We spent a few days in Krabi, near Ao Nang. It had a nice, long beach, lots of good restaurants, and shopping, and some fun bars, but unfortunately, it absolutely poured rain for most of the time we were there.
We did get one nice day, and it completely made up for the others. We took a boat to Railay, about a 15 minute ride, and it was absolutely gorgeous there. The boats dropped us off on the west side of the island, but we were told to walk across the island to the other side, and then back across to a hidden beach on the southwest side, where there is a massive cave, and a lookout point.
muddy path to the lagoon
as close as I could get to the lagoon, you can just see the water mocking me for being a chicken
It was not very hidden, as most of the people on the island find their way over the the cave beach eventually, but it’s definitely worth a visit. It isn’t huge though, so if you come on a day where it is really busy, come check it out, swim in the cave for awhile and then when you’re ready, go back to the main beach where you get dropped off, it is just as beautiful, and way less busy.
The real story about our trip to Railay, is our struggle up to the viewpoint. I’d heard about it from a few people, and it’s mentioned in every description of Railay, so I figured it would be pretty easy to access, maybe up a set of stairs like the viewpoint in Phi Phi.
It wasn’t.
the start of the climb up to the viewpoint
view from the top
The viewpoint is just off the path to the cave beach, and it is a really intense climb. It is very steep, up a jagged rock face, with just a few areas of plateau where you can rest. There is a rope running up to the very top, wrapped around various tree trunks, but it is the same rope all the way up, and if anyone else is climbing (and it’s about 20 minutes to the top) and grabs the rope, it throws you off balance.
Ordinarily, it would be a bit treacherous, but likely doable for anybody in even semi-decent physical shape, but when we visited it had been raining for 4 days straight, so on top of being steep, it was also very slippery.
They actually rent mountain climbing equipment at little shops all over the island, which I obviously declined. Instead I wore flip flops and a backless Brandy Melville sundress, which was slightly annoying on the way up, but was actually a deathly nuisance on my way down, as it flared out whenever I moved so I couldn’t see where my feet were stepping.
I ended up finishing the climb down in my underwear, with my dress tucked up into my bra. You’re welcome fellow climbers.
The view from the viewpoint alone is worth the climb, but there is also a lagoon in the mountain crater at the top, although it is another, more dangerous climb to get there, it’s supposed to be gorgeous.
Unfortunately, the rain that had turned the viewpoint climb into a sloppy mess had turned the lagoon climb into a suicide mission. We passed group after group of people who had tried it, but ended up turning back.
Since I can never take anybody’s word for anything, we had to go too, and after slip sliding our way to the bottom of the first hill on hands and knees before we even reached the rocks to climb down, we realized that we weren’t going to make it.
By the time we got to the bottom I was barefoot, and so muddy from head to toe that when we reached the cave beach, I just threw myself in, clothes and all. You can see my muddy little rat feet here, the rest of me was even worse.
loveliness. 