Beach Hop #3

March 22, 2010

We woke up this morning and left our favorite island Koh Lanta. A 2 hour ferry ride dropped us in Railay Bay, a group of beaches on a peninsula on the coast of Krabi. Known for its rock climbing and scuba diving (neither of which we do), Railay is surrounded by limestone cliffs. It's incredibly beautiful, and there are no boat docks. To get to the beach, the ferry stops in the middle of the bay, and several longtail boats come out to meet it. Then we had to make the perilous climb from ferry to longtail with our backpacks. The longtails drop you at the shore, and after hopping out into the knee deep water, you're there.

We found our hotel easily, as it was one of 5 or so that lined the powdery sand on West Railay beach. We decided to splurge for our last beach stay, and we have a snazzy bungalow with a view of East Railay beach. Quite nice, I must say.

We headed to the beach for the afternoon, hanging out mostly in the water. We had some overpriced sandwiches for lunch. Unfortunately, Railay is definitely more expensive than Lanta, and it's a bit of a shock for us.

After watching the sunset by the beach, we took a short hike to the other side of the peninsula through a wooded trail, and arrived at the sheltered East Railay beach. This side is not great for swimming, as it is covered in mangrove trees, but there are a number of cool beach bars and restaurants.

We chose one, and had a tasty bbq fish, as well as a chicken kebab and some pineapple fried rice (a new favorite). Sam ordered a pina colada (which needed to happen since he's been singing the Jimmy Buffet song constantly for the last week or so), and we chatted about the island, and about how we wished we didn't have to go back to Phuket tomorrow.