Writing from Railay
Sat 20 Oct 2007
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.
