Railay: Why not?

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A word of advice: if you’re planning a trip to Railay or Tonsai in Krabi, Thailand, don’t listen to Bob Marley – or any reggae music for that matter – for at least a month before your trip.  After about two weeks in Railay, I’ve heard Redemption Song a total of, oh, maybe 25,312 times.  No joke.  Now I love Bob Marley as much as the next dirt-bag climber/surfer/pot-smoker/peace-loving hippie, but when you find yourself at the crux of the day’s first route and realize you’ve been mentally singing Redemption Song in your favorite bartender’s Thai accent the whole time, you start to wonder if maybe you’ve been in Railay a bit too long.

East Railay

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Bangkok Adrift

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It’s 7:45 am, I’ve already endured a stuffy, 30-minute ride into the city on a packed village bus, I haven’t had coffee yet, and all I want to do is put my pack in the baggage compartment below the bus. I’m in for a 3-hour ride to Ratchaburi and the last thing I want to do is hold my overstuffed pack on my lap, but the bus driver just looks at me and says, “No, no. Water” while pointing to baggage compartment and holding his other hand, palm down, near his knee. It’s too early for me to play the miming game, so I board the bus, pleased to find that I can stuff my bag in the back of the near-empty bus and relax under the air conditioning vents. Thirty minutes later I wake up and realize that all forward movement has stopped, along with the A/C. The flustered bus driver barks something incomprehensible to us, and I follow everyone else off the bus, shouldering my massive pack and smaller backpack. Soon enough, another bus comes for us, and again, I ask the new driver if I can put my bag under the bus. He shakes his head and says, “Water”. Too tired to ask anyone for clarification, I board the bus and immediately fall asleep. About an hour later, my boyfriend, Zach, nudges me awake.

“Jackie, look outside the window.”

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Chiang Mai Soooo Nice

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Our second stop in Thailand took us to Chiang Mai. After settling into our new residence, we went to find the balloon festival. We had seen hot air balloons on the bus ride into the city and had seen signs as to where it was located. When we got there only a few stragglers remained. Obviously no one wanted to be out in the middle of a field during the heat of the day.

Back at the hostel, we looked through the myriad of pamphlets and posters to find a trek. This was the defacto place to do a trek according to Lonely Planet. We found several that looked interesting, but the hostel people said we should do the one that they reccommended that was actually cheaper. Let’s do this!

It turned out to be a great decision. We started the day with a bus ride to a “butterfly farm”, which actually meant a 20 foot cube enclosure with plants and flowers for the 20 or so butterflies that lived there. That was a little underwhelming but the cool part was behind the butterfly enclosure: orchids! Rows and rows and rows of orchids. It turns out the butterfly farm actually grew orchids and raised butterflies to make broaches and other accessories. The light hitting the orchids was perfect.

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We continued on and drove higher and higher into the hills outside of Chiang Mai. We passed elephants on the road carrying happy tourists. We followed a river up to into the hills and passed several more elephant tour companies. We soon stopped for our second activity: bamboo rafting.

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Kohsan Road Delicacies

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During our stay in Bangkok we found that street food was mostly better and less expensive than the brick and mortar establishments on the other side of the street. Outside the Sawadsee Smile Guest House, one vendor made the best red curry dishes and had fresh coconuts. After trying several other places I kept wanting to go back to them. A cheerful smile and great food in a shady  lower traffic location made for a great dining experience. For around 30 Baht or 1 US you could get a red curry with chicken dish that was the perfect size: not to much food, but just enough to feel full. We tried a different place that had great ambient techno and great atmosphere, lighting, and decoration, but was 3 times the price and not better food! Along our explorations of other cuisines and street foods we found almond waffles, fried sweet potatoe balls, chicken on a stick, pad thai, and many other tasty things. Below is a video of the more exotic foods that was tried: Bombay Locusts!

Tuk-tuk?

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“Tuk-tuk? Hey lady, where you going?”

Valid question. The answer to which is, Everywhere if I can help it.

Every tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok seemed so eager to take me somewhere that I was almost sorry for not taking all of them up on their offers. I’m sure if I had, I’d be the world’s poorest expert on Bangkok’s Wats, tourist attractions, traffic and charming tuk-tuk culture. For those of you frustrated by my frequent use of the word sans explanation, a tuk-tuk is a miniature open-air taxi, essentially a motorized carriage without doors and the charm of a horse and top-hat clad driver. Tuk-tuks are the cheapest transportation in Thailand and many other countries, including India and Nepal, and provide the added bonus of being able to take in the sites, inhale diesel fumes, and occasionally get punched in the chest by small gypsy children, as happened to me in India.

Our first tuk-tuk ride!

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