Railay, Thailand 2012

November 18 - 22, 2012

Prior to going to Thailand I did as much research through friends, random blogs, tripadvisor, and wikitravels as possible.  Everyone had the same thing to say - Railay is a must visit location when you go to Thailand.  And they were right - I am so happy that we decided to go to Railay and spend a majority of our beach time here.  

Railay is a peninsula south of Ao Nang town in the Krabi Province of Thailand.  The only way to get to Railay is via a long boat due to the massive limestone cliffs which cut off access to the main town.

Planning a trip to Railay can be taunting because one needs to keep track of air, boat, and car/taxi service times.  There are a couple routes to take:
- Krabi Airport -> Taxi/car service to Ao Nang port (20min drive) -> Longboat to Railay (10min boat ride)
- Phuket Airport -> Ferry service to Railay (2hr boat ride)
- Phuket Airport -> Taxi/car service to Ao Nang port (2hr drive) -> Longboat to Railay (10min boat ride)

Unfortunately only certain airlines fly into Krabi - raising the price of the airfare compared to flying into Phuket - and all require a lay over in Bangkok.  Since we were going to end up in Bangkok at the end of our trip we decided this was not the route for us so we booked our flight through Phuket.  Most people I had talked to used the ferry services to get to Railay - so that was the first thing I looked into.  However our flight landed into Phuket at 7am and the boat departs Phuket Town at 830am - between getting our luggage and trying to figure out what port to get to it didn't seem like a reasonable option or a risk we were willing to take.  Everyone I know spent the night before traveling to Railay in Phuket to ensure boat reservations (cannot be made online) and getting to the right port on time.  This left us with one last option which was taking a car service to Ao Nang -- and FYI trying to find a car service with a legit website and good reviews is hard to do.  Thankfully we found one via a travel forum on TripAdvisor - which I will highlight below as well as provide the contact information in another blog with notes and websites from this trip.  

To get to Railay we flew from Taipei (TPE) to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KUL) via the discount airline, Air Asia - think of Southwest but stingier.  There was an hour time difference between these two locations and the flight takes about 5 hours.  We had about a 2 hour layover and then took a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket which was about an hour and a half.  The layover was miserable -- still not feeling 100% from my bout with food poisoning from Taiwan, I decided I would just try to get something in my stomach from the only food place in the Air Asia terminal, Dunkin Donuts.  David, my traveling buddy, decided to use the restroom first and then also get something to munch on.  After he got out of the restroom - located next door to the Dunkin Donuts - he mentioned as he was peeing a cockroach was crawling up the wall next to the toilet.  EW!  This curbed my appetite and my need to pee real fast and I decided to just go sit at the gate.  I am not going to lie -- I was not feeling really good about the start to this trip.  Upon arriving at the Phuket airport (HKT), we waited to get through customs and then grabbed our bags.  Thankfully the Phuket airport was clean -- so I could use the bathroom before the 2 hour car ride to Ao Nang.  On the way out of the airport, there were many locals trying to get travelers to take their car or bus service and to exchange money at their stall vs their competitors.  It was slightly overwhelming so I am glad that we had prebooked our car service with krabishuttle.com and they were outside waiting with a sign for us.  We exchanged 100 US Dollars to Thai Baht with an exchange rate at the airport was about 28+baht per dollar.  We wanted to have some money for tips (even though it is not customary to tip) and for snacks.

View of southern Thailand islands from the airplane.

After our two hour car ride with a driver who could not speak a bit of English (which made for a nice quiet ride), we arrived at Ao Nang port.  This area is not good for swimming but still offered amazing views.  We bought two tickets to Railay from the longboat company and waited about 10 minutes for the boat to fill up before leaving the port.  The tickets were 100baht per person and 8 - 10 people are needed to fill the boat which can take anywhere from 10 - 30 minutes.  I am not one to pack light - however - I wish I had and would highly recommend it.  To get to the longboat you need to carry your luggage down the stairs to the beach then across the sand and into the water and onto the longboat.  Although the longboats dock close to the shore - when you are short like me you are walking into water that is to about your knees or maybe a little higher depending on waves.  

Ao Nang Port Beach.

Ao Nang Port.

The long boat ride to Railay was beautiful.  The water was warm and calm and the limestone cliffs were beautiful and intimidating due to their size.  Pulling up to Railay West beach both sides of the beach were blocked off for swimming and the center of the beach was a docking station for long boats.  At about the center of the beach was where we called home for 5 days - the Railay Village Resort.  This hotel came highly recommended from friends and Tripadvisor and it was perfect!  

View from the long boat on the way to Railay. 

Limestone cliffs seen from the long boat on the way to Railay. 

Railay Village Resort on Railay West Beach. 

View of Railay West beach from the lobby. 

During the check in process the resort gave us ice cold water and a cold towel to wipe our face - after a night of travel and the intense blast of humidity upon arrival in Thailand both were a welcome treat.  We were upgraded to a suite at the hotel and after dropping our bags, we walked around the resort and grabbed lunch.  Since I was not sure how my stomach would handle Thai spices - I stuck with a cheese pizza and David got Pad Thai at the Railay Village Resort restaurant.  

Hotel room at the Railay Village Resort. 

Pool number 1 at the Railay Village Resort. 

Pool number 2 at the Railay Village Resort. 

David and our view from the restaurant. 

Pad Thai at the Railay Village restaurant. 

Cheese pizza at the Railay Village restaurant. 

After lunch we decided to check out the beaches and walk to the Railay East area.  The hotel provides a map of the island and has a path behind the hotel which leads you to Railay East.  This side of the island is filled with Mangrove trees so it is not ideal for swimming or sunbathing however - this side offers a lot of independent restaurants and bars, minimarts, and stores at a cheaper price (20-50 baht cheaper than Railay West).  Railay East is also known for rock climbing and hiking and is about a 5 minute walk from our hotel.  

While waiting for the sun to set on Railay West Beach, we swam, laid around and I searched for sea shells!  The water was warm - a lot warmer than Hawaii, I would compare it to Florida or the Bahamas which makes it really easy to jump right into and swim around.  The only down side to the beach was the amount of rocks in the water esp the part of the beach which is to the left of the hotel.  While looking at all the perfect shells washed up on to the shore, I found a SAND DOLLAR!!!  I have been looking at shells on the beach my whole life...and never had I found a whole sand dollar.  I collected about 5 sea shells, which I was going to use to make a sea shell picture frame.  *NOTE COLLECTING SEA SHELLS AND BRINGING THEM HOME IS ILLEGAL.  :(  More on this in my blog about Phuket.  

David at Railay West Beach. 

Me at Railay West Beach. 

Railay West Beach. 

Me and my sand dollar :)

My sand dollar!!!

The sunsets in Railay are probably the most amazing I have ever seen!  I took way too many pictures but every 5 minutes the colors would change and each day the sunset was different.  

Long boat at sunset. 

Sunset at Railay West Beach. 

Sunset at Railay West Beach. 

For dinner we decided to go to Railay East and eat at Mom's kitchen.  It was busy during the day so we figured it must be good.  We had Thai beer - Singha, egg rolls and easily one of the best seafood dishes during our trip the deep fried fish with garlic and peppers.  It was so delish!  The egg rolls are vegetarian - glass noodles and veggies and the fish was so crispy even with the tasty sauce on it.  

Mom's Kitchen on Railay East. 

David and his Singha beer at Mom's kitchen. 

Mom's kitchen's egg rolls. 

Deep fried fish with garlic and peppers at Mom's Kitchen. 

The next day we got up early and went to the free breakfast buffet provided by the hotel.  The breakfast offered both western and Thai foods.  We had made to order eggs and pancakes, yogurt, bread, fresh fruit, bacon or sausage, rice and a curry or noodle dish.  The breakfast buffet was held in the Railay Village restaurant which has open air seating and is right on the beach which allows for bugs and kitty cats by your table!  Yup kitty cats -- oddly enough there are quite a few stray cats on the island and 2 that hang out on the Railay West side.  They are probably brothers since they both look alike and are around the same size.  One of them was really friendly and just loved to be pet and eat any food you would drop for them.  One of the hotel workers informed me the cats name was SamLee.  I loved him -- David didnt.  :/

Breakfast buffet at Railay Village Resort.

David and SamLee :)

Me and SamLee :)

After breakfast we walked around the beach because the tide was so low - I figured it would be a good time to check out some tide pools.  Unfortunately we didn't see anything really cool but we go to explore some caves that are normally inaccessible when the tide was high.  

Railay West Beach at low tide. 

David climbing at Railay West Beach at low tide. 

Me with the rocks at low tide. 

Me at low tide.

Our activity planned for our first full day in Railay was to do the View Point hike before it got too hot out.  I had read about this hike on a few websites - it starts up a trail then breaks off about 25 minutes in - one path going to the View Point and one going to the Lagoon.  All of the sites mention the Lagoon is hard to get to - it is 'steep, rocky and dangerous'.  However - since no one mentioned anything about the View Point hike being challenging I assumed the more difficult portion of the hike would be after the break off point towards lagoon.  Following the map and walking on the path from East Railay to Phra Nang Beach I assumed their would be a small trail leading off into the trees tucked pass the caves.  I clearly assumed wrong - because we ended up at Phra Nang Beach with no sign of the View Point hike.  We asked a few locals where the hike was and they told us go to the hut and look up - that is the hike.  So we headed back looked up once we got to the hut and there it was...a steep muddy collection of rocks with ropes hanging down for support for hikers.  After some hesitation since it rained the night before and the mud looked mighty slippery - I started up the rocks.  About 15 steps up I freaked out - almost in tears.  Poor David had to help me back down placing each foot in a cubbyhole until I made it down to safety.  David was convinced we were not going to do the hike and we should head back to the beach, but then a couple from Germany older and wider than me started up the trail just zooming along.  I thought - if they could do it...I must be able to do it.  So back up I went - once I got high enough that I wouldn't chicken out again David followed.  The hike took about 30 minutes to get up there.  It was literally like rock climbing - you need to use your extended reach, the ropes provided, you need to be really bendy and need to wear nonslip hiking shoes (like Keens).  The view at the top was worth it - you could see both sides of Railay (East and West) and it was breathtaking.  I would recommend this hike -- however don't be fooled by the reviews.  It is difficult esp when muddy - we ended the hike with multiple bumps and bruises from hitting the rocks or slipping.  Bandaids after this hike were a must. 

Hut with the sign to the lagoon and view point hike. 

The 'hike' up to the View Point -- I think it is more like rock climbing up to the View Point. 

View from the top. 

View from the top. 

View of both sides (Railay West and East) from the the View Point hike. 

Muddy after the View Point hike. 

After the hike, we showered off the sweat and red mud and went to lunch at the Flame Tree Restaurant next to the hotel the first stop on the Railay West Walking Street.  This worked out at perfect timing because the first of the daily storms rolled in.  For lunch David had a coconut smoothie and we shared Massaman Curry Rotee and Chicken Fried Rice. 

Coconut smoothie.

Curry and Rotee.

Chicken Fried Rice. 

Next came my adventure with the Thai Massage.  Our hotel was having a special deal where all massage packages were 50% off.  Although the hotel spa was much more expense than the standard mini mart or street massages I decide to give it a try.  The massage was about 800baht which equates to about 25 US dollars for an hour and a half.  When I went into the room they gave me traditional Thai garments to wear and started the massage - at first it didn't seem much different then she started cracking different parts of my body, started to contort my body into unique stretching poses and to my surprise she then started walking on me!  Clearly I had not done enough research on what a Thai Massage was...  Although it was different it was actually really relaxing and I felt good afterwards.  When it was over, the rain had cleared up and we decided to go to Phra Nang Beach for some swimming and the sunset.  

David waiting out the rain by watching tv and enjoying the room's spa tub. 

Phra Nang Beach 

Waiting for the sunset. 

Swimming during the sunset.

Sunset at Phra Nang Beach. 

Sunset at Phra Nang Beach. 

Since to get to the Phra Nang Beach you have to go through Railay East we decided to eat at Mom's kitchen again.  This time we had garlic bread, stir fry tofu w/ veggies and cashews, and spicy noodle chicken soup.  The food was again amazing - minus the spicy noodle chicken soup.  I don't like really like hot and sour soup and that was the base for the chicken soup.  For dessert we got our first rotee which is known as a Thai pancake.  Rotee is like a ball of dough that they stretch out thinly and then fry on an extremely hot pan with a little bit of oil.  Then they sprinkle sugar and honey or condense milk.  It is my fav!

Garlic bread at Mom's kitchen.

Tofu stir fry at Mom's kitchen. 

Mom's kitchen's spicy noodle chicken soup.

Making rotee :)

Honey Rotee. 

After another morning at the breakfast buffet we headed over to the Phra Nang Beach.  In this area their is a family of monkeys who run around and take food from visitors and the trash can.  They are the cutest things ever!!!  However - be careful - one lady on the beach had fruit in her pool bag and had it zipped up - once she went into the water the monkeys went to the bag opened it and threw her camera, phone etc out of the bag and into the sand to get to the fruit!  Phra Nang Beach has amazingly soft sand (not many rocks like Railay West beach), some cool caves to explore and at low tide an island you can walk/swim out to.  Around 11am tour boats start dropping off visitors and longboat restaurants start to dock selling everything from coconuts to pad thai.  

Monkey!

Monkey Family!

Exploring the cliffs at Phra Nang Beach. 

Long boats at Phra Nang Beach. 

I swam out to the island. 

Swimming back.  

Jumping from the caves we found at Phra Nang Beach. 

Next came our first trip to Ao Nang town.  We got ready and bought our 1 way ticket to Ao Nang via longboat at the Railay West beach ticket stand.  Similar to our previous long boat ride - it was 100baht per person.  Unfortunately it was raining during this time and let me tell you being on a longboat while it was raining is NO fun!!!  It was cold, windy and wet.  The first thing we saw when we got off the boat was a massage place which was 50% off because it was between the hours of 10am - 2pm.  This massage place was different than the hotel spa because about 15-20 mats were lined up on a knee high platform.  No curtains, no privacy you just get in your bathing suit and get your massage.  Assuming that this massage place might offer a different take on the Thai massage - we went for it.  Theirs was the same bending, stretching and walking on me as offered at the last one - however - this lady did not care about my comfort.  This had to have been one of the most painful massages I have ever gotten.  I think I almost cried at some points.  After an hour of that, in the rain we walked over to get some rottee and find a lunch spot.  We grabbed a cashewnut rottee with sugar and condensed milk - delish!  And we walked up the hill (away from the beach) and found a local hole in the wall restaurant.  There were maybe 9 tables in the whole place which was built into a hill and the kitchen was open for everyone to see.  The food was so flavorful - we had cashew chicken stir fry and glass noodle pad thai.  Since it was still raining when we were done stuffing our faces - we ordered another rottee dessert.  :)  

B.F. Massage in Ao Nang.

Cashewnut Rotee in Ao Nang. 

Jamai Restaurant in Ao Nang.

Jamai Restaurant kitchen.

Glass noodle pad thai at Jamai Restaurant in Ao Nang. 

Cashew stir fry chicken at Jamai Restaurant. 

Rotee with honey at Jamai Restaurant. 

Ao Nang is a busy place with lots of stalls selling knock of Ray-bans, Chiang beer tanks, purses etc.  Taxi cabs, tut tuts and cars are whizzing through the streets and there are money exchange stalls every 3rd store.  The restaurants  primarily serve American or Italian food so finding the authentic Thai food restaurant was a gem.  It was nice to visit but I am very glad we did not decide to stay in that area.  It does not have a resort feel and although their are a lot of hotels around this area and the beach disappears at high tide.  

After walking around and meeting up with Christine and Billy in Ao Nang, we took the long boat back to Railay right before sunset.  

On the long boat back to Railay with our ponchos we bought in Ao Nang. 

Sunset at Railay West Beach. 

For dinner we ate at the Sea Sand Resort restaurant which is right next to our hotel.  I would not recommend this place.  We had garlic bread and chili pepper fried fish.  The fish was not spicy and filled with bones.  Unfortunately we didn't even eat half of the plate.  Oh well better luck next time. 

Garlic bread at the Sea Sand Restaurant. 

Chili pepper fried fish at the Sea Sand Restaurant.

On our last full day in Railay, we woke up to rain!  So we decided to go back into Ao Nang to exchange some money since the exchange rate was much better in town than in Railay.  We put on our ponchos, waited about 15 mins for the long boat to fill up and headed out to Ao Nang.  We were able to get close to 31baht to 1 US dollar compared to in Railay we were only able to get 28baht to 1 US dollar.  After exchanging our money we decided to get a cashewnut rotee like the day before and to go back to Jamai Restaurant for some authentic thai food.  

Cashewnut Rottee.

Jamai restaurant. 

Amazing pad thai at Jamai restaurant.  

Jamai restaurant's spicy curry. 

After lunch we headed back to Railay and met up with Christine and Billy to rent kayaks.  We were able to rent kayaks for 200baht an hr which is about 6.50 US dollars.  We kayaked over to Ton Sai beach which is just a limestone cliff away from Railay and then followed the cliffs out to sea.  After that spent our last day soaking up the sun by the pool and the ocean waiting for my favorite part of the day -- the sunset. 

Chirstine and I getting ready to kayak. 

Kayaking :)

Christine and Billy kayaking around Railay.

Railay West beach @ sunset. 

Railay West beach @ sunset.

David pushing the sun down. 

Shannon walking around looking for sea shells at sunset. 

For dinner we ate at the Railay Village Resort Restaurant and had an appetizer of stir fry cashews with onion and salt, chicken dumplings, and spicy chicken curry w/ rice. We then walked over to the Flame Tree bar which had laid out bamboo mats on the sand for people to sit at and listen to the live entertainment they had.  We grabbed a large Singha beer and soaked up our last night in Railay.  

Stir fried cashews with onion and salt at Railay Village restaurant. 

Chicken dumplings at Railay Village restaurant.

Spicy chicken curry at Railay Village restaurant.

Singha in the sand at Flame Tree's bar. 

Flame Tree bar - live entertainment. 

After breakfast the next morning we ran over to make our reservations for the boat from Railay to Phuket.  We purchased this from the long boat stand on the Railay West beach and were told to meet back around 3pm.  The cost was 800baht per person which is approximately 26 US dollars.  We spent the day at the pool and ate lunch at the Flame Tree restaurant at the end of the walking street -- there are two one at the front of the walking street and one at the back.  This restaurant offered a fresh 'choose your own' noodle bowl station - so David opted for this meal.  And I had drunken noodles - YUM!  Spicy and with tons of flavor.  We had a Thai Iced Tea smoothie and a Thai Iced Coffee smoothie to accompany our meal.  

Choices for the make your own noodle bowl at Flame Tree Restaurant.

Flame Tree's noodle bowl.

Drunken Noodles at Flame Tree Restaurant. 

Thai Iced Tea and Thai Coffee smoothies. 

Once the boat arrived -- on thai time -- about 45mins late.  We took our luggage across the sand to a long boat from the long boat we went out to sea and transferred onto a ferry boat which is run by Ao Nang Princess Ferry service.  The boat unloaded some people and boarded us on and off to the next port it went.  We all wore stickers which indicated our final destination.  Some people had Krabi stickers, some had Patong beach, others Kata beach etc.  The boat ride took about 1.5 hrs after the stop in Ao Nang to unload passengers.  The water was extremely calm and we passed multiple islands big and small.  

Ferry schedule and cost to get to Phuket. 

Leaving Railay to head to Phuket.

That is all for Railay.  I cant wait to visit again, as it offered so much peace, relaxation, culture and fun.  

Railay West Beach <3

Highlight of my trip:
- The sunsets!
- Mom's kitchen in Railay East.
- The View Point hike.
- Jamai Restaurant in Ao Nang.
- Rottee - Thai pancakes.

On my to do list next time:
- A snorkeling trip off of Railay.
- Rock climbing.