Going back to Railay!!!!

We had seen that there was a boat that left Koh Phangang at 7:00am, which would get us an early start on the traveling part of our day, so we left Silver Beach Bungalows at 6:15am, and rode, in the dark, over to the town center, where we had rented the scooter, hoping to drop it off before getting on the boat! 

We should have known that the shop would probably be closed at that time of the day, so to make a long story short; we missed the boat because we couldn't return the scooter! Uuughhh... The next one left at 12:00pm, so we stood in line and booked the tickets...  

What are we gonna do for 5 hours?!!  We had already checked out of the bungalows, the weather wasn't great for swimming, and none of the shops were open to do some shopping in, we were left with one option - find a comfy cafe with wifi to sit and relax for the next 4 hours! So, we rode around the town in search...  and landed here at Nira's Home Bakery!  PERFECT!

 While Nira's had every scruptous pastery you could ever ever ever desire, we both opted for a more healthy breakfast - an egg sandwich and some fruit!  Yummm!

Catching up on some blogging and e-mails! :)

 12:00pm rolled around before we knew it, and we were able to load the Catamaran headed for Donsak pier...

Luckily, we had downloaded some TV episodes while sitting at Nira's, so we watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy, and American Idol (I love this season) while we soared the seas!  I've never been an advocate of carrying your computer with you while you travel, but since mine is only about 3 lbs, I couldn't resist!  It was the best decision I've made in a long time! :)

 After about 2 1/2 hours on the Catamaran, we landed in Donsak and jumped right onto a big bus that would take us to Krabi town...  We were on the bus for about 2 hours when it came to an abrupt stop, where everyone had to get off and wait for another bus to come!  We weren't told this would happen, but when you're in Asia, you just kinda have to roll with it and hope for the best!  We grabbed some pad thai and drinks at a little restaurant nearby and waited for our next bus!

 We all loaded the government bus, which was really quite comfy actually, and headed for Krabi town.  By this point it was about 3:30pm, and the ticket office had said we would arrive in Krabi at 5:30pm, so we were thrilled that we were almost there!!!

But then, after 2 hours had passed, we overheard the bus driver saying to one of the passengers, "We have 3 more hours until we arrive in Krabi."    WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHAAAATTT???!  He was right.  After hours of playing angry birds with Aaron, on my ipod...

looking out the window and seeing families of 4 smooshed on scooters...

... and watching the lady boy's every move across the isle...

 we FINALLY made it to Krabi town!  It was almost 9:00pm at this point!  NEVER trust the times on the timetable charts!  After exiting the bus, we took this thing for 30 minutes over to Au-nang to catch a long tail boat to Railay (in the dark!) 

 Okay, I may be exagerating a bit with this face, but after traveling 9 hours, we were exhausted, and more than ready to be in Railay, in a bed, sleeping!!

We were dropped off at another ticket office where we were told to wait for 30 more minutes for more people to come, so we could all go on a longtail boat together and cut the cost down to 170 baht (about $5.00)  I was pleasantly surprised to see that our boatmates were girls from California!  What are the chances huh?!  Shiva, Sheila, and Shayda (twins and their younger sister) had traveled with their best friend Kelly, to Thailand and Australia for a couple months and were headed to Railay as well...  We all walked through the low tide waters, muddy, and slippery, for about 500 feet until we reached the boat, waiting for us in the moonlit waters!

 When we arrived in Railay, I was stunned to see that resorts had popped up where it was once beautiful jungle.  My hidden gem had quickly become a hotspot for fancy resorts and retirees.  I'd be lying if I didn't say a bit of me just wanted to cry.   After walking a while, I became even more dismayed... Chok's D bar had been abandoned, the tattoo shack where I had my first tattoo was gone, Skunk Bar's gorgeous tree that hung over the entire patio had been chopped down to a stump, and the Moi Tai boxing bar had been turned into a dress shop.  Uugghhh...  I allowed myself to have a bad attitude for the night... but was determined that I would look on the bright side and enjoy Railay's new facade!   The 6 of us all settled on Ya Ya Resort, where I had stayed last time I was in Railay.  Exhausted from the day's travels, we all dropped our bags and called it a night!  :)

Waterfalls, massages, and fire shows!

Yesterday, on our scooter ride, we saw this sign for a waterfall, so this morning, we had some breakfast and headed to the falls!

Unfortunately, we couldn't ride our scooter down the path... So, we left it here, and began the hike!

Aaron's vision isn't great, but the guy can spot crazy looking bugs like his life depended on it!!  Sometimes, this knack for noticing tiny creatures pays off - like when he spotted a gigantic flying cockroach the other day!  Uugghhh... Today, though, he spotted this little guy hanging on to the leaf!

We were totally taken off guard when we came upon this rasta bar in the middle of nowhere, along the path!!  There was no one working there... but it was cool, none the less!  We stopped here for a little while and played on the swings! 

This swing looked as if you could swing into the sky on it... but there was actually a rock right in front of me that brought any dreams of flying high to a skreeching hault!  Sad...

Anyone need to use the restroom?!

There were millions of red ants scattered along the trail... which made it a difficult when we were hiking straight down, with no rails on the dirt path!   There were only tree trunks to keep us from falling!  Some of those tree trunks looked like this!  eeehhhh!

The views were lush, green, and spectacular along the hike...  I

 After hiking for a while, we finally made it to the falls!!!  

Hiking back up the trail... This part of the path had a handy dandy (and rickety) rail for us! :)

 We made it back to the scooter, sweaty, exhausted, and ready to feel the wind in our faces!

By this point, it was time for some lunch... so we walked down the beach in search of something to fill our tummies!  We landed here, at Haad Yao Resort's on-site restaurant, where I ordered a peanut butter and banana sandwich, thinking that was fairly healthy, considering my other menu options!  Boy was I wrong, the thing was practially soaked in butter!  I'm not gonna lie though, it was one of the greatest sandwiches I've ever tasted!  So good in fact that Aaron ordered another one for himself!!  haha

Lunchtime shot...

I've been meaning to get a massage since the day I stepped foot in Thailand, so today was the day!   I found this place, right on the sand, and had one of the greatest massages to date (that's me under the red sarong)... It was so good in fact, that after my hour long - full body oil massage...

I asked for another one!  This time, I got a foot and back massage!  Total price for 2 hours of the most splendid pampering a girl could ever ask for...  $18.00!  Oh my... how I love this country!

While I was getting my massage(s), Aaron was playing with this little guy nearby!  He was actually the son of one of the masseuses, and the women in the shop were practically swooning over Aaron while they watched him play with this kiddo! 

Before long, it was dinner time, and we were dead set on heading back to the place we went the night before!  Can you blame us?  Fresh fish, grilled to perfection?  To be honest though, I actually just ordered a plate of fruit and grilled corn, but I did have a couple bites of Aaron's red snapper!  Who doesn't love a little fire show during dinner?  This girl does!

While we've enjoyed our time in Koh Phangang, we've decided to head to Railay tomorrow!!  (For those of you who have been following my blog for a long time, you probably remember Railay from when I went a year and a half ago and completely fell in love with the place!)  This time I'm bringing Aaron, so it's sure to be a great time! :)  It's gonna be a long day of traveling again, but when Railay is the final destination, who can complain?!

Hello Koh Phangang Island!

Call it what you will... but I think it's a bit of sweet irony when you're driving a scooter to return it at the pier and you say, "Wow, it's great that we didn't even have to put gas in this while we've had it" when it begins to putter to a stop!  Yes, that's right, literally right after Aaron said that, we ran out of gas!  haha  There are no gas stations here!  Instead, you find the closest food stand and they will usually have a liter of oil to sell for the equivalent of about $1.50!  This sweet lady even poured it in the scooter for us!  Aaron helped her back across the street, to her store, and she lunged in for a big hug!  So cute!

We couldn't leave Koh Tao without a delicious Thai banana pancake with nutella!  It'd be a crime not to endulge!  This guy was so entertaining!  Picture a chef from Bennihanas, except instead of shopping carrots and beef, he was throwing the knives and chopping the bananas, throwing them into the sticks of butter, etc!  Aaron was so impressed, he even tipped the guy! :)

We made it to the dock, with about 10 minutes to spar before loading onto the Catamarran!  I love how the boats in Thailand are so colorful and charming! :)

This was the most comfortable boat I've ever ridden on in Asia!  During the hour and a half it took us to go from Koh Tao to Koh Phangang, we had comfy and spacious leather seats, TV's, airconditioning (a luxury on sticky hot days!), a snack bar, and big windows to look out and enjoy the scenery!

We arrived in Koh Phangang around 10:30am, rented a scooter for 150 baht a day (about $4.50), and headed in search of paradise!  To be honest, we hadn't done our research about Koh Phangang, so when we got there, we were unpleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't exactly the paradise we were hoping for... We rode and rode and rode to the north end of the island and stopped here at a restaurant on Mae Hat Beach, where we checked the map and put a plan together!  After lunch, we would head for nearby Salad Beach!

Koh Salad was beautiful, and gave us hope that we had made the right decision about coming to Koh Phangang!  We walked to EVERY hotel on Koh Salad beach, asking for available rooms, but ALL of them were booked!  This was a 1st for me when traveling Asia!  Places are almost sure to have at least 1 room available, which is why I never book in advance!  Unfortunately, the world renowned FULL MOON PARTY was on the island the night before, so the partiers (sp?) were occupying the rooms by sleeping off their hangovers!

We reluctantly jumped on the scooter and headed for Haad Yao Beach, and were pleasantly surprised with what we saw there!  The beach is a bit touristy, but the sand is powdery white, the water is clear, and the atmosphere is relaxed and casual!  We both checked into the first place that had available rooms!  We would call Silver Beach Bungalows home for the next 2 nights!  My bungalow was closest to the restaurant and the beach too!  My lucky day!

Silver Beach Bungalows is a cute little compound of bungalows, which sit just steps from the sandy beach! 

My home away from home!  It was really spacious... probably the size of my apartment in Korea!  It was much more than I needed, but I enjoyed it while I was there! 

We immediately put on our bathing suits and went for a swim!  This is looking back at the restaurant of the place where we are staying!

This is looking north (up the beach)...  We both took our snorkeling gear out in the water, to check out the corals and fish, but unfortunately, the mask that Aaron bought yesterday in Koh Tao is a NO GO!  Water seaps in as soon as you go underwater!  FAIL!  :(

We spent most of the afternoon going between the water and the beach, reading, talking, eating, drinking, and people watching!

The flowers in Thailand are stunning, which makes it really hard for me not to pick them all the time and stick them in my hair! :)

Around 4:30pm, we hopped on the scooter and headed for a sunset point!

We stopped here for gas, and I found it funny that the restaurant's menu is propped out in front of a table holding liter bottles filled with gas!   Nothing like a one stop shop, eh?!

The views from the high mountain roads are spectacular here!

 Unfortunately, we weren't paying attention on our scooter ride and ended up getting lost on the jungle roads, so we made our way back to Haad Yao to watch the sunset from our own beach!

Call me cheesy - I don't care!  I love writing in the sand... :)

 The sunset was spectacular, and watching it from our dinner table on the sand was even better!

This local Thai guy had swam out to this rock, about 150 meters off the shore, to do some fishing...

We ordered fresh (whole) fish at this restaurant, and had it grilled to perfection, while we watched the fire show, and drank our drinks by candle and moonlight!   Romantic?  Yep, I'd say so!  :)