Randomly during a walk on the beach to find somewhere to eat one night, we discovered the Coca Garden Beach resort, to the north of Ban Tai beach.

Whilst we were initially planning on having dinner and heading back for an early night, we were absolutely mesmerised by the beautiful sunset which started to form as we finished up our food.  Ed was the first to notice it, but we all quickly followed him down to the beach to get a look (and some photos).  Whilst everyone was scurrying around to get themselves into positions to capture a  photo of the beautiful sight, I simply wanted to sit myself down on the cool, soft, White sand, burry my bare feet, shut out all of the people around me and loose myself in the moment…so did my best at exactly that . 

In our group of friends, whenever anyone goes quiet it does not take long for someone to ask ‘are you alright?’.  This situation was no exception.  I am usually always ‘alright’, but especially when I am quiet in a beautifully relaxed place.  Whilst I appreciate the care and intention of the question each time its asked, I must admit that it usually makes me question (at least in my head) ‘Yes, of course I am alright, why? Do I not look alright? Am I making you feel down by being quiet?’.  I love to have quiet reflecting time.  I must remember this myself next time i am tempted to say ‘are you alright’ or ‘cheer up’ next time I see a friend being quiet.

After watching the sunset, I felt the need for a little more ‘quiet’ time.  I wasn’t feeling down, quite the opposite in fact.  The location and atmosphere so incredibly relaxing and happy, that I simply wanted to peacefully absorb and enjoy it.  I wondered over to the edge of the decked bar area where I sat with my feet swinging free, facing the now detraining sunset, with my back to the bar and chilled (Bob Marley esq) music playing in the background.  It didn’t take long for Ed to come over and join me, but thankfully he did not ask if I was ‘alright’, but instead just sat and enjoyed the view with me.

As there became nothing left of the sunset to look at, I laid back on the uncovered and slightly sand covered decking.  I had accidentally sat below to beautiful palm trees, which perfectly framed a single bright shining star and provided lovely silhouettes to remind me that I was looking at the sky from a special place.  Eventually the rest of our friends wondered over to join us.  After moving us around a little so that they could spread out blankets to avoid laying on the dirty decking, we all chilled and looked at the stars.

I felt so relaxed laying on the floor, stroking Jo’s arm, staring at the increasing number of visible stars and watching the palms trees sway ever so slightly from a light warm sea breeze.  Some of our other friends were trying to preserve the memory by capturing artist photos of various low lit objects around the bar.  Photography is an interesting thing isn’t it!  When looking at a photo of a beautiful beach, a stunning sunset or some other amazing scene, we think of relaxation and enjoyment.  Do those people who spend the majority of the time trying to capture that ‘perfect’ photo actually spend any time enjoying the scene for real?  Can the photo bring as much joy as actually being there?  Not for me.

It was only after 20 minutes or so, and after drifting in to a state of deeper relaxation, that I realised how much I loved laying directly on the decking rather than being in a chair, or similar.  With my eyes closed I could feel the bass from the Bob Marley music being played from a speaker on the other side of the bar.  I could hear and feel the footsteps of the chilled group at the front of the bar as they walked to get more drinks or to visit the bathroom.  I could hear and feel the sliding of drawers, barrels and other things by the bar man as he casually served and socialised with the patrons.  Without having to open my eyes, I felt like I knew exactly what was going on in the bar, I felt like I was part of it, I would even go as far to say as I felt at one with the Coco Garden beach bar and the people in it.  I want more!

When visiting the east side of Railay during the day, we were a little disappointed by the low tide, muddy beach and mess of stranded Mango trees spread along the coast line.  The miss mash of bars, shops and restaurants along the coast looked like they were either still being built, or had been their for a long time with very little maintenance.  There was an eclectic variety of places to explore, however the east side of the peninsular really stood out as ugly compared to the beautiful west coast on which our boat had landed.

At night and at high tide however…completely different story!  We took a different route in the dark which cut through the back of the east coastal buildings and brought us out next to the Mango groves right next to ‘Skunk bar’.  Whilst we were a little sceptical about potential hidden meanings behind the name of the bar, we decided to try out it’s seemingly relaxed atmosphere and sat ourselves down on a raised floor around small 30cm high drinks table. 

Being 9 PM or so when arrived, we were unable to see how far the the tide had come up across the previously muddy and ugly beach.  It was only after we ordered our first of cocktails that we realised we could hear the waves crashing up on the beach, literally metres from the entrance to the bar – at least a few hundred meters higher than they were previously in the day.  As we drank, the tide continued to rise to a point where the stilts on edge of the bar were being regularly lapped by waves.  It was at that point that the east beach started to make sense.  The buildings along the coast were not in a neglected or dirty area, but were built next to or in some cases on top of the water!  The chilled Skunk bar went from being an apparent under maintained establishment next to an ugly beach, to a rustic chilled venue in a unique location to provide a relaxing sound of crashing waves through the mysteriously dark Mango groves during an evening on east Railay beach.

I haven’t seen (and won’t see) east Railay beach during the day at high tide, however I would imagine that either way it’s not really a place I would want to spend my time in the sun.  West Railay provides beautiful sands, nice (and a bit more expensive) bars and restaurants for the day.  East Railay provides a truly unique location to spend evenings either chilling to the sounds of Mango trees being stroked by waves, or partying to live music and loud music in a slightly underdeveloped feeling set of bars and clubs.  OR …west Railay is for holiday makers, east Railay is for travellers…the great thing is that it’s relatively easy to mix the two.

Whilst it should be full of hung over people, desperately trying to get on to one of the few wait list spots for the full internal flights, it’s not.  In fact it’s one of the most relaxing places we have been so far on this trip.  The huge spiral shaped, open air boarding gate waiting area has ample sofas for everyone to relax, chilled christmas music playing in the background (ok they could do with changing that now) and enough space to make it feel empty even with a plane full of people waiting to board.

Our group of mainly Microsoft employees took advantage of the free airport wifi to catch up on emails and tell their facebook network how great the airport was.  This was the first time I had seen a room full of people at an airport who looked like they really didn’t want the plane to arrive any time soon.

This truly was a ‘if carlsburg made airports’ moment

According to the Wiki travel article about Railay, Phra Nang beach is among the top 10 beaches in the world.  It also happens to be in the next bay just south of West Railway beach where are our hotel is situated.  We decided to rent some kayaks for the day, so that we could paddle round to visit the highly rated beach and explore some more of the southern tip. 

We managed to get everyone up for an 8:30 breakfast…not an easy task with 4 guys and 3 girls in our group!  The hotel breakfast buffet included dragon fruit, which I was very excited to find since I have only previously had it at a hotel in Shanghai.  I remembered the fruit tasting similar to Kiwi, but a little less sour.  The dragon fruit in Thailand however really did not taste of much of than water .  I am not sure if my memory of the taste is a little distorted, or whether it simply tastes different in Thailand.  I did also notice that the hotel here cut the fruit in to thin slices, whereas in Shanghai the (expensive) hotel cut it in to large cubes – perhaps that effects the intensity of the taste somehow?  I will try to find some more dragon fruit before we leave in order to find out!

Shortly after leaving West Railay beach, we paddled through the middle of some beautiful orphaned rocks which were no doubt part of the mainland many many many years ago, but have been left stranded by millions of years worth of wave and wind erosion.  It’s kind of humbling to sit in a kayak and drift underneath stalactites and other rock formations which have formed over millions of years.  As we floated underneath the huge rocks which were being slowly undercut by the crashing waves, I couldn’t help but wonder how many more hundreds of thousands or millions of years it would take for each of the enormous structures to succumb to the sea.   The average 77 year life span (in Western countries) of humans really is so insignificant compared to the size of and timelines involved in the rocks we were floating next to.

After traversing the rock islands we headed towards Phra Nang, which was a beautiful sight of soft white sand, backed by dense green palms trees and other forestry and filled with a busy variety of long boats, sunbathers and families playing in the water. 

There is a great sense of freedom to paddle in under our own power, to a beautiful bay is only accessible by mountain walk or boat.  We were more free than the other visitors who had arrived by long boat taxi services, and we could reach the other bays on the peninsular easier than those who had trekked across the mountain to the beach.  As we arrived on the beach under our own power, it felt a little like arriving in Mos Eisley space port, with our own space craft capable of taking us to places not possible for those ‘stuck’ in the port without a means of transport.  Whether it’s space travel, sea travel or long distance land travel – personal transportation really is one of the most liberating things possible.

The beach was beautiful, with stunning panoramic views of the surrounding cliffs, beautiful beach backing greenery and the unique orphaned rocks we had previously paddled through.  A Thai beach would not be complete without the quintessential Thai Long Boats, ferrying people to an from the beach.  Phra Nang beach also had a pleasant surprise for us in the form of floating Thai food take away shops anchored within close reach of the sunbathers…

The paddle to the beach had worked up my appetite, but even if it hadn’t I would have probably purchased something from the Thai food boat just for the experience.  The lady sitting on the end of the boat took the orders and money from the customers, after which she relayed the order to the two ladies sitting in the sheltered part of the boat.  One older lady was doing all of the Thai cooking, and the other lady at the back of the boat seemed be responsible for supplies and general organisation of the cooking space.  Whilst I was a little sceptical about  the state of the chicken which was half prepared in advance and left sitting in the shade on the edge of the boat, the Pad Thai dishes being stir fired on a gas powered stove and serve up on paper plates did look DELCIOUS.  I ended up going for a vegetable spring roll, which was served in a transparent plastic bag with a squirt of sweet chilli sauce which had to try and spread over my roll by rolling it about in the bag.  It turned out to be a good snack and satisfied me until lunch.

After spending just under an hour on the beach, we decided to head further south to explore some of the coves and other formations on the southern tip of the peninsular.  Mark and I were first ones to arrive on a small stretch of sand, which felt truly remote as it was very hidden and completely inaccessible with out a boat (unless you are an experienced rock climber).  We named the beach ‘Moorkin’ (Moore + Deakin) however despite the fact that we had clearly labelled our beach in the sand, Ed and Jo were not willing to  pay the 500 baht boat visitor fee we demanded when they arrived.

We encountered ever increasing waves as we left the protection of the land.  After exploring another deserted beach, we decided to head back to West Railay for lunch.  Our kayaking adventure was fun, surprisingly not too tiring, spectacular thanks to the beautiful rock formations, liberating and a reminder of how insignificant our tiny individual lifespans are in comparison to the scale and age of our planet.  A great way to spend half a day in beautiful Thailand .

Railay is a beautiful peninsular near Krabi which is for all practical purposes an island due to surrounding cliffs which make it only accessible by boat.  We are staying in a stunning hotel situated on the stretch of land between the west and east Railay beaches.  Whilst our hotel would be considered ‘mid range’ on the island, it’s one of the most picturesque and relaxing places I have stayed. 

Granted there are a few quirks (as seems to often be the case with Thai island hotels), such as the seemingly rushed way our beds were made by the cleaners and the serious lack of water pressure in the bath/shower.  However, after the past few weeks where I have stayed in a combination of hostels, hotels and living rooms, this place feels like 5 star luxury. 

Transportation to Railay is most commonly from nearby Krabi via a long boat.  Our luggage was piled up at the front of the boat, whilst we were asked to sit in the centre and to spread ourselves evenly to help balance the ride.  We were sprayed with fine and not so fine splashes of water as the driver sped up the boat to bounce across the waves.  The less than 10 minute long boat ride was the first opportunity we had on this trip to experience truly beautiful Thai beaches, rather than the muddy watered, cloudy skied scenes we had for most of our time in Koh Phangan. 

We are only here for two nights (travelling to Phi Phi next), so we are keen to experience as much as possible whilst also taking the time to relax and enjoy the amazingly chilled environment encouraged  in Railay.  As with every other new exciting place I visit, I was feeling regret on arrival that we were not spending more time in Railay.  On the first night, it felt like I could happily spend weeks relaxing, exploring and experiencing what the beautiful beaches and nearby islands have to offer.  If I am honest however, based on past experiences, I am pretty sure that I would be fed up after 4 or 5 days at most and would be itching to get to the next destination.  Whilst advanced booking of flights and hotels (as we did) does often result in better value for money and more reliable results, I couldn’t help but think about how nice it would have been to simply take a decision on when to leave Railay based on when we were ready to move.

During the first afternoon whilst everyone was taking their what is becoming daily day time naps, I found myself predictably restless, so I decided to do a bit of research on Railay using the web.  I discovered that West Railay beach which backed on to the entrance to our hotel, was a beautiful spot to watch the sunset.  In particular a bar called Cocos was recommended as the best bar in Asia to watch a sunset!  Pretty bold claim, so Ed, Ilona and I decided to check it out whilst the others slept.

Whilst I have seen better sunsets, the atmosphere on the beach mats provided by Cocos to watch the sunset was very much worth the few hundred baht we spent on cocktails.  Unlike the overrated and overhyped sunset at Cafe Mambos in Ibiza, the Cocos sunset was popular but not too busy as to feel like the blanket we were sitting on was in risk of being sat on by someone else if we stood up.  The ambience was relaxing, but not boring thanks to the hustle and bustle of people and long boats.  Unfortunately the low lying cloud prevented a potentially beautiful view as the sun set behind the nearby islands, however the views were still spectacular as the sun sliced through the weaving gaps in the clouds.

As the sun set, I couldn’t help but feel privileged as we laid out on the beach, listening to chilled music from the bar and enjoying the glow from the coke can fueled flame torches which had been placed in the sand.  Long boats left with full compliments of (presumably) jealous tourists who were being taken back to their own resorts after their day trip to Railay.  We simply continued to lay on the beach, drink cocktails and soak up as much of the atmosphere as possible.  It felt like Railay was our home and the tourists were leaving for the day after enjoying OUR beautiful beach and sunset.  For an hour or so, we did nothing more than stare at the stars…beautiful.

Our arrival in to Koh Phangan was not exactly the most organised or relaxing of boat disembarkations I have had.  The 200 or so people on the high speed catamaran which had picked us up one hour late from Koh Samui were asked to dump their suit cases at the front of the boat when they boarded.  During the trip the staff moved all of the bags around,  which resulted in a state of mass panic as everyone failed to find their bags when the boat arrived in the harbour.  We were all asked to leave the boat, stand on the edge of the harbour and wait for a bags to be thrown on to the shore so that we could battle through crowds and hunt for them in the dark.  Not the most organised of systems I have encountered, although if I am honest I’m not quite sure how I would have improved it if I had been in charge – given the resources available.

After helping Ilona find her ruck sack and seeing the others in our group find theirs as they were passed off the boat, I got increasingly stressed and started to focus my efforts on spotting my rather generic grey suitcase in the decreasing number still remaining on the boat.  I am not exaggerating when I say that my case was literally LAST off!  I am also not exaggerating when I describe the feeling of relief to discover that none of my paranoid fears had been realised, such as my luggage being taken by someone else, dropped off the edge of the boat or removed by a stealth alien UFO because they liked my selection of cheap t-shirts from Burton.

Finding a bus from the boat to our villas proved to be the second significant ‘experience’ on the island.  Whilst there were an ample selection of people offering transport as we left the boat, it was again not particularly well organised.  We were greeted by several enthusiastic shouting Thai women, waving island maps in our faces and asking ‘Where you go? Where you go?’.  We told one of the ladies we wanted to go to Ban Tai, she gave us price of 100 baht per person (about 2 English pounds) and we agreed.  We then stood around for 10 minutes as she shouted at bus drivers, tried to pull in other tourists for the same ride and kept saying ‘Yes Yes, Ban Tai’ every time we asked her what was happening.  Eventually she pointed us towards our bus, the roof of which we had to throw all of our luggage on top of, before we climbed in to the military people carrier style seating area in the back.

We were pretty squashed in the back, however she made us wait whilst she herded up some more tourists so that they could hang off (literally) the edge of our bus and get as much money for the ride as possible.  The photo above was taken after the 4 people hanging off the back had been dropped off.

The girl with the coloured square bag was from Australia, travelling alone and trying to find her hotel which the driver really didn’t seem to know.  We ended up dropping her off near a 7 eleven and a hotel which had a similar name to the one she had booked, but which to be honest none of us were sure if it was the correct place. 

Similar to the Australian girl, we were also unsure as to whether our driver had dropped us off at the correct place…and rightly so.  He did deliver us to a set of buildings near the sign for the ‘Garden Lodge’ (which is where we are staying), however a lovely lady at the RESTAURANT  we had been dropped off at went out of her way to get us to the Garden Lodge which was in fact 500 meters away.  She started to give us directions, but then quickly realised that it was going to be far to complicated, so she asked her cook (we think that’s who he was) to give us a lift in the back of their pick up truck!  We tried to protest, but she made it very clear that we didn’t have to pay and she made it difficult to actually say no.  So we ended up piling all of our cases and ourselves in to the back of the truck, as the kind Thai man drove us down the road to our villas.

Arguably it was sensible, although I now feel bad for being suspicious of the Thai’s people desire to help us, particularly since it did not seem to benefit them in any way.  We of course gave the man some money for helping us, however it was a little awkward for Mark to have him accept it and it was clear that he really was not expecting it.  Whilst I think it’s good to have sensible suspicion in certain circumstances , I would also like to get better at recognising situations when genuine people really do want to do something for someone else…just because.

On Friday we decided to take another trip outside of Bangkok to visit the Damnern Saduak floating markets.  Whilst many of the products sold are the same as most of the tourist shops and markets across Thailand, the way in which they are sold at the floating markets was quite unique and a fantastic opportunity to experience.

Each seller has a boat filled with food, wood carvings, t-shirts, or a variety of other tourist focused items.  As our boat was paddled through the markets, we constantly collided with others boats, were (literally) hooked and pulled in by keen sellers and rocked side to side by the wake of long boats travelling down the same canals.  Whilst I do not think the boats roll over very often it did not feel completely safe, particularly when we had to rearrange our seating order because the weight of the passengers was causing one edge of the boat to ride dangerously low to the water.

Khao Sok is also home to the tamest collection of ‘wild’ monkeys I have ever seen!  The monkeys do actually like in their natural habitat, however, the Thais have built a walk way around it which has attracted so many visitors that the monkeys are now used to being fed bananas and entertaining the crowds.

Apparently there are about 300 monkeys living on the edge of the mountain on which the walk way has been constructed.  They only come down when they are hungry, so the amount of monkeys you see depends on how many visitors have been each day.

It was amazing to see the little monkeys take an unpeeled banana out of our hands, peel it, chuck the skin away and chew on the banana like it was a corn on the cob.  It was initially a little scary to be surrounded by monkeys, especially when thoughts of the ‘Outbreak’ movie popped in to my head, however they were very friendly and the only thing they were interested in biting were our (slightly mouldy) bananas.

I got some fantastic video of Ali feeding monkeys, including some tiny babies who could not even carry the banana unless we broke it in half.  Very cute   I will upload the videos when I get home, but for now here are some ‘aaaw’ photos for you…

This another Thailand post which I am moving from my old blog (from Jan 2009)…

In the Khao Sok jungle on Monday, after lunch, we had the fantastic opportunity to take part in a 1.5 hour jungle trek, on the back of an elephant!  I have never even touched an elephant before, so sitting on the back of one with a Thai ‘driver’ sat in front of me was a pretty exciting experience.

We were taken on the trek by the Elephant Hills elephant school, which looks after the elephants, runs guided tours through the jungle and provides food for visiting tourists.  The school is literally in the middle of nowhere and consists of a collection of small huts where the staff live, a ‘restaurant’ where the tourist food is cooked and the elephant living area where the animals live whist they wait to be ridden.

The school had a special mounting platform which was used to get everyone in to the seats, so getting on their backs was as easy as getting on a ride at the fun fair.

The trek itself was amazing.  We did not see any other animals, however, we wondered through some amazing scenery in a convoy of elephants.  Our particular elephant must have been very hungry as he stopped for food every 5 minutes, however it was funny to watch the driver unsuccessfully struggling with it and trying to get it to stroll forward.

After a nice round trip we arrived back at the elephant school where we given a bowl of (slightly rotten) fruit to feed to the elephants.  It was great fun to have a banana sucked out of our hands by which ever trunk managed to reach it first!

Phi Phi Island is the most beautiful island I have been to, but also PARTY central! Here are some video highlights from our Phi Phi trip…