The Beach

Today started off with me walking around Krabi visiting every pharmacy I could find. I was looking for certain feminine hygiene products for Jenny, who had forgotten to bring what she needed. I must have visited a dozen shops, and none of them had what Jenny had requested. Granted, these stores were all the size of a postage stamp, but it must royally suck to need what Jenny needed and not be able to find it. I came back empty-handed, so she made do with a shower.

We then prepared to visit Railay Beach, a secluded beach on the other side of a rocky ourcropping to the south of Krabi. The only way to get to this beach is via boat. It's a popular destination for people who are visiting Krabi. So popular, in fact, that there is an entire fleet of boats to take visitors to and from the beach. Tickets are 100 baht per person each way (100 baht is about three dollars).

These boats are not exactly the safest mode of transportation, but their operators are incredibly skilled. Upon arrival at the Railay Beach landing spot, our boat operator managed to slot the boat right between two other boats with mere inches to spare on either side, and the boats did not touch.

From the landing spot, there is a 1.2 kilometer walk to Railay Beach itself. This path goes through some incredible scenery. There are stalactites unlike anything I've ever seen. They almost look manmade. You would think you were at Disneyland.

Railay Beach itself is beautiful. The water is warm, the sand is soft, and there is a massive cliff face to the south that must stretch up a thousand feet in the air. Stalactites hang from the cliff face. There are caves at the base of the cliff. The whole thing is unlike anything I could have possibly imagined.

In one of the caves at the southern end of the beach, there is a shrine of sorts. At first glance, it seems to be full of logs of some sort. They're all cut in a similar way, with one rounded end. Upon closer inspection, the logs appear to be pretty damn phallic in appearance. Is this a shrine to penises?

Yes. Yes it is. Jenny tells me that this shrine is meant to satisfy and ward off horny female ghosts. It sounds like gibberish to me, but who am I to judge?

Toward the end of our visit to the beach, there was a commotion near the shrine. I looked around, and everyone had turned to look at a rocky outcropping. I looked as well, and there was a troop of wild monkeys clinging to the rocky outcropping. I'm sure the monkeys were terrified of all the people looking at them. I'm lucky I had my telephoto lens, because I was able to snap some amazing pictures of the monkeys.

One monkey broke off from the rest of the troop and ran through the crowd of people to climb a nearby tree.

By this time, it was getting late in the day, and we decided it was time to start heading back so we could catch a boat back to Krabi. I had an amazing time on the beach, and certainly will never forget today. I feel rather ashamed that I was so cynical about visiting the beach today.

Tonight is New Year's Eve! I will take plenty of photos and blog about the goings-on in Krabi, but that's a post for tomorrow.