from the airport we took a bus to the ocean and then a boat to railay (the only way to access the beaches of railay despite the area not actually being an island). the peninsula is breathtaking... steep cliffs jutting straight out of the ocean hundreds of feet high, most covered in trees and vines, surrounded by crystal clear blue-green water. i couldn't get enough of our surroundings. after an exhausting trek from the west to east side and back we finally settled on a place to stay; a cute little bungalow with an amazing pool, beach-front restaurant, and an impressive breakfast included :) we tried to rest on the beach a little, take in the sun, allow ourselves to get suckered into buying sundresses from old and wrinkled local women who drive hard bargains (one such women got me with a brown strapless dress I just couldn't say no to)... but that didn't last long. I've found the three of us aren't very good at sitting still, so after a short break we headed down the beach (not exciting enough), and decided to swim around the point to see what's on the other side (adequately adventuresome :)
the buoyancy of salt water never ceases to amaze me. swimming takes such little effort, and if you get the least bit tired or lazy you can, quite literally, lay back, put your hands behind your head, and rest. no effort to stay afloat, it is incredible!! we arrived on the far end of a long beach, where three guys happened to be hanging out in the water. they yelled "mermaids" as we came up on the beach, which gave us the okay to speak to them in English. turns out one of them, Jake, is from Iowa of all places, and has been traveling solo for a while. the other two were from Denmark and brothers. The three of them fit the mold of the isolated beach quite well... it seemed to be a hippie commune we had stumbled (swam?) upon and the more we explored, the more our first impression was reinforced. Bob Marley posters and music everywhere, and marijuana leaves decorated many of the buildings and souvenirs. We even found a sign offering "peace cake" which looked to be a cake version of weed brownies (we did not let kor try it, despite his interest). Everyone we spoke to was sporting tie-dye and dreads - and many were blatantly high - which made our side of the "rock" seem a bit stuffy (quite frankly, boring), compared to the laid-back atmosphere of the tongsai beach we had discovered.
Our new friends told us about a climbing adventure we should join them on the next day, and after getting more details about the trip we set off to find Wee Climbing so we could sign up. After scouring the buildings along the beach and seeing mostly bars, we ran into Emil again (one of the Danish boys) and he directed us down a long dirt road into the jungle where he said we would find the climbing place (he warned us that it would be "uncomfortable" to walk to road barefoot, which it was, particularly for Kor, who dragged behind us by about 30 feet the whole walk... he has trouble keeping up). We finally found the Wee Climbing sign and eagerly committed to what sounded like - and turned out to be - the perfect day. Our plan for our stay in Railay was to do some rock climbing, cliff jumping and kayaking... with the trip, we got to do all three! score!! and the tour said lunch was included :) can't pass up an offer that good. We swam back to our side of the island talking of LOST and how we had just visited "the others" (for all you LOST fans out there). We had been invited by some of the tongsai residents (they are more residents on that side of the beach than visitors), to return for a party that night, so we had dinner, then set out for hippie land again. Unfortunately, in the dark this proved more difficult than we expected...
Swimming there is fine in the daylight, but at night, with the tide out and no way to see, we decided to take the other route we had heard about. the only problem was that we couldn't find a way over the huge mountain that separated our beach and theirs. headlamps on (dad, you have no idea how useful my headlamp had been! thanks for getting it for me :) we searched every possibility, but all we found was steep rocky cliffs and some creepy caves that we opted against entering. feeling defeated, we started to walk back to our bungalow, until we spotted a light moving rapidly in our direction - two girls, somewhat tipsy, heading to the "other side". they didn't slow their pace but offered a friendly invitation for us to follow them because they've done the trek "loads of times" - what luck! first they tried the ocean route (you can walk over there at low tide), it was a no go. but they told us not to worry and led us straight to a discrete path we had overlooked. The trail went directly up these huge boulders, with no end or flattening out in sight - riiight... we followed obediently and in silence as they picked their way along, talking in an ambiguous accent the entire time about some hula girl who wears a nude swimsuit and gyrates her hips for an hour and if they could do that they would be cool too (no joke, this is basically word for word what their conversation was). despite how strange the whole sequence of events was, the 10 minute or so hike up and over the mountain went quickly and we soon found ourselves standing on the tongsai beach, a little shell-shocked, and thanking the girls as they hurried off to whatever party they were seeking. Lo and I escaped the hike unscathed as usual, Kor looked like an overworked racehorse... as usual (see references in later blogs, or ask me about when we all hiked half dome - it is when we came up with the "overworked racehorse" description).
We put our concerns about getting back to Railay aside and went in search of the party. a flame juggler distracted us long enough to enjoy a beer outside the Viking Bar, while we watched his performance and laughed about how we were pretty sure he was a drunk amateur who was going to set himself on fire - we weren't being rude, it's just that when he was practicing with the unlit strings he kept hitting his very flammable-looking pants. The party wasn't difficult to find, it was lit up in the middle of the jungle, a live band was playing surprisingly decent music, and there were drunk and high people everywhere enjoying the show. we decided it best to stay as sober as possible considering the trek back to our beach that we knew lay ahead, so we sat down and watched an extraordinarily high middle-aged man do the funniest stuff on stage in front of the band. he was so absurd that even the high/drunk people who were a part of this culture were rolling on the floor laughing and taking pictures as he tried to dance to the music, kick himself in the face, and bounce around on a tight-rope tied between two trees (used for improving balance). we were actually convinced he was going to catapult himself through the crowd as he bounced back and fourth, announcing with a heavy slur about a trip tomorrow that everyone should go on (at this point we were a little concerned that he was actually our guide for the rock climbing adventure, but fortunately we were mistaken). I have video of the whole thing, I'm not sure you can hear the music over my laughter, but you can definitely see crazy-high-man and it is hilarious!!
After all of that excitement we decided to call it a night. The hike back wasn't terrible, though we heard some creepy loud noises in the forest and I thought we were going to be eaten by a jungle beast. There was also a huge spider... never mind, I'm freaking my mom out too much. Anyway, point is we made it back safe and sound and somewhat enlightened to the different world that was hiding just beyond the small mountain West of Railay.
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