Another Great Day in Paradise!

Sabadeeka! (Hello, how are you?!)

I'm still in Railay. We just can't seem to get enough of this place! The vibe is extremely relaxed, the weather is beautiful, the food is awesome, the beaches are gorgeous, there's rock climbing, snorkeling, hiking, swimming, and cheap tattoo's! What more could you want?! :)

This is Railay East, where we hang out at night time!

In Korea, we have to pay for these fish to eat our dead flesh, but here, you can just stick your finger in the tank along the strip and it's free! (Probably not the most sanitary thing, but I had my hand gel, so I figured it'd be alright!)

Jess, Carlos, Gino and I all had lunch here at one of our favorite sports in Railay... After lunch, we walked Gino to the shore to catch his boat to the aiprort.


This is our favorite coffee shop around! It's run by a Thai rasta guy named Maht. He teaches rock climbing on the mountain behind the shop, and he lives above it in a tree house. (Jess and Kristen)

Carlos on the deck at Maht's coffee shop.

After coffe, and some chill time, we headed over to the beach and I got myself a $9.00 massage on the sand! It was such an awesome experience... Especially because it was done by a "lady boy!" Yep, seriously!

After a day of laying out, reading, and sifting through millions of beautiful shells to find just the right one's to bring home, Jess and I decided to swim out to this island while the sun was setting! A couple days ago, I swam around an island... This time I swam to one! I'm able to check off so many of my bucket list ideas (even one's I never thought of before!) I could literally see the ocean floor without even putting my eyes under the water, the entire swim... The deepest part was probably 15 feet. That's how clean and clear this water is!

I snapped this picture of Jess and Carlos on our walk back to Railay East and thought it was really beautiful. (This is not a swiming beach... It's where the boats dock)

Jess, Carlos and I had an awesome dinner! I had fried chicken and rice with Thai veggies (mmmmm!!!), and a huge plate full of fresh pineapple for 100 baht (About $3.00)!

This cat was playing with this poor frog in the alley where we were eating. It was really sad, but really adorable too!

This couple was like the cat whisperer. The cats here are all crazy, but this guy picked this one up and it completely melted into his arms...

The last couple hours have been spent at the tattoo shop again. It's Maria's turn and she's getting her tattoo right now. It's a beautiful symbol of balance!

Jess and Kristen are up next! They're in the tattoo shop right now, as I'm typing, narrowing down their ideas! Can you tell how serious they are?!

I'm not sure what else we have on the agenda for the evening, but I thought I'd write my blog now so I can get up early with Jess and Carlos to hike over to Tonsai Beach and spend the day there. I'm still completely in love and enammored (sp?) with Thailand and can't complain about the amazing tan I'm getting from the Thai sun! :)

Relaxation is the Right Medicine!

Well, today was a big day for Carlos! He bucked up and got a bamboo tattoo at this place... a little ghetto, but seemed to be the best place to get it done according to the locals. It was really cool to watch...

Carlos...

While he got his tattoo, Jess, Gino and I all lounged around the town, eating and hanging out while we waited for him to finish... Our server here was a "lady boy" too! I think I've only eaten twice in Thailand where my server was not one!

This is one of our favorite places to go at night. (Joy Bar) The 1st picture of all of the gang together was taken at this place.

We walked over to West Railay beach and saw about 20 monkeys in the trees. When they saw us, they jumped down onto the fence. It was a little freaky!

Just some random signs that I thought were cool.

On our way to the beach, we stopped at a little hut that sold bathing suits. I bought 2 new ones, and we convinced Gino to buy these really short spanex shorts! haha. He was so embarrassed, but we told him he would get a better tan! Ah, 17 year olds... they're so easy to convince!

West Railay Beach

What beach vacation is complete without writing your names in the sand? I mean really?!!

We hung out here until the sun completely set. It was gorgeous!

An awesome coffee shop on the beach.


After sunset, we headed over to Skunk Bar for dinner and drinks with some new Spanish speaking friends. We spoke only spanish at dinner! It was such great practice!


The bar tender was REALLY busy, so he invited me to make Jess's mohito. I am a horrible bartender, so he told me everything to put in it. It was really fun!

Bob helped me shake it up!

After dinner, we took a long walk up to the coffee shop on the mountain near everyone's hut.

When we got there, the locals all invited us to have dinner with them! It was delicious!

Jess, Me, Kristen, and Maria.

So, as you can see, nothing too eventful happened yesterday, but it was SSSOOO nice to just relax and do nothing! That's my kinda vacation.

Today, we're planning on renting kayaks and possibly riding them out to the islands!

Snorkeling at 4 Different Islands...

YESTERDAY:

For breakfast/lunch, I had my usual, pancakes at Mom's Kitchen with bananas inside! D-licious! This is my usual server... yep she's a "lady boy." While I was eating, San (Bob) came over to say hello and handed me a sticker to put on my dress. He said, we are going snorkeling today. Turns out... he paid for me to take a 4 island cruise... the best in the area for snorkeling! He came along so he could show me all the best spots! It was awesome... Here are some of the pictures from my day. ENJOY!

We jumped on a boat after breakfast, and off we went for a 6 hour adventure! This was our boat driver, who happened to be smoking weed. Only in Thailand can you see people smoking weed while on the job. haha

I tried to upload these pictures in order, but it didn't work... so they're not in sequencial order. Sorry!

A coral I found while snorkeling! Beautiful, huh?!

This was my favorite Island. It was tiny, tiny, tiny. I actually swam all the way around it! Great workout!

San brought some bread along, so I could feed the fish! Very thoughtful... but it was really freaky having so many fish swimming around me. I actually got bit 5 times!

Feeding the fishies.

These geese were at one of the islands we stopped at, just swimming around at the beach...

We stopped here to have lunch! It was a little tree house of sorts with a swing hanging from the tree outside...

... which of course, I swung on!

... and this was my view from the swing! Anyone jealous?

Another island that we stopped at. This might have been my favorite place. I swam really far out (maybe 25-30 feet deep) and I could see the the very bottom! There were beautiful coral reefs and bright colorful fish! It was amazing...

These monkeys were so funny... they were riffling through these bags!

This is the island I swam around... looks tiny from here, but my arms will tell you, it was HUGE!

There are monkeys EVERYWHERE on this island! I snapped a couple pics of them playing in the trees near the beach...

Little baby one... he was the size of a kitten. :)

You can actually hand them food...

Aren't they so cute??

Jess, Carlos, Gino, and I all hung out at Railay Beach until sunset. It was well worth it!

Carlos looked sooo relaxed...

This is one of the views from Railay Beach. Last night, Jess, Gino and I all climbed into the cave.... quite the adventure!

Jess and I were playing with our camera settings, and we did some jumping pictures! This one is my SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE pic! haha

Sunset was spectacular!

After sunset, we all went back to the main strip and had dinner and drinks. :) Here's a funny sign outside the bar we went to that I thought was kinda funny...

Today, I'm planning on renting a kayak with jess. We're gonna play around in the water for a little bit... and I'm going to be getting a Thai massage on the beach! I think this is the first vacation where I've actually vacationed! :) I love it!