Fantastic Railay

Hard to really decide what I love the most down on the islands. Spent the past couple of days on the various beaches on Railay. We are staying on Railay East - not a good beach - mangroves - but fantastic views and right up against huge limestone cliffs. A good place to watch climbers - they come here from all over the world and I see why. Would love to learn how to climb - maybe will start getting the basics down when I get home. In the meanwhile, my sis and I eat tasty snacks as we watch the action. :-)

Railay West has a great beach, with amazing views. Only problem is that loads of long boats come in to drop and pick up passengers - and they sound like loud lawn mowers - kinda spoils the whole wa in my opinion. They do however make for great photo opps.

The beach on the southern tip - name escapes me at the moment - is my fave on this peninsula. White beaches, huge cliffs, islands near and far dot the horizon. When I explored this morning, I was the only one on the beach - the hordes descended as the sun got higher. There are a couple of altars to an Indian goddess - to ask for a good catch, fishermen of all religions bring phallus - big and small; ornate and simple to leave as offerings. Makes quite an interesting shrine.

Getting to Railay is an adventure. We were on the fast speed boat from Ko Lanta, and then had to transfer to a long boat as we neared the beaches. Quite tricky and certainly not OSHA approved. Love it here. And to top it all off, the food is simply divine.