Thailand Annotated Stops 6 & 7: Railay and Koh NGai...

We took a boat to get to Railay, because that's the only way to get there. The first thing I notice about the place was that it was gorgeous:
These are views from the front of the resort where we stayed.
The second thing I notice about Railay is that it's full of tourists. We seriously went from seeing almost no westerners to seeing almost only westerners. Not only that, but it was a different type of tourist. People who are seeing sights, struggling to get around in a city or town, trying to communicate and find food and interested in having a somewhat genuine Thai experience, area different (and more interesting breed) than people who flock to resorts and go nowhere else. Not that I am trying to be critical (though I feel a little critical of them), because it's vacation and one should spend that time however they decide.
But, it's fair to say it's a difference. Especially when you go to one of the more famous resorts there. It's easy to see why, the place is gorgeous, but the people, well. They kind of sucked. Not that we got to know anyone very well, but you get where I'm coming from right? (A place of snobish delight, most likely).
We stayed in a duplex bungelow which meant we shared a wall with another couple. The first night we were there, they had Celine Dion's (I don't care if I spelled it right, fuck her) 'I'm Your Lady' turned up really loud and on repeat. Now take a minute and picture the people you think are doing this (don't picture what it is you think they're doing though, that's not good for anyone). You got an image?
I picture an overweight middle-aged man. Probably bald and a little shy. Doesn't know exactly how to woo his wife on what's supposed to be a romantic getaway, so he brought along this CD and hey, give the man props, he's trying. His wife is just so pleased to get the attention (they both work a lot trying to make ends meet and they haven't had a vacation in so long) that she doesn't mind the mindnumbing effects of a repetative song being put on repeat for 4 hours. Ugh.
It was with this picture in mind that I put up with it. Dinah went over to the cottage and saw the windows were dark. She thought maybe they were gone.
Anyhoo. Next day I'm getting out of the sun, because I'm an extremely pale person and I don't want to wither in the sun, and who's just ahead of me? A dude (no more than 25) with a tatoo that, while it appears to be in English, I can't figure out what it means. Oh, did I mention the tatoo is across the back of his shoulders? It was. This dude was screaming for a skateboard, some weed and a Sublime Album. But, he heads into the bungalow next to us. And I'm dumbfounded. Just dumbfounded. I mean, I saw this guy and his wife on the beach. They were moving around. They seemed to be enjoying life. They didn't seem functionally slow or anything. Was he? And I decide the middle-aged guy must've checked out early this morning and these two came or shifted rooms or something. Of course when the Celine came one again that night, I knew. Lame comes in all packages. It was a life-lesson moment. The more you know.

Here I am trying to not be interesting so Dinah won't take pictures of me. Not a great strategy as it turns out.

And here's Dinah after the sun set.

Speaking of sunsets. Here's how it looked...

Now. I enjoyed my time at Railay. It was relaxing, but in a way it felt like college. There were so many people everywhere and a lot of parties and bars and drinking. (I mean it's not like real college. It's like I remember college, always neglecting to remember I did a shit-ton of work there too.)

One of the bars (who had a really schizophrenic soundtrack going on) had mats on the beach with small lanternas so that you can sit outside on the beach and watch the sunset and the stars and enjoy a drink. It was here that I rediscovered my love of Gin and Tonic. If for no other reason, the trip to Thailand was a success because of this.

Here's a picture of me from the second day with my long lost friend G&T and Dinah's Mai Thai (which tasts every much the same in and out of Thailand, despite what I thought.

Can you see my face? So red. So happy. So not yet drunk.

(Note to my college friends, this picture was staged that way on purpose.)

After a couple days here, we moved on to another resort that was on an island a ways away. We had to take a boat out from where we were and get driven from one port to another (a couple hours) and then get another boat onto an island. This resort was the exact opposite of the one we just left. The first was built up and touristy. This place (Coco Cottage) was small and comfortable.
I'm pretty sure this is a picture of new people being boated onto the beach...

This was our view from the front porch. We stayed in a little hut that had a porch and a couple deck chairs. The beach was just over a small stream, but it was up away from the water. You had to take steps down to get into the water. And the sand under the water was very rocky and Dinah and I both got some cuts before we started wearing our sandles in there. For a lot of people that would've been a turn-off, but for me, it was fine. I'd gotten a lot of sun at the last place and I had to stay out of the sun for a while. So most of the time there I sat under the grass thatched umbrellas and read. It is the most boring time to describe, but it really was perfect. And it did wonders for me.

Those toes in the foreground are Dinah's. She's lying in the chair on the deck.









This hut is the massage hut, that I avoided like the plague after my last Thai massage adventure. The women here looked smaller and nicer, but my ego wasn't going to survive another beating at the hands of someone one half my weight.

Wondering how I glam it up on the beach? Well nothing is more in right now in my world than a Captain America T-shirt and a Cardinals hat.

Those are the huts we stayed in. I don't mean huts in a bad, dirty or low-rent sort of way. These were awesome and I loved staying here as much as anywhere. I mean, here's the view through our windows:

And just outside...





Unfortunately, there was trouble on this island. The last day we were there, swimming in the ocean, Dinah felt a sting on her shoulder. We weren't far out, but immediately my mind is thinking shark (cause I'm a cool-headed customer, not to mention very knowledgable of marine life) and panicing a bit. Dinah turns and sees a jellyfish. The only picture that came to my mind was that one of a 6 foot jelly fish and we're quickly hightailing it out of the water. Of course, it turns out to be a bunch of little buggers (maybe 2 inches in diameter). We went to the front desk and they gave us some vineager to put on it, which jogged my memory. Instead of panicing, and looking for help, the best thing I could've been doing was peeing on my wife. Let's just all be glad that bridge was not crossed and that we didn't have to have the discussion.

Anyhoo. We took a picture of the bite:
It looked really painful, but it went away really quickly leaving her with only this picture as a rememberance of her meeting the marine life of the Indian Ocean. It did call our time to a close. We had dinner that night, got banana fritters brought to our room and were gone almost before I realized what was going on.

The next day we flew into Bangkok, went to a hotel room and knocked around there until it was time for our mega-flight back to Chicago (via Seoul). It was a quicker flight this time, but more painful because I knew it was coming.

When we got into Chicago it was cold. We'd just missed the worst part of the winter (knock on wood), but it was still only 10 degrees or so. We got in around 9 am and tried to stay up until 9 pm. I think I made it until 8, but it was touch and go. I was trying to watch football, but I can't remember a thing about what happened.

So. That was Thailand. Or a good portion of it. I hope you enjoyed the pictures...