Thailand Part 1 of 3: Phra Nang/Railay

As we were making plans for our summer vacation this year, the kids expressed a desire to go see Asia in order to cross another continent off their list.  Tanja had been to Thailand years ago, but the rest of us had never been to that continent (and our cruise last year had dropped one of our ports we were looking forward to in the Asian part of Turkey/Türkiye so we missed our chance then).  Southeast Asia seemed like an affordable option (once you got there) with lots of interesting things to see, so Tanja did another amazing job coordinating and planning a great itinerary for us to explore a new part of the world.

Our first stop was Krabi, Thailand in the village of Ao Nang.  Tanja and the kids flew there from their trip to Norway while I met up with them there after flying unaccompanied across the Pacific.  The result of the trip is Tanja and the kids literally flew around the world this summer by circumnavigating the globe.  The biggest issue with our flights was my connection was rerouted so that instead of flying from Vancouver to Singapore to get to Thailand, I wound up flying from Vancouver to Hong Kong (which caused me a fair amount of anxiety), but I was very happy when I was reunited with my family at a fantastic restaurant across the street from our hotel in Krabi.  If there were 6 stars available for a review, this place called the "Family Restaurant" would earn 7 stars.  We ate there every lunch and dinner we had in Thailand and loved their fresh-made coconut milkshakes that were so refreshing in the hot humid summer weather.

At the beach in Ao Nang, there is a short trail known as the Monkey Trail.  It winds through the rainforest on a boardwalk with lots of stairs and lots of spider monkeys running around, climbing trees, and chattering at you.  Eventually, the trail drops back down to Pai Phlong Beach.  We saw plenty of monkeys on our walk.

Pai Phlong Beach was a hit.  Derek loved playing in the sand and jumping in the waves.

The scenery was beautiful and after our long flights, it felt great to stretch our legs and wade into the surf.

These towering cliffs are known as karst formations.  They are formed when the water penetrates the soluble stone (usually limestone in Thailand) and slowly erodes it away.  I thought they were impressive and imposing and seeing them was a strong indication that we were in a different world here.

From here, our pictures are out of order chronologically, but we were aiming for balance for each post.  In this area of Thailand, many tourists (and possibly locals) use so-called "longtail boats" as taxis to get around from point to point along the coast.  We stayed in a section of town where we would have to go around a peninsula with large cliffs to get to Phra Nang, another area we wanted to see, so the natural way was to take a trip in a longtail boat.  The boats are long hand-crafted wooden canoes with an automotive engine in back that has been rigged up to turn a propeller through a long pipe that sticks out the back (thereby giving the source of the name longtail).  The captain can steer the boat by angling the pipe and propeller.  Here are Karina and Lydia in front of our boat.

 

The trips on the longtail boat were fun.

 

I loved the otherworldly scenery of the karst cliffs against the green and turquoise color of the ocean as we were making our trips back and forth from Phra Nang.  The prow traditionally has sashes or flowers tied around it as an offering to the water spirits to ensure a safe journey, prosperous fishing, etc.  Now I think it is more used to make the ships look pretty.  You can also see the ship tilting as we made a turn - the kids also were very sensitive to load balancing and making sure that I didn't tip us over by getting in on the "wrong side" anytime we were in a watercraft this trip.

The view of the karst out the back of the boat.

When we got out of the longtail boat we had a walk through the jungle to get to Phra Nang beach.  Along the way, we found a monitor lizard!  We kept our distance, but estimate this one was about 5 feet long.  You can see it off Lydia's left shoulder.

Here it is in full picture.

Once we got to Phra Nang Beach, we saw another larger monitor lizard hanging around a cave housing many wooden phallic symbols and a shrine called Princess Cave.  Different versions of the myth are out there about the Princess's actual identity, but believers hold that her spirit is bound to that cave and ask for her blessings and returning with an offering of a phallus, incense, or something else if it is granted.

This lizard was about 7 feet long - Derek is a safe distance away (making the lizard look smaller than it really was).  The lizard had no fear of people and just wandered around stepping across people's beach towels and other things.  This was also a hot spot for rock climbing and there were several groups working on climbing up and down the cliff faces.

We rented some kayaks and paddled around along the beach and explored some of the formations carved into the cliffs all around us.  I paddled with Karina for the first part and Tanja paddled with Lydia and Derek.  About halfway through, we tried to switch, but Lydia and I kept tipping over every time we tried to get back out.  I still feel bad about that.

 

 

 

Exploring more inland another day, as we walked around, we went inside Diamond Cave, a large grotto with the usual cave formations of stalactites and stalagmites.  As we were going through, we also heard lots of high-pitched chirping.  We looked up and saw many bats clinging to the cave roof or fluttering around from one perch to another.  They are up above Derek in this picture.

 

More focused on the bats (the little dark spots)

 

Diamond Cave formations:

On our walk through the small town near Railay beach, we found more monkeys running around on city walls.

I was reminded of the Everglades in East Railay Bay Beach with all the mangroves.

We enjoyed this beach so much, we came back a second day to swim, play, and explore some more.

The karst island just off the coast is known as Ko Rang Nok. 

 

Tanja and Karina swam out to Ko Rang Nok on our second trip there.

 

 

They are in the distance on the beach waving back at us.

 

Karina (and Tanja) made it back just fine.

The karst formation behind me has a really cool cave called Bat Cave (despite the name, we saw neither bats nor Batman there) about halfway up that you can climb to and explore.  I definitely wanted to do it, so I made the small hike to get there and look around and then Tanja and Derek went to see it as well (the girls were more interested in staying in the water and swimming).

 

Inside Bat Cave, you can look out onto the jungle and the beach below you.

 

There are a fair number of cave formations to explore as well.

 

Getting there is a bit of a trick as you need to climb a few ladders made from bamboo, but they are sturdy and not terribly difficult.

 

Derek at the top overlooking the beach and surrounding jungle below.

 

Tanja and Derek played it safe and cautious on the steeper sections in the cave and went down by scooting on their butts.  Derek was proud of his dirty butt and made sure to show it off on the ladder.  It was probably smart for them to do it that way.  On the hike down from the cave there is a steep section of the trail where there is a rope to hold while ascending or descending.  When I was going down, I slipped and while holding the rope, my body spun around and slammed into a rock scratching up my back and hitting my elbow hard.  My elbow hurt for weeks afterward if I flexed it a certain way.

This is back toward Princess Cave.  I love the contrasting colors of the emerald water with the reds and browns of the cliff face and the cave overhanging everything as the stalactites hang down.

We found a smaller (about 4 feet) monitor lizard hanging out around Princess Cave that time.

On one of our return trips to the Ao Nang beach where we started, the longtail boat captain was in a hurry to get back over to Railay to bring back more passengers and earn more fares before the day was done.  Unfortunately, he ran a little too far aground so I offered to help push his boat back into deeper water.  Those boats are heavy and he was very appreciative, but I was glad to help.  We were very pleased with our adventures exploring this part of Thailand.