Railay, Thailand

I arrived at the Thai border at 9am on the train, and after a rather cursory flit through both borders, and a slightly tense wait for our train to come back from wherever it disappeared to for half an hour, we were on the way to Hat Rin and the end of this leg of the mission. It was cool and slightly surreal watching the bamboo huts and jungle go by.

On arrival in Hat Rin, I teamed up with a group of icelandic peeps and after a rather hectic half hour of figuring out what on earth was going on and being hassled by numerous vehcle drivers, we got in a songthaw (kind of pickup with a roof and benches in the back) to the bus station. Without too much difficulty we located a bus to Krabi for only 167B (50B to the pound).

After a long and tiring bus ride, I arrived into Krabi bus station in the rain, but quickly forgot it when I fell into Ben's arms! We headed off swiftly in a taxi to the pier in Krabi, where we met Orlando and Greg and hopped on a longtail boat round the coast to Railay, it took about an hour and was a bit gruelling in the pouring rain but fun. On arrival at Railay we waded ashore and corssed the peninsula with our bags to get on another boat round to Ao Tonsai- a smaller and slightly cheaper resort with a more laid back vibe and lots of climbers.

The first night we just had some lovely dinner and found a cool bar, Viking, to hang out in and have some beers. The next day we went on a little exploration to Railay West (the nicest side of the peninsular) to get some cash out and have a look round. We came back to Tonsai for some lunch (duck curry my fave) and then hung out in hammocks for the afternoon. We had a nice dinner out and chilled in Viking bar for a bit- played pool and connect 4 with Nam and Kim the outstandingly decent and chilled out barmen while a tropical storm raged and rain poured. Came home to a rather rude awakening, our bungalow and 3 others had been broken into during the storm. All our stuff had been ransacked but we had only lost my camera and a huge number of things were left which was really surprsing. Only time I've ever left it in a room- that's a lesson I guess! Everything important is always kept on our person so really wasn't that bad but understandably shaken on my second night in the country!

We moved bungalows and considered movibng resorts for a while but everyone was so helpful and friendly and even long time western residents were shocked and said we had just been fiercely unlucky as it almost never happens. We decided that hopefully lightning never strikes twice and so stayed put and actually ended up having a really lovely week in Tonsai. We went sea kayaking round the coast and found some lovely private beaches, did some great snorkelling in the crystal waters, clambered up the hillside and watched some fantastic climbing, had lots of a hammock time and iced tea, and my pool and connect 4 got alot better too! We also made some great friends, and will be looking to go back there again, so all's well that ends well. The food was delicious and despite a few dodgy stomachs we ate really well and pretty healthily. We were sad to leave, but leave we did in a longtail boat to Ao Nang, and then on a bus from Krabi to Surat Thani--- from east coast to west coast and on to the next adventure!!