The previous night, there was a mosquito net, which I deduced must mean that there were mosquitoes lurking about. I woke up draped in mosquito net, but the little critters didn’t seem to be flying about, so it probably wasn’t necessary. Not a terrible sleep, all in all, but once I was up, getting back to sleep was tough – as the walls were pretty thin.
I headed to the “downtown” of Railay, which is really just a street with some shops and a coffee shop. I had noticed a pancake place there the previous evening, but sadly it was closed. I read my book, then headed back to the resort for breakfast there. Overpriced, but decent yogurt and muesli.
I’d forgotten my camera, so I grabbed that to take some pictures of the limestone cliffs, and then got back to the resort and packed to check out. Checked out, then ran into Pennie and Wiki, who were supposed to be rock climbing. Turns out Pennie wasn’t feeling too well, on account of the food last night (I’m glad I didn’t have what she had) so they decided not to bother. They were going to head back to Krabi a day early, and asked if they could tag along with me, so I told them to meet me at 2:30, and headed to the beach.
Swam and read at the beach, then ran into Pennie and Wiki again. They were with the Americans from the boat, so we all swam together, and thought about swimming to another beach, but decided it was too far. I grabbed lunch with Pennie and Wiki, who had decided they’d tough out another day in Railay, and then headed to the longtail on my own. The problem with leaving Railay is that they must wait until the boat is full before they’ll depart. I waited for about an hour, for another eight people to show up. The water was very rough, and the captain had to go extra slow to keep us from tipping. No lifejackets on board, so I transferred my wallet into my dry sack and put it my pocket, so at least there’d be little trouble identifying my body.
Thankfully we managed to make it to Krabi for 5pm (which was good, since my room would have been up for grabs after that… oh, and I was still alive).
Talked to Eveline to confirm where we were going to meet, then had a shower and uploaded some pictures. At 6:15 I headed to the City Hotel, across from the night market, to meet Eveline, who was coming in on scooter from her guesthouse near Ao Nang.
Walked to the food market, and ran into two German girls Eveline had met in Malaysia, so we sat with them exchanging travel tips we’d heard about the islands. Robert, from Holland, overheard us talking at the next table and asked to join us – probably more interested in meeting some new people, than anything else. That, or he figured I didn’t need three woman all to myself. We all chatted for a while, but then the Germans had to leave. Eveline and I had some dinner (Robert had already eaten). After dinner, Robert went to try and meet up with the Germans, and Eveline and I each got a pancake for dessert. We ate with a Swiss couple we met in line, who had been in Krabi for ten days and recommended a few things worth seeing.
Eveline and I headed to my guesthouse to find out about getting to Bangkok, as we’ll try and go together, but amazingly, all the trains are booked till the 9th so we’ll go by bus. I also booked my rock climbing for the morning.
I walked Eveline back to her scooter, then checked out a bookstore on the way home. If I can finish my book early enough tomorrow morning, I’ll swap it for a John Cheever short story collection before I head to rock climbing.
