Our first full day in Railay and we decided we needed some exercise, so we donned our shoes and gritted our teeth for the scramble up a steep muddy, rocky path to the island viewpoint. 30 minutes later we can see the two main beaches. A quick visit to a Lagoon on the other side of the hill, though we had to view it at a distance because there were a couple of virtually vertical rock faces to climb down, with only an old rope for assistance. Just as we're about to climb down it starts to pour with rain, which ruins our plans to do nothing but lie on the beach for the rest of the day. Eventually we make the hour long descent and immediately have to go to wash off the mud in the nearest beach.
Later Fiz has her first Thai massage, another one of our wedding presents, and I go for a read on the sunset beach. Dinner is at a local Thai restaurant, at what can only be described as a shed in the forest!
On Wednesday, we had to make our way from Railay to Koh Samui - but to get across the mainland, we had a 6 leg journey to contend with - long tail boat to Nammao Pier, Sangethew (pick up truck with seats in the back) to the Lrabi bus station, coach to another tour office, bus to the ferry port at Surat Thani, ferry over to Koh Samui and finally Sangethew to our hotel. As there isn't much to do on the island but relax, we're staying in a nice hotel as a present for Fiz's 30th. The room is right next to the pool and restaurant, which in turn are 2m from the beach.
On our first evening we have a romantic stroll along the beach towards the Fisherman's Village, looking for a certain place that we read about in the LP, when we hear a British voice over the speaker saying 'Welcome to the Frog and Gecko Pub quiz' - this reminder of home was exactly what we were looking for!
After managing not to come last in the quiz and avoiding an argument, the next day we did eventually spend by the pool in the baking sun. After a bit more exercise on a Kayak exploring the bay as the sun set, we concluded that Samui was a beautiful place, but with not much to do and see, it suits those looking for a luxury resort, more than it does the casual backpacker. Again though, we're not complaining!
As I write, it has just gone 10am in the morning (4am in UK) - Happy Birthday to my Dad, who is 21 yet again, Happy Wedding Anniversary to Jes and Giles for yesterday, and a huge congratulations from both of us to Siobhan and Mark (and Ryan) who had a beautiful baby girl yesterday... oh and I think there's a sports event starting today many thousands of miles from here!
Today, we've taken advantage of the hotel buffet breakfast and soon we'll be meeting up with Fiz's parents on Koh Pha Ngan, luckily only a short ferry ride away.
No comments:
Post a Comment