Everyone told us Krabi was a necessary stop to recuperate after Koh Phi Phi and that was exactly what I planned on doing. After settling in and giving the stink eye to some loud Dutch girls, I passed out for a nap. When I woke up I showered and found Abbey and Emily. They were in the room next to us. Abbey and I did laundry and then went downstairs for a free BBQ. The plan was to get our free skewers there, head to the night market, and then come back to the hostel bar. It sounded simple enough, but got a little messed up. The free food took forever. By the time we left there Abbey and Emily were feeling pretty under the weather. I think they just needed a good night’s sleep and a night off drinking. The four of us walked to the night market to grab some street food. The selection of stands was disappointingly limited and everyone just kinda picked at their food. We walked back to the hostel and Andrea and I went down to the bar while the Brits went to bed. We chatted with one of our other roommates and figured out that we weren’t actually at the night market. It made sense because we all though it was pretty small. Oh well. Andrea went up and I stayed out just a little longer. I was tired but I knew if I went to bed that would mean I was that much closer to leaving the next day.
We woke up, packed, and showered. We moved our things downstairs into a locker and checked out of our last hostel. We walked down to the pier where we were the night before and chartered a long tail boat to take us to Railay Beach. Our boat looked like it was held together by duct tape but it got us there. We had to stop on the way for gas and I’m pretty sure we were moments away from paddling. Railay is made up of four beaches and we decided we wanted to be at Tham Phra Nang. Our boat docked at East Railay and we were told to follow the path to the beach we wanted to be at. I didn’t think it was possible but Railay was ever more gorgeous than Koh Phi Phi. Everywhere we looked were limestone cliffs ending in the turquoise water. The beaches were short during high tide but the sand was so fine and unpolluted. The walk to our beach was along this boardwalk that was surrounded by caves and mangrove trees. It didn’t seem real. It looked like a movie set. Even though there were signs to beware of monkey and not to feed them, we didn’t see any. The path finally opened up to the beach and we were both in awe of it. We spent some time watching the rock climbers and attempted to do a little bouldering of our own. Andrea was much better than I was. The path had also led us to an area that Andrea had read about called Princess Cave. This was a cave with 2 entrances that was filled with penises. There was a sign describing the phenomenon. Legend had it that an Indian princess took shelter from a storm in the cave. To honor her and ask for fertility and good fortune, locals leave penises for her. The penises were big, small, wood, stone, metal, and all colors. There were thousands of them.
After we had our fill of penises and rock climbing we walked along the beach to get out of the shadow of the cliffs and get into the sun. I got one last Thai massage. We decided we wanted cocktails and tried to find them on the beach. Long tail boats were pulled up onto the beach selling drinks and snacks like food truck would. Unfortunately, they did not have alcohol. I settled for one final coconut water while Andrea went for a swim. Something really weird happened to a swimmer in front of Andrea and he began screaming. Then another swimmer. Andrea yelled for the lifeguards who came running out with their cigarettes still in their mouths. Another came paddling out in a kayak and even the woman who did my massage came out to help. It was interesting to see every local come out to help. Overall the Thai people were very accommodating and helpful, especially when it came to others’ health. We never figured out what was wrong with the guys who got pulled out of the water but the Thais were putting them in some acrobatic positions as treatment. While we were walking to find a cocktail we came across some coral that we thought was shaped like a penis so we picked it up. Before we left the beach we put it in Princess Cave. I think it was a good legacy to leave and hopefully will give us good fortune in the future. After we left the beach we had a pseudo-romantic lunch together and then rode a long tail boat back to Krabitown. On the way back we formulated a plan to shower at the hostel without paying the extra fee to do so. We walked into the hostel like we owned the place and went straight up to the showers. Take that Thailand. After we got clean we hung out downstairs packing up our bags and getting ready for the looooong journey home.