We had been pretty lucky so far weather wise during our trip but the forecast today looked just questionable enough that instead of booking another island hopping tour we opted to stay local so that if the weather turned dodgy we would be close enough to easily make our way home or to somewhere safe to ride it out rather than being several miles out into the Andaman Sea on a tiny boat. Unfortunately Nim’s restaurant The Happy Porcupine wasn’t open yet when we started our way towards the beach to catch a longtail taxi to Railay so we settled on another place that the only memory I have of it is that it was overpriced. One of the things we had quickly learned during our trip was that we could pay Thai prices or American prices for things and breakfast that morning was definitely American prices.
Scott had wisely brought along ear plugs for the longtail taxi and donned them as soon as we boarded the boat. We shared the longtail with a family of Canadians and made small talk with them and gave them the skinny on Railay, considering ourselves experts now that we had extensively explored the area a few days before. We arrived a few minutes later, the longtail driver beached the boat, threw out the anchors, and we climbed down the sketchy ladder into the water and waded to shore. We made our way through the little village of Railay so that we could get back to the beautiful beach on East Railay and Phra Nang. Along the walk there was an impressively steep trail that went straight up the mountain that Scott had noticed a few days prior. He had researched it and learned that it led to an impressive lookout. I told him that as long as he promised to be careful that I didn’t mind if he hiked up it but I would not be joining. He decided to come back in a bit to explore it.
We were one of the first ones on the beach and we immediately went and claimed the perfect hammock spot as our basecamp. We knew how crowded the beach would become as the day drew on. We set the hammocks up and sat in them for a bit before Scott couldn’t stand it any longer and went off on his scenic overlook climb. I enjoyed the view of the beach and the huge karst in the bay in front of me from my hammock and settled in to read.
A little while later Scott made his way back and excitedly relayed his adventure. According to Scott, the hike started off as “a muddy bouldering exercise” that required scrambling about 200 feet straight up the mountain before it leveled out and he was able to follow the trail about a tenth of a mile through the woods to the overlook. The overlook was worth the effort and offered a spectacular bird’s eye panoramic view of Railay and East Railay. He soaked it up for a bit before carrying on down the trail towards the lagoon. The trail started to descend and he followed it for a bit, using the ropes that had been put in place to help his descent but eventually he decided to turn around and head back up because it became nearly vertical and his Rainbow flip flops were not the ideal footwear of choice for such an endeavor. (I would like to add that I am quite proud of the choices he made as he is not usually one to be deterred by such things, especially when adventure calls…)
We spent the next few hours swimming, lounging and napping in the hammocks, and laying out on the warm sand of the beach and soaking up the sun when we had enough shade. It was turning out to be a beautiful day despite the forecast and Phra Nang is one of the loveliest places on the planet. Mid afternoon we decided we had gotten our beach fix and decided to go in search of lunch. We found a place overlooking the backside of East Railay and sat and watched a steady stream of longtails and speedboats dropping off and picking up tourists. Scott had a coconut smoothie and was excited when this one came in an actual coconut. I had a Chang beer and we split a mediocre pizza. On our way back to the longtail pickup point we were treated to a raucous group of macaques that were chattering and scurrying around on the power lines and roofs above our heads. I could have sat and watched them for hours as they are infinitely entertaining, but alas Scott summoned me to come along.
We caught a longtail back to Ao Nang, this time sharing it with a Russian family (Thailand is a top vacation destination for Russians) and that’s when our weather luck ran out. As soon as we started the several kilometer trek back up to DeLoft the downpour began and we had to trudge up the hill in the rain. We laughed it off and just kept trekking along in the warm tropical rain and eventually it stopped, although we were soaked. We made it back to DeLoft and got showers and relaxed for a few minutes.
Dinner was at Nim’s and we tried her Italian dishes this time. We discovered that they were equally as good as her Thai fare and we got to chat with her briefly, telling her about our catamaran trip the day before. The Happy Porcupine was packed this evening and she was busy being an attentive hostess and she fluttered from table to table checking in on all her customers.
We bid her farewell after dinner and wished her well in her restaurant endeavor, and walked back to nearby DeLoft. We began packing up as this was our last night in Ao Nang. Tomorrow we would be embarking on a transportational adventure that involved buses and ferries so that we could reach our next stop, Koh Lanta; close on the map, but in reality not quite that easy to access. Ao Nang and Railay had been fun but we were ready for the little vacation from our vacation that was waiting for us in Koh Lanta.
