Day 46 - Wednesday, March 30 - Krabi to Reiley Beach

Checked out of the hotel and walked around town a bit before heading to the pier to find a boat to Reilay Beach. There are many many spellings for Rei Lay Beach so I'm going to use them all. There's no scheduled boat service to Rei Ley so one needs to find a long tail boat and hope the driver can fill the boat quickly. They like to leave once they have 8-10 people passengers on board. I got to the pier and I was #3. We waited for #4-8 but we couldn't find any others. Mr. Long Tail Boat Driver finally agreed to take us 3 for the normal 70 baht per person fare after 2 ladies bailed when he tried to raise the price and took the bus instead. The ladies were dumb as the bus goes to Ao Nang first and then you have to hire a long tail boat from there, and the driver was dumb for losing out on another 140 baht. I have no idea why people would opt for the bus option, but, as we know, some people are just born stupid.

The boat ride was 40 minutes to Rei Lay Beach East. I've been told so many contradictions with regard to Rei Ley Beach so I walked around and made my own choice. Matt from Oklahoma said West was better and Nadine and Tuci said East.

They are both corect.

The beach on West is far superior as it HAS a beach. There is no beach on East, just mangroves that turn into a muddy flatbed at low tide but the walk to West is all of 5 minutes.......maybe 10 if you stop to take some photos.

The accommodations at West were much more expensive and I didn't want to jump off my "budget bandwagon". I found the "Diamond Cave Bungalows and Resort" on Rei Ley Beach East and got a room for 700 baht - the most expensive place to date on my Thailand adventure. The scenery is beautiful, slightly up a hill with huge limestone cliffs in the backround, a beautiful crystal clear blue pool, and a good room with air con so I was happy. Well, I've been happy for the past 46 days so that was nothing new.

I got into my bathing suit, took the pool for a test ride and sat out for about 45 minutes. Put on some clothes and walked around a bit. The 3rd beach in this little area is called Ton Sai and reachable in one of 3 ways - by long tail boat (3 minutes around a point that juts out in the ocean), you can walk around the point in low tide only, or you can climb a mountain that was certainly steeper than anything I climbed on my trek. So you can see, I opted for the climb not knowing. It was a great walk though, occassionally passing numerous rock climbers (this is a playground for rockclimbers from across the world) climbing the outrageous limestone cliffs. It certainly looked pretty awesome. I found Ton Sai Beach and decided that this would probably be the best beach to stay on but I'm not moving. I figure I'm only going to be here for a few days and my place is fine. These bungalows on Ton Sai are a back to the basic huts with fan only and much less "resorty". It seems to be more of a backpacker crowd too, which, according to Dave (of Dave and Katie fame), I AM NOT. He says even though I travel with a backpack, I am too old to be a backpacker. I had lunch (fried rice with Indian curry sauce and chicken), a lemon shake (shakes here are dairy free- usually just the raw fruit in a blender with ice) and enjoyed the scenery. It's really quite striking.

I decided to take a long tail boat back as I was not making that climb over Everest again. I got back to Rei Ley West, walked around a bit, and walked back to East to take care of some business, get my sarong (doubles for a towel) and headed back to West for a swim and sunset. On the way, a local told me to go to Hat Tham Phra, the 4th and final beach reachable on foot on the Laem Phra Nang peninsula. He said it was a quieter beach and a better sunset. Wow, just a reminder, when in Thailand, listen to the locals. I walked to the southern end of Rei Ley East and over to Hat Tham Phra, most of the way walking along side a huge cliff and limestone formations that housed Tham Phra Cave. On the way, I passed Ravadee, a 26 acre 5-star resort that looks pretty spectacular. Lonely Planet says rooms (villas)there can climb as high as 150,000 baht per night.

The sunset was AWESOME and I have one of the best pictures taken to date to prove it. After the sun went down, I walked back over to Diamond Cave and jumped in the pool. Needless to say, I was a sweaty pig and it felt great. I wasn't hungry for dinner so I just got a few skewers from a lady on the beach and called it dinner. Back at my room, I showered, hung out, and went to "The Rock Bar" for a Chang. The bar is stuffed under some more huge-ass limestone cliffs and has a pretty great atmosphere. One Chang later and I was ready for bed.