Every night on Railay we were blessed with lovely sunsets and receding tides. We would always try to find our way over to watch the sunset work it's magic before the night sky took over. Here's a few of the lovely scenes we watched unfold before us.
If it's not extremely obvious yet, let me make it loud and clear: I loved Railay. The beaches had soft sand, the water was clear, and karst mountains reign supreme. Our days were filled with climbing, kayaking and wonderful Thai food. What more could you possibly ask for?
After hearing about our buddy Tom's adventure of deep water soloing, we knew we had to give it a try while in Railay. The combination of climbing with no ropes on karst mountains in the middle of the ocean was too good to pass up. We signed up the night before with a few other folks, nervously chatting about what awaited us in the morning. Once it was time to pile into our boat, everyone was a bit on edge with excitement. On top of all the built up energy, it was also one of the roughest days any of us had experienced on the sea. We were all drenched from head to toe within the first few minutes on the boat.
Once we reached our destination, our guide set out to get our rope set up by kayak. After a half hour attempting with no success we moved around the mountain in hope of another starting point. Finally after many more failed attempts, he got our ladder attached and we were sent out in kayaks. Unfortanetly, not only was the sea against us on this day so was our starting point. We were set back into a small cave and had to work our way out of it before we could even begin to climb the challenging wall. I got to climb the wall twice and Cassie only once before a major storm approached, and forced us to swim back to our boat exhasted as we fought the current, waves, and rain.
I would love to say that this was as amazing as it sounds but unfortunately our experience sort of sucked. Even more dissapointing was when I saw pictures from my buddy's day on the rocks; he was able to climb and jump into the ocean over 30 times. Oh well, not much you can do when rough seas and a storm get in the way of your fun.
I'm pretty sure I could keep writing posts about how much I loved Railay but I'm going to try and bring it to a close within my next two, oh shoot, three posts. After exhausting our legs climbing all the walls we could find in Railay we set out by kayak to explore all the densly plant covered karst mountains sitting precariously in the Malacca Strait.
We ventured out for a few hours circling every mountain we could find. This proved exciting, exhausting and filled Cassie with the very unpleasent feeling of sea sickness. Once we finally made it to a sandy shore Cassie had a moment to rest on solid land and recoup before venturing back to our starting point. On our way back we found a few caves that we kayaked through which made the whole adventure even more memorable.
Right along the wall to where we were climbing there is a little cave filled with wooden johnsons, wangs, zipper rippers, and one-eyed monsters. Some were painted, a few have balls, and all of them were hard. It is belived among the villagers here that the spirit of Phranang (Princess Goddess) resides in this cave. Fisherman, before going out, would pledge Phranang for good luck. When their wishes fulfilled, votive offerings would be made at the shrine. Common gifts are flowers and incense sticks. but usually, the spirits of goddess shall be offered special gifts, like what you see here.
After a small break we took a walk around the mountain and found the base for our third and fourth climbs. We strapped up and got right to work. Cassie started climbing like she was a pro, right foot here, left hand their, right hand above that and before we knew it she was enjoying the view from the top. I'm personally not a huge fan of her doing so well because it makes me look bad.
The nice thing about going second though is you sort of get a clue on what path is of lease resistance. Not that it really helps though, because once you hit the wall it all washes away with the task at hand. I held onto that wall for dear life slowly making my way up and around it's ragged edges. Once I reached the top, I could finally stop cursing the wall and enjoy the views below. Which, I can only describe as breathtaking.
Cassie and I both climbed the fourth wall like little geckos. Grabbing the smallest liitle nook and crannies to pull ourselves up and around bends. Stablizing our big toe on the smallest little ledge to give us a base to work from. The feeling is exhilerating and exhausting, but the reward at top when you've made it is pure bliss!
After a quick dip our guide started to show us how he get's down.. or up.. or sideways. He starting bouldering and made it look effortless. I'm pretty sure there were a few times he was holding up his whole body with only one finger. Insanely impressive he had quite the crowd enthralled.
