After a short couple of days in Bangkok (photos to be shown in a later post) we took a sleeper bus down to Krabi, on the Andaman (West) Coast, of South Thailand. From there we took a short longtail boat ride along the coast to Railay Bay. It was a tiny little tourist town, famous for its magnificent limestone cliffs, riddled with caves and rock climbing routes.
Our boat docked in the middle of a shallow bay, surrounded by tall cliffs and mangroves.
A little pollinator doing his duty.
Our advertisement for 'Keen Toe Protection'!
An island just off the shore.
Princess Cave, named after a fabled princess whose spirit is embodied by the cave. The local fisherman come here to give offerings of carved phalluses, to please the princess so that she will grant them a bountiful harvest.
We climbed a crazily steep and muddy trail into the dense jungle nestled among the limestone cliffs.
The lush tropical vegetation was spectacular to behold. Each frond of these palm trees was over 5m in length.
The viewpoint at the top of the trail, looking out over Railay.
In the trees above us was a troop of Spectacled Langurs.
Their eyes were encircled with large white rings, giving them a startled expression.
We descended down another steep and treacherous path.
The trail led down towards a lagoon that we could see at the end of the narrow rocky corridor. At 3 points the trail dropped off into 3-4m cliffs. We had to cautiously lower ourselves down the muddy rocks, using natural handholds and the ropes provided.
Our reward was this beautiful, secluded lagoon, all to ourselves.
We made the climb back out through the beautiful jungle, without incident.
We spent a few more wonderful days in Railay, relaxing in our hammock and wandering the beaches.
A lovely beach adornment.
Sea cucumber!
A Thai tide pool :)
An assortment of tiny sea creatures.
Kingfishers!
A mango tree.
We decided to go on a '4-islands' tour, snorkelling expedition to check out the local marine life.
First stop was Poda Island.
A colony of red ants.
The aptly named 'Chicken Island'.
The third stop, Tup Island.
We stopped here for lunch, followed by more snorkelling.
At all 3 islands there was beautiful snorkelling, with many colourful fish, large clams and other invertebrates, but no healthy coral to be seen.
After the frozen wilderness of Nepal, these tropical beaches were a welcome change of pace. We enjoyed our time at Railay, but were soon ready to move on.
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