Day 2: The Railey Long Beach

After a heavy and enduring tropical rain, I wake up in a silence that only hints at a fraction of what awaits me when I open the curtains. A mirror-smooth lake with about 15 bungalows on stilts, all lined up around the lake. The mountain opposite our terrace is lush green, the rocks have all colors between red-brown and black, the steam from the jungle rises in white mist clouds on the mountain. In one word: BEAUTIFUL!

After a hearty breakfast with fruits, scrambled eggs, two slices of toast, and several cups of delicious coffee, we make our way to the harbor in Krabi in the bus from yesterday.

Our chauffeur takes us to a ticket counter, organizes some crossing for us, and leaves us standing. I let the environment work on me and look at the other people. On the way, there is a mixed bag of tourists. You can see different skin colors, and I don't just mean the different degrees of sunburn. Above all, the women show the most varied clothing styles, ranging from "as little fabric as possible with a lot of skin" to completely veiled with a headscarf.

With us, a handful of tourists are waiting who seem to have the same destination as us: Railey Long Beach. The Railey Long Beach can only be reached by water, so it is clear to us that we will be riding in one of these 20 longtail boats. All of them are occupied with barefoot Thais balancing on their boats, pushing the ships into the shallow water so that we tourists only have to wade knee-deep into the water. Unfortunately, my calculation doesn't work out, and a wave takes the boat further out than I stand in the water and want to get in, a wave splashes up to my hip, and I am a wet pants for 12 hours. 

We ride for 15 minutes through the spraying spray, past beautiful rocks, past kayaking tourists, directly towards Railey Long Beach. Once there, we have to orient ourselves for a moment, the beach is relatively crowded, the landscape is stunning, and somehow there are no official paths. In the tourist office, we are then told that we should always walk straight ahead on the main path directly behind the building. So we set off between the small shops, Thai massage salons, a laundry, and several restaurants that all sell "Clean, Hygienic Food".

The longer we are on the road, the more we immerse ourselves in a wild jungle village of Bob Marley bars and tattoo studios between garbage dumps and smelly sewage channels. Finally, we pass a rocky outcrop with a sign for our accommodation: Railey Phatawan Resort.

We are greeted warmly, seated in a bamboo chair, and given a red welcome drink: very sweet, cold fruit tea, and a refreshing towel.

This is how you can arrive perfectly. When we are taken to our bungalows, it feels like heaven on earth.

At noon, we have delicious Thai food and then relax at the beach.

The sea is full of stones, it is rather shallow and incredibly warm. Nevertheless, we can all bathe in it for a while and at the same time witness an accident in which an older man injures his leg. After writhing on the ground for at least 30 minutes and being given first aid by countless people, we observe the crowd of people and wonder what kind of injury he has. Occasionally, different people pour water on his foot, each time a scream of pain from the man tears through the idyllic silence. We all feel a bit uneasy and wonder if someone has already called for help. But there comes the help already, a young woman in a blue jumpsuit, a yellow rain jacket, and a small red handbag with a headscarf comes racing on a moped and takes care of the injured man. He stands up and suddenly limps away without any major problems.

We decide to go on a little adventure and start a hike in our bikinis and swimming trunks to the neighboring beach. The first path we take seems to be free only during low tide, and after it gets increasingly slippery and the rocks become sharper, we decide to turn around.

We now take the path over the mountain and climb around on rocky slopes in our bikinis and flip-flops. However, the view that awaits us at the next beach rewards us for the sweat that is now running down all over us.

We all agree: we have never sweated as much in our lives as on this "mini-tour".

By the way, the couple later on the way home to our accommodation let out a cry of delight (or rather horror) when a small snake crossed our path. It was delightful... 3 minutes later we experienced the next excitement: the injured man was transported away on a moped, with a red plastic bag on his foot, fastened with white adhesive tape. We were relieved: he is still alive!

In the evening, when we arrive again, we treat ourselves to a timeout at the infinity pool and have dinner on a terrace with small roofs under white romantic curtains.

The view from there is spectacular. Jana and I miss our friends, the couple becomes more and more clingy, and while enjoying delicious cocktails, we exchange the funniest stories from training, the couple's time together, and our lives. The evening ends with lots of laughter and a slight drunkenness.

Unfortunately, we couldn't extend our stay here, so we will travel to Ko Lanta tomorrow. Have fun reading and see you then ;-)