night and all access is protected by guards at the beach entrances and by monkeys along the perimeter fence.

With its huge karst cliffs Railay is a climbers paradise.  In the centre of the peninsular is the old camp site from the days when climbers would come and pitch their tents to go climbing.

Now the up-market resorts have almost taken over and the camp site is closed. We found a few toilets here, looking a bit forlorn and rejected.

 

Whilst sitting on the beach of Tham Phra Nang bay, another rain storm came in. Running for cover we sought shelter under the cliffs by the famous Princess Cave.

Local folklore believes that an Indian Princess was shipwrecked off the beach and her spirit lives in the cave. Local fishermen bring offerings of phallus' to get her blessing for a good catch.

At the same time a film crew were sheltering, but continued their shoot under cover of the cliffs. They were making a Singha beer advert, using some American students as models. The director wanted the perfect shot of a beautiful, young woman opening a can of Singha. This involved many takes, each one resulting in another opened, but full can. The spectators, us included, helped to finish them off. Steve managed to get a snap also.

That evening we chatted to an Australian and his Italian partner who lived and worked in Islamabad for the UN. As we finished our meal, who should walk in but Rob, Fiona and Simone that we had met on Ko Kradan.

Ko Phi Phi Don

Next morning there were a lot of people to catch the boat to Ko Phi Phi. We all loaded onto long tails to connect with the high speed ferry in deeper water. The boat was late and we bobbed around for about 15 minutes before it arrived. It was then a bit of a scramble with everyone's luggage being thrown hand to hand onto the deck. One bag (not ours) made a leap for freedom and got a drenching in the sea.

It was a windy crossing, but better than on a long tail. As we rounded the headland, coming into Ton Sai Bay we were struck by the enormous number of long tail and large speed boats. It was like arriving at a busy airport. Porters held hotel signs, meeting passengers. Touts sold accommodation, tours and water taxi rides. Gift shops selling all the essentials of “the beach holiday” lined the narrow, badly kept streets.

Ko Phi Phi Lay as seen in "The Beach" film.

Our porter loaded the bags onto his trolley and we followed him through the maze of manic streets to find the Tropical Garden Bungalows. The place was a ramshackle affair of multi tiered rooms and log cabins spreading up the hillside, culminating in a murky and uninviting swimming pool at the top. The walls of the apartments were so thin that we could hear every word spoken in the next door room.

We had taken an early dislike to the town. The block paved pedestrian streets had recently been dug up to replace services. The trenches had been refilled with sand but the loose paving blocks were piled at the sides together with rubbish and building materials. Dirty water flowed over in some parts and the frequent heavy rain turned the whole thing into a quagmire with huge puddles. As the only route through the town it was heaving with tourists, locals, bicycles and porters with trolleys. freely in some places. It felt like a medieval back street.

Phi Phi was full of young backpackers drinking out of plastic toy buckets with straws. These “buckets” (usually a can of coke and bottle of local rum)  were sold along the streets for just 100 baht. Beach parties were in full swing into the earlier hours and everywhere there was the sound of loud music and drunken people. Just like the worst of Ibiza. Horrible. Despite the music booming from the bar nearby, we did mange to sleep reasonably well. Though tempted to jump on the first boat out in the morning, we resolved to stay and give it a chance.

 The following day the town seemed much quieter as though most of the party set had moved on. We got up early and climbed the hill to the viewpoint overlooking the two bays. It looked beautiful in the early morning sunshine. A picture of the same view, showing the devastation just after the 2004 Tsunami, was quite sobering.



Over the hill the path continued down a steep, slippery and muddy path to reach Rantee bay. It was difficult to decide which was the greater hazard, tripping over the tree roots and rocks, slipping on the wet clay slope, being savaged by the innocent looking but thorny foliage or bitten to death by the clouds of mosquitoes.

The assault course was worth it. At the bottom there was a beach of lovely white sand with a small bar, where we rented snorkelling gear. Swimming was almost as dangerous as the walk to get there. Speed boats and long tails all carrying crowds of tourists zoomed in and out of the bay. While there was some reef just offshore, there was no attempt to protect it or the safety of swimmers and snorkellers in the area.

Rather than climb back up the steep hill we got a water taxi back. There were four people on the beach who had booked a taxi for 2pm and agreed a charge of 600baht. By the time it came there were nine passengers, The ticket lady was adamant that everyone must pay 150 baht each, making the total cost of the boat 1,350 baht. After a lot of haggling she reluctantly dropped to 100 baht each.

The second night we went out on the town, eating, drinking and trying to emulate the youngsters. Despite trying really hard and watching the Tour de France on the TV we were still ready for bed by 11pm. Unfortunately  the music volume was worse. Steve wore his super ear-plugs and slept. Karen did a lot of sudoku. The music may have been 'trance' but it didn't have this effect on her.

Heavy rain was falling at dawn and continued for most of the day. The ferry back to Krabi was delayed by 30 mins and the passengers were expected to wait in the rain on the jetty.

The ferry terminal on the mainland is about 5km away from Krabi town and we had got a 'joint' ticket, meaning that it should include transport back to town. But there was no bus and everyone we asked just tried to sell us a taxi ride at 150 baht. Eventually we found a van at only 50 baht but the locals only paid 30.