January 11, 2007 Phi-Phi – Railay, Thailand

January 11, 2007
Phi-Phi – Railay, Thailand

I woke up this morning around 8:00 and read in bed for a while. Just as I finished my book Paul woke up and we headed out for our free breakfast. After a quick meal I returned to the room and packed up my things.

We got out of our room a few minutes before checkout (11:00) and I headed to use the internet for a while. As soon as I finished using the computer I made my way to meet up with Lisa, Paul, and Matt at the beach.

Though the beach was quite crowded I found them fairly easily. I had forgotten to bring a towel so I decided to just lie in the sand. Eventually, I felt the need to go for a swim. I was surprised to find that the ocean was incredibly shallow. I walked out more than 100 meters and the water was barely above my waist. Still, it was fun to be in the water.

We stayed at the beach until about 14:00 (don’t worry I wore lots of sunscreen). From there we found a nice café and had lunch. When we were done eating we made a stop at several bookstores so I could pick up some literature. I traded in “The Curious Story of the Dog in the Night-Time” and picked up two new books.

We then returned to our hostel to pick up our baggage. At about 15:15 we headed down to the docks and got on a ferry to Railay. The first hour of the journey we were on a large ferry and I spent the entire time reading one of my new books, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” (Lisa’s recommendation).

Eventually we came to a beach and the ferry crew told us that all the passengers heading for Railay had to got on small wooden boats for the rest of the journey. The packed the boats incredibly full. Luckily it was only a 15-minute ride.

When we arrived at the beach we had no idea what to do. We had no accommodation and most places were totally full. First we tried the place Lisa stayed last time she was here (Ya-Ya Resort)but the cheapest room they had was for 2,000 baht! We wandered to a number of places before finding a place at the end of the beach for 400 baht per person (about $11). Thought he rooms were quite simple (mattresses on the floor and almost no light), it was nice to have a place to sleep.

Once again Paul and I shared a room. After unloading my luggage and taking a quick shower I jumped in our hammock and got back into my book. As I was reading it started to rain incredibly hard. When the rain finally let up Paul and I grabbed some dinner at the hotels restaurant.

Unfortunately, the food and the service were terrible. Just as we finished eating Lisa and Matt showed up. The four of us wandered around town for a while and stopped at a few bars. While I didn’t have anything to drink, the English boys tossed back a few beers.

At around 20:00 Paul and I returned to the hotel. After hanging out in the restaurant for a few minutes we retired to our room. I got cleaned up and read until I fell asleep.