Railay Beach

Morning walk pictures

SMS asked for a lazy morning on Railay and that sounded pretty awesome to me!  I still woke up pretty early so I went on a walk to Railay West and marveled at how gorgeous the place was. I headed back to the room where SMS was still in bed but getting close to being ready for breakfast. We ate breakfast at the outdoor restaurant. We thought it was just toast and fruit but then a waiter offered to make us eggs. Yes please!  We each had a very tasty, fluffy omelet, which was an unexpected treat. Then it was time for the beach!

   

SMS and I headed over to the West side to relax on the beach and play in the water. It was super low tide and we walked out quite a ways and explored the rocky cliffs lining the little inlet (and stepped on some of the rocks lining the bottom-ouch!). It was beautiful and also so hot. In order to cool off a bit, we decided to go for a swim in our hotel's pool which we could access just by opening our balcony door. It was completely lovely and felt very luxurious.  I think we had the best room since it was at the opposite end of the pool from the main entrance. In addition, the last four rooms down the hall and no rooms directly opposite so it was a little more private. 

The pool was so refreshing since it was a lot cooler than the ocean. We lounged in floating chairs and swam about. By that point, we had had our relaxing morning and we decided to go charter a long tail boat to the deep water solo site. We grabbed a couple of roti ("Thai Pancakes"), which were completely delicious. They were basically the same as the pratha I enjoyed in Singapore. Over the course of the day, we had an egg, cashew nut, banana & peanut butter and a cheese/onion/tomato. The last one was my favorite although the savory sweetness of the cashew was also delicious. 

Climbing food, fresh off the grill and our longtail boat out!

We went back to the beach where we paid for the boat to take us out. While I'm sure we paid double the fair price (this seemed to be common for transportation in Thailand), it was still less expensive than the tour option would have been and we had more flexibility with the timing. 

SMS shows how it's done

When we initially got to the site, it was just the two of us. It was awesome!  I was a little bit of a chicken at first but I became braver over time and even climbed to the top of the horizontally featured route with about an 8 meter jump (I think)!  

It's a rough life- hydrate!

After a few hours, we returned back to the beach and hurried to the room to grab SMS' camera gear. I watched the sunset while he took lots of photos. It was a perfect end to our tropical day. I even had a coconut while watching the sun go down. Dinner was our second round of roti and an order of cashew nuts and sticky rice. It was a grazing sort of day, meal-wise. 

Everyone looks sexy at sunset!

We ended the day with a swim in the pool, which was beautifully lit at night. Bon nuit!