Railay Beach

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This is Railay West Beach, a major tourist attraction. Twenty years ago, Railay West was just a little pristine beach that few people knew about, and now has resorts and brings tourists from all around the world. There are limestone cliffs that surround the beach and they are soooo beautiful. You can rock climb on them, I wanted to but we ran out of time. The sand is so soft and the beach is just plain stunning.

These are rocks and corals that I found on Railay West, I named some of them. the big coral on the bottom of the leaf is Big Jimmy and the one the top right corner with dots is Freckled Joe. 

 This is the sunset at Phranang beach in Railay. It was so beautiful and the next day we went back and me and my dad caught two little fishes in a cup. There was a hike to a viewpoint that my dad and Denise tried but did not succeed because it was a really really hard hike. Phranang Beach was awesome!

This is Denise getting buried in sand. 🙂

This is me getting buried in sand. 🙂

This is the motor of a longtail boat.  It is called a longtail boat because out of the motor stretches a long stick with a propeller on the end that makes the boat go. We are taking this longtail from the shore to a ferry that will take us to Phuket. From Phuket we flew to Siem Reap and we have now begun our Cambodian adventure.

Eating at Railay Great View Resort

Eat

This is Lae Lay Restaurant at Railay Great View Resort, there is a big breakfast buffet that has so many choices! I really liked the pancakes, croissants, and the yoghurt. It was the biggest breakfast buffet I have ever seen in my life. 

This is the buffet, all the nets have a different type of fruit. The fruits they had were passion fruit, watermelon, papaya, pineapple, and dragonfruit. I always had watermelon.

This was my breakfast on the last day in Railay. I had cereal and yoghurt, pancakes, french toast, a croissant, a sausage, watermelon, banana, cucumber, and OJ. 

This is Denise eating her breakfast on the last day. She looked like she was really enjoying it. I do not think the Lae Lay buffet can be beat!

This is Chicken Satay I had for lunch at Lae Lay. Chicken Satay is practically chicken yakitori. Me and Denise have eaten it a lot of it in Thailand. Lae Lay Restaurant was great. The presentation was exquisite! I would rate the food at Lae Lay a 9 out of 10.

Sleeping at Railay Great View Resort

Sleep

Our stay at Railay Great View Resort was very enjoyable. The bed was comfortable and the balcony had a very nice view. It had a huge breakfast buffet that had so many choices. I liked the pancakes at the buffet. The resort was very relaxing, a little bit pricey but reasonable. Railay consists of 3 beaches Railay East, Railay West, and Phranang Beach. Railay Great View was at the far end of Railay East, but we usually walked to Phranang or Railay West because they were more pristine then Railay East.

This is the King bed that me, mom and dad slept in for the first two nights. While Denise, mom, and dad slept in it for the second two nights. It was very comfortable and cozy. 

This is the bed that Denise slept in for two nights and I slept in for two nights. It was not the comfiest but better then being squished with mom and dad in the king.

This is the bathroom, Railay Great View generously gave shampoo, bath soap, conditioner, and a hair dryer. On the last night, we saw a frog in the bathroom!

This is our balcony looking over Railay East Beach in the Andaman Sea. We saw a bunch of monkeys in the trees right outside our balcony. We were in room 34, the only downfall was hearing loud boats coming from towns around Railay like Ao Nang or Krabi. 

This is the beautiful view from our balcony. It has been a great stay at Railay, I would rate Railay Great View Resort a 9 out of 10.

OMG! Is That a …Monkey 🐵!

Nature

Yesterday we took a boat from Ao Nang to Railay Beach.  We are now staying at Railay Great View Resort.  There is lots of wildlife here including horn bills, eagles, one scorpion and… monkeys! Just this morning we saw a monkey right in front of our balcony.  It was a dusky langur monkey also known as a spectacled langur.  It is black with white spots around the eyes.  On the internet I found out that, “The newborns of these monkeys are colorful. The color of the fur is orange or bright yellow which changes to gray in six months’ time after birth.”.  I hope we see a baby! Signing off for now, Evan.

Sleeping at Glur Hostel

Sleep

Our stay at Glur Hostel in Ao Nang, Thailand was very enjoyable. It was the first place where me and Denise got our own room! At Glur, you could get a bunk in a dorm with a shared bathroom or a private room. We chose a private room, it was very nice in my opinion . Glur had a very beautiful common room that was very open air and it had a ping-pong table (hours of fun). The gardens and hammocks were top notch. It had breakfast including toast, butter & jam, fruit, and coffee. The staff were very nice and the room was reasonably priced. I would rate Glur Hostel an 8 1/2 out of 10.

Guest post (Dan): That Soccer Team in the Cave

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Our recent visit to two large caves in Khao Sok National Park (see Evan’s post) reminded me of a guest post I wanted to write when we were in northern Thailand two weeks ago. The administrator has granted me an exception to go out of order (he runs a tight ship but it’s a pretty good work environment). In Chiang Rai we were about 50 kilometres away from the cave where that kids soccer team was trapped for 17 days last summer. I kind of wanted to do a day trip there but lost that vote 3-1. Probably for the best as we weren’t going to enter the cave even if allowed (doubtful).

But just being in the region gave some interesting context for a story that lots of people followed somewhat closely as it was happening. For example, while the cave is in a rural area and probably minimally marked, the region itself is much more developed than I pictured. I remember hearing eg. that a few of the players had no official nationality as they were from tribes that spanned over the Thailand and Myanmar borders. But Chiang Rai is very close and is a pretty big city with hospitals that look modern and fully equipped, large highways in good shape and an international airport. Even the closest town to the cave has a few pages in the Lonely Planet with a map of the ‘downtown’ and some recommended guesthouses. So that all makes a bit more sense how they were able to deploy a lot of specialized equipment and local/international personnel in pretty short order (although it probably did not feel that way for the kids). Also interesting that it was a soccer team as we came to learn that the Chiang Rai soccer team punches above its weight in the Thai first division (with some sponsorship from Singha beer). Perhaps these kids are part of some kind of Vince Carter effect local youth soccer boom. As a further aside, the logo of the team (above) is an elephant beetle. I read that there are places here that stage elephant beetle fights and associated wagering. We haven’t found the stadium yet.

Not to make light, especially as one of the Thai divers was not able to get out, but from our month of travels I can imagine the potential finger pointing and regrets eg. about snacks not packed if we had, say, missed a bus connection. Never mind hiking into a cave that promptly flooded and being trapped for over two weeks. Incredible that they stayed calm and the rescuers got them out, and kind of cool to have been so closeby.

Swimming at Glur Hostel

Swim

We are now in Ao Nang and are staying at Glur Hostel, I really like it. Glur Hostel has a nice pool that is the perfect temperature. Lately, me and Denise have been practically living in the pool. The pool is about 9m long and 130 cm deep. It is perfect for flips, dives, and handstands. Denise says in emphasis “It is awesome”. I would rate the Glur pool an 8 out of 10. 

Floating Bungalows on Lake Cheow Lan

Nature, Sleep, Swim

3 days ago, we flew from Luang Prabang, Laos (via Bangkok) to Phuket in southern Thailand. We took a van from Phuket to Khao Sok National Park which holds 5% of animal species in the world. We are staying at Khao Sok Riverfront Resort. Yesterday, in the middle of our stay, we took a boat to floating bungalows which you can see in picture 5, on Lake Cheow Lan, which is 45 metres deep!!! We were going to stay there for two days and one night. We swam so much in the lake. On the first day we hiked to Nam Talu Cave. We had to wear life jackets because the cave had water that was pretty deep. Our guide was named Kiki. He spotted so so many spiders in the cave. I got a little freaked out at times. One time that I was freaked out was when we had to climb down a waterfall in the cave, because it was so narrow that it could only fit a single file line. When we finally came out of the cave I was exhausted. We took the boat back to the bungalows and swam some more. That night, we had a delicious dinner of fish and noodles. Then we were rocked to bed by the waves. The next morning we woke up at 6:30am to go on an early morning boat safari. We saw monkeys, gibbons, and giant hornbills (a species similar to the toucan). Can you spot the langur monkey in picture 7? Gibbons have a lifespan of 25 years in the wild, and are monogamous mammals that form lifelong bonds. Gibbons are members of the ape family but are faster then most primates and can travel as far as 10 metres in one jump and can swing through the trees at speeds as fast as 56km/hr. After the safari ended, we returned for breakfast and swam, again. Next we took the boat to a cave called Pra Kay Petch Cave. We walked through the cave while learning about the species in the cave such as spiders and bats. Then we took the boat back to the pier and took the van back to Khao Sok Riverfront Resort.  

Swimming at Pan Kled Villa

Swim

The pool at Pan Kled Villa in Chiang Rai (before we went to Laos) was amazing. It was spacious and not too cold. We swam in it every day because we loved it so much. It had a thermal pool that was a little warmer than the regular pool. I loved to do flips and handstands in the pool. The pool also had very good lounge chairs. I would rate the Pan Kled pool a 8 out of 10.