I Left My Heart in Thailand Part II

From Bangkok we trained down to the southern tip of Thailand.  Another 8-hr train ride.  This time, the "sleeper cabins" were full, so we were on bench seats for the 8-hour red-eye.  We were the only white folks and no one spoke a lick of english.  I think all the other tourists must have been more patient and waited for the next day's sleeper train, but we didn't want to waste another day traveling.  There was no sleeping on this overnight journey.  

Although we couldn't communicate, Dominic made lots of friends.

We tried sleeping in several different positions.  Needless to say, it was a long night.

Dominic's bed

Eventually I ended up on the floor with Dominic

Everyone was sad to see us go.  Dominic waived good bye and everyone in the car waived back

Once we got off the train, we got on a bus for another few hours.  Then we had to take a boat.  It was quite the journey to get to Railay from Chiang Mai.

Boat ride to Railay

Green limestone cliffs jutted out of the bright blue ocean.

We found a hotel! (That had an indian restaurant.  Bonus!)

Our Bamboo Hut

No bed frame.  Just a mattress on the floor.  Thank goodness for the fan.

A toilet with a seat-Alright!  Notice the bucket in the bottom right corner-that was for flushing (You'll notice there is no water tank on the back of the toilet.  You had to fill the bucket full of water and throw it into the toilet). 

FINALLY at Railay beach!!

Railay Beach - the most beautiful beach I had ever seen

Gorgeous sunsets

Once in Railay our only agenda was to climb, snorkel, and play at the beach.  Here are some highlights of the week that we spent in bliss.

Amazing Climbing!

Back to business of playing in the dirt and eating rocks

This sequence was surprisingly difficult for what the climb was rated.

Same sequence

Dominic hijacking an abandoned boat on the beach

Waving bye-bye to indicate he was ready to go

Even when we weren't rock climbing we were getting a work out!

We saw monkeys frequently.  Dominic would point to them excitedly as they swung in the branches overhead and say "moo moo".  Right now, that's what all animals say. :)

The Boss. He was keeping his eye on us.

This game never gets old (...for Dominic)

I never get tired of seeing these beautiful peaks caressed by the white sandy beach

Psyched to climb and snorkel at Pranang Beach  (a bit of a walk from our hotel, but we were excited to climb somewhere new and had heard that this was the prettiest beach in the area).  The walkway leading to the beach was pretty epic.

Pranang Beach.  Amazing limestone

Pranang Beach.  This gorgeous sandy beach was lined with beautiful limestone walls, and adorned with hanging tufas

Climbing on Pranang Beach: My first 5.12 in Thailand. (This number indicates a difficulty rating)

It takes a confident man...

We drew lots of attention rock climbing on the beach

Crowds of people would stop and watch us rock climb

and random strangers would stop and take pictures of us rock climbing.  We were just that amazing.  :)

Pranang Beach

Lunchtime.
The mother monkey would run around searching for food, all the while the baby clinging around it's torso nursing.

Chasing the school of small fish.

His first sandcastle

The best sunsets

La Familia

Look at the cool feature I am climbing!

Such a fun warm-up climb

Dominic's didn't want to be left out

One of the hardest climbs I red-pointed (completed without resting on the rope) while in Thailand.
Shaking out before the crux (Translation-Resting before the hard part.)

This climb was parallel to the ground.  Very difficult climb.

This climb was parallel to the ground.  Very powerful climb.  It was very technical for the person belaying because the climber was not very high above the ground.  I had to be very careful in my movements to be sure that Michael would not hit the ground if he fell. (I am hidden by the observers)

You can tell how hard Michael is working just by looking at all the muscles he is using in his back!!

Hiking through the jungle back to our hotel after a long day of rock climbing.

Low Tide.
High tide brings the water level up to the walkway (the grey seen in the very bottom right corner)

Nice place to rest!

Me attempting the very difficult climb (you know, the one that michael did that was parallel to the ground)

Our last day rock climbing and swimming at Pranang Beach

These guys would drop out of the trees and steal your food in a flash.   Very sneaky.

A storm brewing

Enormous cliffs were everywhere just begging to be climbed. 

Dominic catching the climbing bug

Michael makes that same face when doing hard things! Ahhaha

We hiked up to a cave to scout some routes for the next day

My guys

Dominic and I

Low tide at Tonsai Beach

Sunset

A STARFISH!

Is it a mutant starfish with 10 legs...or 2 starfish cuddling??

I could definitely get used to this

Fish face

Can you tell that I love Panorama mode on my iPhone?

The view from our new hotel

We ended up changing hotels to get a bungalow with mosquito netting!  We had had enough of the nightly invasions!

Exploring the Diamond Cave

Exploring the Diamond Cave

Exploring the Diamond Cave

Exploring the Diamond Cave

Exploring the Diamond Cave

"Burnt Offerings" 5.12a
(The name and difficulty rating of this particular climb)

Pulling up and over the lip of the cave was very difficult
(Jodi photoed here)

Michael on "Burnt Offerings" 5.12a

Making friends

I don't know who was more fascinated with who??

Making the trek to Tonsai during low tide

On our way to try deep water soloing! (Rock climbing over the ocean without any ropes)

Deep water soloing: Jump from the boat and swim over to the rope ladder.  Then the climbing begins.  Climb as high as you are willing to fall/jump from! (Michael is wearing the yellow shorts)

Look at him go!

And then the plunge!

I was definitely too chicken to jump from that height.  So I climbed back down a little before jumping!

He was not sure about the sand in the beginning, but he grew to love it!

Long-tail Boats

"mmmm.  I just drank the sand out of my cup, and now I am coming to offer you some mom."

I would be thinking: "please don't fall, please don't fall".  But not Michael.  He's was probably just focused on  climbing.

Leaving Railay :( :( :(.
The tide happened to be high.  Thank goodness Michael is strong.

We took a boat back to Krabi where we boarded an all-night bus (9-hours) back to Bangkok.  We arrived at 4:30am.  Quite tired, we dragged our luggage to a nearby park and slept on the park benches until the sun came up.  We wandered around the city for a while, stopping in at a major shopping mall.  Dominic was a big hit, as always.

This little girl kept hugging Dominic, so he tried to give her a kiss back.  She wasn't interested in smooching.  Only hugging apparently.  

Finally on the plane headed home.  I think this is how we all felt: we had all played hard.  

We had such an amazing vacation.  It was a great balance of sight seeing, adventuring, and relaxing on the beach.  Since being back in Connecticut, I have been missing Thailand so much.  I definitely plan on going back some day!  But for now we are just focusing on Michael's last few weeks of class, then graduation and moving.