Departing Phi Phi Don

I woke up to the amazing view of Phi Phi Leh from my bedroom around 06:00, slammed the second of the two free bottles of water they provide daily in my room, and then headed out for Long Beach. It’s not a long walk but there is a reason most people travel by boat, which I was reminded by when I first had to walk out in to the water over coarse rocks. Teva sandals are good until they get wet, then they suck and I was forced to ditch them as I continued my journey. Tevas are really not at all practical in Thailand as you have to take off your shoes everyplace you go, you might as well be wearing regular shoes as you have to bend over to put them on and off, flip-flops are clearly the footwear of choice. Along the way I encountered a few small crabs running across the beach, a few lobster traps filled with the daily catch, and the most amazing sunrise I have ever seen. I sat down in the current rock garden I was attempting to four wheel drive over and took some time for myself. The warm fresh air blowing over me, the sound of only the small waves crashing to shore, the sight of longtail sailors sleeping in their hammocks strung from the ends of their longtail boats, the old barge which they called a “dock” that was now totally beached, and me. I was the only one up and about at this hour. After heading out to shark bay I turned around and went to check out of Bay View.

The ferry did not leave until 15:00 so I decided to head up to view point again to get a few more pictures, or at least more exercise, this time with sandals on.

I got back down and settled in for a nice beer at Carpe Diem, and oh yes, Buddha Bar Nature was playing, followed by Deep Forrest, and waited for the ferry to arrive. But yeah, this is where I want to be, this is where I belong.

One last mango and then coconut shake and I boarded the ship heading in the general direction for Krabi. However leaving this time was very different then last time. I knew I would be back, this would not just be some distant memory that would fade over time, these two islands had become a part of who I am, not who I was.

About an hour and twenty minutes later we tied up with four longtails just within view of Railay beach. A number of us crawled in to the longtails as others tossed our packs aboard, glad I had nothing that needed to be waterproof in mine. The smell of exhaust filled the air as we broke free and headed towards Railay Beach. Another 20 to 30 minutes and we beached on the western side. While Railay beach is actually connected to Krabi the limestone mountains make it impossible to reach by any other means then by boat.

Once we arrived we were all pretty much on our own, wandering the beach in search of accommodation. One guy found a map but it was in Thai so we pretty much had no idea what was going on. I headed to the east and found the Sunrise Tropical Resort, score, this place was awesome and at an awesome price.


After I checked in I headed out to explore a little. On the far end I found a path that cut through the rocks and emptied in to this secluded beach, complete with guards. But when you have sunsets like these you need to keep out the undesirables.




I then found a watering hole called the “Drop in Bar”, sat on one of the only six bar stools the place had, ordered a beer, and chatted with the bartender. His English was quite poor but he told me about a secret lagoon in which you had to first hike to the top of one of these limestone mountains and then hike back down inside of it to get to. I had no plans for tomorrow so this sounded like a good place to start, and then headed to bed.


VIDEO: Return to Phi Phi Don