SURVIVING RAILAY

Last year, coming home from Asia, I could tell a story about how Railay stole my heart.

This time, sitting on the boat on our way to Koh Lanta, recapsing the last couple of days in my head, I knew I had a different story to tell:

THE STORY ABOUT HOW I STOLE MY HEART
BACK FROM RAILAY

(spoileralert: it's a downer)

(but the pix are somewhat pretty)

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It might not be Railay's fault entirely. It probably did the best it could, considering it has grown a lot more popular the last year. We can't remember the number of people telling us 'they are going to Railay after this', while I had barely no idea it even exsisted before arriving at its dock last time I was here. This of course affected the prices.

REASON 1 RAILAY KIND OF SUCKED:

Everthing was twice as expensive

The hotels, the water, the drinks, candy... Only thing that still was OK was thai food (our rate of OK prices are a meal for 100 baht circa, tops, FYI).
I did not remember this at all from last time. Had the prices risen or did I just not care the last time? It's a mystery.
Being used to buy 6 litres of water for 40 THB, we felt our budget crashing.
That was, of course, before reason 2 occured like a dark cloud in the horizon...

REASON 2 RAILAY KIND OF SUCKED:

We got... sick

Jonathan started living in the bathroom for safety reasons the second day there. I held on one day longer and then I was sick too. Most likely food poisoning. We still aren't sure.
Needless to say, this made us rethink our plans for Railay. The idea of hiring a kayak fell first. We could not move from bed.
Then we realized we kind of had to, since this beautiful seaview hillside bungalow I loved so dearly last time had no AC.

I told you we are vikings, yes?
We can survive 20-celsius-minus-Swedish winters (we don't like to, but we can).

What we can't survive is 40+ in the shadows when the air is standing absolutely still. It was like the costline that is Railay was a sauna. We saw our own lifes pass by some time there before we decided to abandon the ship and change to a hotel with AC.

So as you might have already guessed

REASON 3 RAILAY KIND OF SUCKED

was

It. Was. TOO. DARN. HOT!!

No breeze. NONE.
People were laying over their tables on restaurants, trying not to faint. We left Chiang Mai only a couple of days ago but were still convinced we had changed season in these few days - from European summer to DESERT temperatures. The water was not cold, it was sweaty.

Not much to do rather than rethink the whole trip and deciding we were going home... kidding. But the thought crossed my mind once or twice. How does other people do it? And what had we got ourselves in to?


Then the final day came and we felt better. We had gotten chilled again after three days with body temperatures way over normal. We ha started to eat again, even if it was just half portions. We didn't feel as suicidal any more. So we decided to take a try at climbing to the Princess Lagoon...

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If you are going to Railay and thinking about seeing it, you must first know really how steep it is.
It is, at times, 180 degrees straight down.
You will have a rope and the uneven surface of the limestones to help you.
You will also have a lot of people telling you it is very, very hard and you should go try the viewpoint instead.

And as well you should visit the viewpoint (keeep on reading for that), the second thing you have to know is

Not to listen to those people.

Because if someone who has visited the gym exactly eight times in the last couple of years can do it, so can you.

Of course, you probably end up muddy and sweaty and tired, but knowing you had done it, even though literally 5-6 people tried to tell us it was too hard... that is just gold.

But the ground on the bottom of the lagoon sure is not. 

Ignore the weird cat to the left trying to do what she later found out to be a very, very bad idea since the stone is crazy slippery and one step wrong could cost her a limb. 

So, DO watch out while down there, because the ground on the bottom is either slippery, pointy or sticky and neither gives you a good grip.

Also - it's totally possible, even preferable, to climb down barefoot or in flipflops. This was my second time all the way down and both times I've done it barefoot.

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While it is the climb itself that makes the lagoon worth the while, simply by boosting your confidence to say the least, the real scenery is found from the viewpoint, which is potatoes getting to compared to the extreme sport-session we just had had.

Now that is two tired people going the extra mile just for a photo with a smile! 

(The most of the other pictures looked something like this: 

and frankly, I actually might prefer those..) 

We stayed until sunset, and then we walked home to our hotel, WITH AC, and started WW III about who was going to get the shower first, all soaked in sweat as we both was.

Somehow we both got out of the feud alive, and fresh.

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Our last anecdote from Railay is actually a good one.

We went down to Railay East to check out our kitten, see how she was doing, and found two other people doing the same thing.
Naturally, we started talking. About cats.
But then we went on to other subjects and we found out we had a lot in common - like the ability to talk a lot, for example. So we headed to a restaurant nearby and sat there until half past midnight, when everything else had closed and our waiter sat on the dock and smoked a joint.

It's so nice to meet people while traveling, discussing cultural differences and just have a laugh or two (or ten?)

...And it all happened because of cats.

This one is not "our" orphan kitten, obviously, but I though... "It's a cat. It's marvelous anyway. I'll throw in a picture."

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We really don't mean to spoil your trip if ou are headed to Railay any time soon. It's still a beautiful place with a lot to offer. And as long as you think "well, it's cheaper than home anyway" the prices won't bother you.
Be sure to bring your sunscreen and mosquito repellent and you'll be having a great time!