thai'ming thunder

I am interrupting the chronological sequencing of my blog. This pains me a bit as I need to catch you up on my Nick happenings. Thanks to Nick I now have a better connection to my blog, hoping I can be more timely. But, I started this post and I just couldn't leave a drafted post. So here you have it. This was my weekend almost 2 weekends ago with a fellow teacher, Mari. I believe she is one of my first traveling partners in a long time.

Mari offered me chance to take a free ride to Krabi, after I had mentioned interest in heading west for the weekend. I jumped on that. I headed to the west coast, giving the Krabi another shot. By 6:10am I was on the road with Mari, and some of her Thai acquaintances. After a smooth ride in a minibus we arrived with in a couple hours in the Ao Nang beach area. I really had no plans for the day, Mari and I decided we'd take a boat to the Ao Railay area. While she had visited numerous times in prior weeks, it was my first time in that area. The bus driver was kind enough to drop us at the pier. We grabbed our bags and headed down a long docking area towards the shore. We didn't get far. As Thai hospitality and smiles would have it, we were quickly given a motorbike side-car ride down the end of the pier. It was all sort of cute. We boarded with two of the Thai women acquaintances, as they wanted to see to it that we made it to the end of the Pier with good direction.

Longtails

Departing a Krabi pier.

Without much wait, we each paid 60 baht for our longtail to the beach, the best way to get to this particular cove on Krabi mainland.  The ride was nice, the sky was cloudy with a bit of sun and the water was fair enough to not throw water at us as we struck each oncoming wave.  We hit the beach, East Ao Railay.

 East Railay Beach, low tide.

 If I was going to pick a forest for a fairy tale..

 I'd chose a forest of these tress.

 My first JD siting in Thailand.

 My second favorite barefoot moment in Thailand.

 Loving these trees.

Finding our way around the cave bends, uncertain of what we wanted to do. The weather was cloudy with spits of rain.
"Hmm, I wonder where that trail goes"
"I think it might be a lookout point."

The up hike.

My Twin would love this!

 Am I looking up or down?

We stopped for a word scramble and I may or may not have swapped the arrows out.

We didn't find the viewpoint so we stopped here to see where we were. It was alright.

Hmm, just some rock chunks, tress and water.

I can see a JD from here.

Can you see the hidden creature?
If not, maybe you can sense all the eyes on you.

Now that's a set of legs you don't see everyday.

Art?
Lets go with 4.5-5" in diameter for the arachnid, leg to leg.

Shrek could have made some serious cotton candy with this web. Officially the largest web I have ever seen. 

THUNDER)))) Looking down into the trail as I hear the rain hitting the canopy. 

One steep up and down climb. The pictures are difficult in defining the climb.

Something about this tree that I just love. The bark felt like stone. More rain and thunder.

Look at this rock!
Natural hand and foot grips, awesome.
 I swear it resembles amusement park design in Disney World.

This is a vine, how cool.  Made me want to Indiana Jones the jungle.

 Little guy almost made it across the leaf. All tuckered out. Motivation for anyone to continue a climbing hike.

 A bit slippery with the rain. Wet clay was no match for my shoes. Everything was slippery, slimy, and gooey. I dig the Earthy ropes. Went as far as I could with the rain, almost to the lagoon. I ended the at the bottom of the climbing trail feeling good but red clay all over my legs, shorts, hands, and backpack. Several Thai's were asking what I was did.

 Caves. The fabric represents the life in all of nature.

 Cave scape

Fertility cave

 Fertility cave. This isn't a joke. It's serious, many long for the gift of a child.

  The second cave on W Railay Beach

I ran into my land lady and her husband at the West Railay beach, of all places. We talked some. She told me that she had a home nearby and that she was enjoying the weekend there with her family. Her husband came by and offered us a bag of these chips. I am not sure what they are called but they had the texture of a cheeto with a mild salty, shrimp taste.

 Looking up.

 Two climbers. Both with their own challenges. I have to say they both made it look so easy. One of the best parts of watching them was the fact that it was rainy. Given the location we all kept dry.

 In the afternoon we set back for E Railay beach so we could find out way to Tong Sai beach.

 Along the way we met some friends, hanging out near a resort area.

 The tail end of our walk.

 Our return to East Railay.

Mari insisted that I try some Thai roti. She chose banana. I chose peanut butter. I combined the two, it was like a celebration of flavor in my mouth. Cost, 50 & 60 baht each.

Crossing the cave from East Railay to Tong Sai Beach. I was a milder hike with some climbing and creative maneuvering. I would say it took 12 minutes, beach to beach.

 

Our bungalow on the right, at Mambo Bungalows.  

Included: 2 beds with mosquito nets, toilet, sink, cold shower, electricity from 6pm-6am.

The neighboring shack, I found the tree growing out of the roof unique.

I'm hungry, time for some dinner.

 som tom - green papaya salad

Dinner entertainment, monkey shot. She has a slingshot in her hand, the band constructed from maybe100 rubber bands.

Sunset on Tong Sai Beach. I spent my evening tight roping in sprinkling rain, listening to music, chilling with Mari on a patio. In the later evening a little Thai boy and girl found us. They were so cute. I hung out with the little boy, he was pretty cute and liked tight roping. He was shy at first but then started talking to me about the squid boat he could see in the distance. He only spoke Thai so I was unable to understand what he was saying. I never did see his parents.

The Sunday morning beach view

Watching some Thai men unloading bamboo from the longtail.

The hike back to East Railay to catch a longtail to Ao Nang Beach.

East Ao Railay in the morning. 



We hopped on a longtail. Within 30 seconds of stepping out of the boat was my experience in crazy rain. Crazy rain. We ran quick to a small landing where some Thai longtail boat drivers where. The rain was so strong it was coming in the sides and the wind picked up. It was rather cold, but made for a good experience. The men knew some English so I we did some small talking.

I snuck out for a rain shot, when it slowed some.

The rain never stopped.

But hunger called, so we set out for some food. We went for some street Thai. I chose cashew chicken, 50 baht.

Mari chose green curry.

A good dish in some cool, wet weather. We ate our lunch amidst the rain and then did some window shopping in the Ao Nang area. It appeared the rain wasn't going anywhere so we decided we'd call it a weekend and make it back to Surat at a decent time.

This is the view on the songtow ride back from Ao Nang Beach. The air was cool, the fog was thick in the upper limits, and the trees were as green as they will ever be. Beautiful.

See ya soon, hopefully with some Nick happenings. This week I am not in school but I have office hours to fill before I start my two weeks of holiday. I am getting anxious for some adventure. But just to let you know, the posts may not be consistent as I don't think we will have consistent wifi.