Krabi, Ao Nang, and Railay - Beach Bummery

Hmmm...OK?

On the suggestion of some new friends in the Bangkok Ward, we set off from Bangkok to Krabi, pronounced like the picture suggests.  At least in our ever-snickering minds.  The fact that the town has such a "sculpture" tells you (almost) all you really need to understand about that town.  Here is another one:

Hardest picture to caption EVER!  Too much happening here.

Krabi Town itself is not much of a looker, but it is the gateway to one of the most beautiful parts of the world, the Andaman Sea, the west coast of Thailand.  This is the part I'd imagined when I dreamed up the whole scheme.  So after spending 1 1/2 days in Krabi (1 day too many), we were off to the sea on Thanksgiving.  Happy Turkey Day to us indeed!

No Turkey and stuffing, but we weren't too sad...

Melanie approves of the new town

Our quaint bungalow

Beasleys and Beach - I think we're going to like it here...

Best Sunset of the trip

The first day was spent at this fine beach, and the second was spent much the same, only at beaches around the cape from us.  This was Railay Beach, home to world-famous rock climbing, stunning scenery, and amazing beaches.

Day two... going alllllright.

The way to get around on the ocean is the craft, called a longtail boat seen above.  Like so many other inventions, this one is uniquely Thai.  It is a standard wide, shallow-bottomed boat, but it is the motor that is really clever.  It is an automobile engine that has been stripped down and instead of turning a crankshaft, turns the small propeller.  As far as I can tell, the throttle has been fixed to two speeds: on and idle.  The engine is mounted on a pivot and the driver can move it freely around the back of the boat, which means the craft can turn on a dime, which a fixed-motor boat can't do.  Fun to ride, and fun to examine as an invention.

Limestone cliffs/caves everywhere!

A little crowded, but still awesome!

A beach IN a cave?  That's new.

Beautiful beach, 60 baht pad Thai food made on a boat, and delicious pineapple shakes in hand.  Life is gooooooood

One of the little karsts that you could swim to to explore.  We would later kayak around it.

Can you spot the monkey? (Be kind...)

At one of end of the beach was something totally new to us: monkeys!  It was incredibly entertaining to watch the little suckers scamper around, play, wrestle, and beg for food.  

Don't mind me...really!

 We decided not to feed them; we saw several people get mugged by the crafty little suckers, including one lady who hilariously had her purse snatched.  Serves you right!

On Melanie's excellent suggestion, one day we rented a sea kayak and had a great, albeit sunburn-y time.

It was a fantastically fun, new way to explore the nooks and crannies of the coast.

A watery nook...or is it a cranny?

Seagoing Beasley's rowing amok!

Keep an eye on that opening!

It was great!  There were rocks to climb on and jump off, the cliffs and water were beautiful, and we even had a little adventure.  Being new to sea kayaking, we weren't used to paddling with the swells.  Several places had little sea caves that were really fun to explore, but we had a little trouble getting in and out.  The little arch shown above would open when the tide was down, and almost close all the way when the tide was up.  It was too irresistible to pass up, but we weren't as fast as we thought, and ended up squealing and basically laying down in the kayak until the water subsided.  Close call, a lot of fun and a little scary.

On our first "Last night" there we were enjoying some delicious nachos (!), tacos, and chimichangas at a Farang (foreigner in Thai) place called Crazy Gringos, when we heard a marching band.  It was the full moon, which meant (apparently) time for a festival!  It was a really neat surprise, we'd seen posters but didn't realize it was a big deal.  It was!

Am I eating a taco in Thailand?

Someone say tacos?

 The parade was to present to floats of the businesses around Ao Nang.  The point of the festival is to put your worries, fears, and sicknesses on your float (flower arrangement) and release onto the seas, never to return.  Good theory

Parade of the floats, with dressed-up presenter

Our floats, the presenter, and the real float.  Fun!

Can this float hold ALL our stress and worries?  Considering the rest of the post... yes.

Waiting for the tide to come in...and waiting...and waiting....

Fiery Pain.  Yay!

 We were sitting with our floats, waiting for a weird dance/ceremony/hippie DJ concert to end so we could release our floats onto the ocean, and sitting, with a bunch of other people on some stairs behind the stage.  All of the sudden, for some reason, without warning they set off the fountain fireworks behind the stage, causing a sudden screech and fleeing of the people sitting directly beneath them.  Yay Thai planning!

In addition to the floats, at some point sky lanterns got added to the mix, with hilarious results.  With no instructions, alcohol, floating fire, and light groundwinds mixing, what could go wrong? 

How many blonds does it take to operate a sky lantern?  More than three!  They only succeeded after 30 minutes with help from locals and some luck.

 We did eventually release our floats, and like so many others, our proceeded to flounder and then wash to shore.  This led to some jokes and a lot of wondering how this tradition survived more than one year, but overall it was a great time. 

So long, worries.  For now...

Fireworks from a barge, really coool!

 The combination of the festival, the sky lanterns, and eventually, fireworks made a special night that was magical.  It was a really neat thing to be a part of, and a great way to top off a week of fantastically relaxing beach bummery.  But there is plenty more of that to come, including some SCUBA in our future.  Stay with us!