Thailand: Beautiful Beaches, Cliffs, and Sickness

We used Nick's last parental leave week to go to Thailand and Cambodia. What a week it was. First up, the gorgeous beaches and cliffs of the Krabi area.
Thailand is overwhelming when trying to choose a beach location. We ended up choosing the Railay Beach area of Krabi after having friends that stayed there and doing some research. What a great decision it was; the beach was just stunning with the big cliffs right next to you. We enjoyed many, many breakfasts and dinners right on the beach because why not?

 

 

 






This beach is technically connected to the Krabi peninsula, but it is only accessible by a short long tail boat ride from Ao Nang due to the cliffs. So fun to zip around in the longtail and see the cliffs. On the way we had a private hotel transfer boat, but on the way back we did the more "local" luggage 8 person boat full.

 

Although, Railay has become a super touristy day trip location, we still really enjoyed it. The mornings and evenings were much quieter, and even during busy times, you could find your own section of beach just a little ways down. It was always amazing how it could go from 1-2 long tails in the morning to 15-25 by lunch time!

 

 

 

Most of our days were spent relaxing either at the beach or the pool. Emmeline worked on her
swimming with no float, and got quite good.  She also learned to dive under to pick coins off the bottom of the kids' pools. With two pools at our resort, there was no shortage of pool fun, especially since our room was right by one, which allowed us to be at the pool while Corabelle napped.

 

 

The beach provided hours of entertainment too. Corabelle, of course, liked to eat the sand but also enjoyed swimming in the water. Emmeline built some sand castles, and also loved swimming in the water. One morning we went to another part of our beach, about a 10 minute walk away, which was lovely first thing in the morning but by the time we left was getting packed with tourists. The food truck long tail boats were a hit at this beach, though.

 

 

 

 

 


We had originally thought we might do a day trip to Phi Phi Islands, but since Maya Bay is closed indefinitely, we did some research and realized it was just going to be a very touristy, snorkeling boat ride. Instead, we opted for a private long tail to take up to Poda Island, only about 25 minutes away. This is a stop of the super popular "4 Islands Tour" but because we had a private driver, we arrived way before everyone else and had the place to ourselves for several hours. The sand was powdery white, and the water was crystal clear with beautiful turquoise shades. We realized after arriving that in college Nick had a poster on his wall of this island, so funny! After some beach play, snorkeling, and swimming, it was time to head back to our resort. This is a definite highlight of our trip, though.

 

 

 

There were lots of monkeys at our resort, but a different kind than we've seen in Singapore and Bali, so it was fun to watch them jump from tree to roof. The Walking Street of Railay was filled with local restaurants, massage places, and fruit shake stands. We ate so many fruit shakes, so good and refreshing! I also got a few massages (at $10 an hour it was too good to pass up), but learned that Thai massages are not my favorite unless I have sore muscles! People say that prices on Railay are double that of Bangkok and other mainland areas of Thailand, but I was perfectly happy with $1 beers, $1.50 fruit shakes, and $4 meals ($7-10 at the resorts right on the beach). The Thai food was nothing spectacular, as it all started tasting the same after a few meals, but pad thai will always be a favorite for me.

 

 

 

And food brings us to the end and low of our trip. On the cab ride to the Krabi airport, I started feeling really sick, but I thought it was just motion sickness from the hot car. I fully anticipated that I would feel much better as soon as I stepped into fresh air. That did not happen, but thankfully, we were at the airport super early, so we just found a spot to sit down. I continued to not feel well, but still didn't suspect anything other than motion sickness. I went to the bathroom and after walking back to our chairs, I suddenly knew I was going to be sick and there was no way I could make it back to the bathroom. As Nick frantically ran looking for a trash can, I tried to hold it in as long as I could. After cleaning up that mess, I felt slightly better, so we made our way to check in, only to be told that we needed to walk to the other terminal to clear customs there since we were connecting to an international destination. Poor Nick wore Corabelle, carried 3 backpacks, and corralled Emmeline. We somehow made it on the flight to Bangkok, where I spent pretty much the whole flight in the bathroom.  In Bangkok, after hobbling through the airport, we found a place where I pretty much laid for the next 3 hours while Nick entertained and fed the kids (thank goodness for Netflix). As we boarded to go to Siem Reap, I felt terrible again (a nice French lady helped us), and immediately threw up in the seat bag after sitting down. Luckily, that seemed to be the end of it, and by the time we arrived in Siem Reap, I was feeling better. I put it down to food poisoning since it was so short lived (8 hours), even though we couldn't quite figure out from what since we'd all eaten the same thing. But, we'll revisit this later in the Cambodia post. How about some sunset photos to end this post on a positive note? :)