Today I took a break from the beach to explore some of the sights of inland Krabi. I had heard about the “hot waterfall” and “emerald pond”, so I booked a tour that included them.

 
Our first stop was the hot waterfall. As you probably know, Thailand isn’t far from the line of volcanoes that runs down the heart of Indonesia. While there aren’t any active volcanoes in Thailand, there are several hot spots around the country where hot water comes to the surface. The hot waterfall is the result of one of these. Hot water rises from several springs and flows through a forest until it tumbles down a bluff into a stream. Over the course of hundreds of years, the minerals dissolved in the water have been deposited on the rocks in such a way as to form large deep pools of water. The sides of the pools are so steep that they don’t seem natural, but they are.

One of the major minerals found in the water is copper, which gives the stony deposits a dark green color. The forest, deep warm water, it’s all very relaxing. While soaking in the water is considered good for you, be sure you don’t drink it. In addition to copper and fluoride, the water also contains traces of lead.

 
From the hot waterfall, it’s a short drive to the emerald pond. Like the waterfall, the pond is the result of hot springs, Water flows through a fissure, over a large rock shelf and into a large pool. Depending on the temperature and other factors, the pond can be anything from crystal clear to deep green. The water is not as hot as the waterfall, but it’s warm enough to be quite comfortable. The water has a lot of calcium carbonate, which deposits on the rocks and creates a rich place for bacteria, making the surfaces in and around the pool very slippery.

I woke up this morning to a rather beautiful blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds. It didn’t last, but neither did it actually rain at all today.

I arrived in Railay last night. Although it had obviously rained earlier in the evening, it had cleared enough for a fat crescent moon to silhouette the cliffs of the coast as my boat approached.

 
Railay (which would be better spelled Rai-Leh) is a bit of a geological curiosity. It’s a peninsula on the mainland of Krabi province, east of Phuket island, but sheer cliffs cut it off from the rest of the coast, making it only reachable by boat. The peninsula itself is really just a build-up of sand collected between the cliffs on the shore and two large rock outcrops. The sand forms three beaches, the east-facing and thus aptly named Railay East, it’s opposite number Railay West and another west-facing beach called Phranang. Railay East is coarse and rocky, but the other two beaches have a fine sand. A bit north of Railay West, but cut off from it, is Tonsai Bay. Boats connect Railay East to Nammao and Railay West to Ao Nang.

 
There are half a dozen or so resorts on Railay, as well as a hand-full of cheap guest houses for the backpacker set. The top end of the hotel offerings is the large Rayavadee, which faces all three beaches and is the only hotel on Phranang. My own base is the Sunrise Tropical resort on Railay East.

The Sunrise Tropical has proved to be excellent value for money. My “Tropical Villa” room is a small cottage with queen size bed, a sitting area, dressing room and large bathroom. There’s also a private outdoor shower. While the beach at Railay East is not very good, it’s just a short walk to Railay West.

I’m starting a long delayed exploration of Krabi province today – that’s the mainland of Thailand next to Phuket. It’s become popular in recent years as development on the big island has gotten a bit too much for some people.

I chose Nok Air for my flight to Krabi’s relatively new airport because they had an early evening flight that fit my schedule, and I wanted to save a few Baht. Now, one of my general rules of thumb for using low cost carriers is to avoid flights late in the day, since they’re almost always late. Sure enough, my 6:10 pm flight actually left at 8:30. However, around 10:00 am on the day of the flight I received an SMS message from Nok informing me of the delay.

The advance information was really welcome, since all of Nok’s domestic flights are out of the old Don Muang airport, which is a mere shadow of its former self. The airport was closed in October of 2006 when the all new Suvarnabhumi Airport opened, but over-crowding and flaws in the new structure caused authorities to re-open the old airport for domestic flights in March 2007.

While the old building remains exactly as it was when it was initially closed, there are no longer enough passengers to support all of the amenities and services that were originally found there. The concourse no longer has any shops or restaurants, so eat before you pass through security. Even outside of security, there aren’t as many options as there used to be.