Writing in from Railay
 

It's been a while since I was able to explore anything new in Thailand, so I decided to finally check out Krabi. Flew down on Nok Air last night. The flight was supposed to leave at 6:10 pm but around 10:00 am I got an SMS from Nok that the flight was delayed until 8:30. What a surprise, and it was nice not to have to find that out at the airport, since Don Muang is a mere shadow of its former self.

I was going to pick out a place in Ao Nang, but based on all the positive comments here I decided to give Sunrise Tropical on Railay a try. Good Call! The rooms are everything people have said, and given the price it's one of the best values I've stayed in for a long time.

However, one thing is very clear. People just aren't listening when we tell them October is a bad time to visit the Andaman coast. Railay is crawling with people. If this is the low season, I'd hate to be here in the high season.

Oh, and by the way, someone here has been taking some marketing classes. They don't call it the 'rainy season' or 'low season' any more. It's now the 'green season'. Doesn't that sound better?

I booked a trip to the hot waterfall, etc. for tomorrow. More on that later.

Michael- the Green Season? I love it. Perhaps here in Boston we can refer to winter as "the brief white season, quickly followed by the endless disgusting murky grey slush season". Maybe a bit long, but certainly accurate.

Hi Michael,
I am leaving for a 3 week Bangkok/AoNang/Phi Phi trip next week. We intend spending a few days "daytripping" to Railay. Any tips or recommendations on good and cheap places to eat or thing we should do would be appreciated. We decided to stay at the Somkiet Buri at Ao Nang as our base for 1 week instead of Railay as we are travelling with our two young boys and thought it would be better to have more thing around us to keep them amused. Keep us informed on your thoughts and I hope the weather is not too Green for you.

Was too exhausted on Sunday to write. The trip to the hot waterfall and emerald pool was really wonderful, and I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, the tour didn't stop there. It included a visit to the Tiger Cave temple and an elephant trek.

I'm afraid I was defeated by a Thai temple for the first time ever. I only made it up 900 of the 1,250 steps.

The elephant trek was scary-fun but I could have done without the rain and kamikaze red ants. This was my third or fourth elephant ride, so it's kind of getting ho-hum.

The rain around the elephant ride was the only time it actually rained while I was there.

Railay is really nice, but frankly I'd go bonkers if I were there for more than three or four days. I'm just not a beach person. I suspect Ao Nang would be better base for exploring the area.

I've now uploaded photos of Railay, the emerald pond, etc. to my journal. You can find my new Krabi photo album at:
http://chiengfa.com/gallery2/main.ph...g2_itemId=1175

Hi Michael,
Great Pics.
It sounds like I've done the right thing by chosing AO Nang as a base. We will be there in a week after 3 days in Bangkok. I cant wait. Let us know if you can recommend any good cheap spots to eat (Thai/Seafood) or any good little bars that you have been to.
Also , can you please ask someone if the Ao Nang Princess has started to do the daily service to Phi Phi yet. We need to get to Phi Phi on Friday 2/11 and we were hoping that we didn't have to go back to the Ferry terminal near Krabi Town. If you can find out for mw It would be greatly appreciated..

Hi,

My wife & I will be there later this week on our honeymoon and would like to see the hot waterfall & emerald pool.
Was it easy to book onto this tour?
How much did it cost if you don't mind my asking?

Thanks

For booking the tour, it's quite easy as there are tour shops in every hotel and a few outside as well, and they all carry this tour.

The cost, I think, was around 1,500 Baht, lunch included.