Rai Leh...beach town

Michelle is simultaneously blogging about the travels south and the day before we arrived in the Pranang Cape area, specifically Rai Leh beaches.  We had a fabulous boat trip to Ko Phi Phi and arrived at Rai Leh west around 3:30pm with our shoulders burnt to a crisp despite many many applications of sunscreen. =(  This of course meant that schlepping our packs around felt just ducky!  We didn't have place to stay yet so we just wandered around Rai Leh east (cheaper, not as nice side of the peninsula) looking at like 8 or 10 places and asking prices.  We traipsed all over for almost 2 hours and then ironically settled on the first place we looked at splurging for an A/C bungalow for 500baht (~$15).

Once we showered and settled in we headed back to Rai Leh west to watch the sun set and relax before wandering back in search of food.  Since this was really our first "beach town" experience we decided to go all out and enjoy the night life as well. =)  We shared some coconut curry and a Songsam bucket (basically Thai rum and coke--we said no to the Red Bull!) sitting at a comfy little table at the Skunk bar.  A couple of girls who were in our Thai cooking class in Chiang Mai stopped to check the menu so we said hi and invited them to join us.  They are Canadians but one of them is currently teaching in Vietnam and it was nice to chat with them.  After dinner we walked up the beach a bit to the Last Bar that had been advertising live music and a fire show.  We shared another songsam bucket and really enjoyed the "mai thai" band.  It was quite nice and relaxing and after the first set the fire show started.  And that was AWESOME!  Three or four different guys were involved and did fire dancing to hip hop or techno music.  They put the the luau fire show guys to shame they were so good!  I got a few great pics on the camera that we'll post at some point...but not now since we're paying more for internet here than anywhere else we've been so far.

Today we slept in and then went on a great adventure up to a viewpoint over Rai Leh and to see a saltwater lagoon.  You'll see it when we post pics but basically this peninsula is all limestone cliffs that are gorgeous...it's a rock climbers paradise!  So what the guidebook described as a "steep hike" was much more like a combination rock scramble/free climb/bouldering/hiking combo that was a bit intimidating at first but was actually very fun!  It was also quite dirty since the mud was red and we had a LOT of cleaning to do when we got back!  It was possible to climb down to the lagoon but the descent (and then subsequent ascent) down the 15ft cliff with just a muddy rope was a bit too much for us so we had to be content with a sliver of a view between cliffs.

After cleaning our shoes and clothes and purifying some more water we walked over to Pranang cave and beach to relax for a couple hours this afternoon.  Pranang cave wasn't super exciting and is kind of funny because fisherman made offerings there and for whatever reason the offering are all phalluses. =)  So it's basically a big penis shrine which is pretty strange!  The beach was gorgeous surrounded by the cliffs and looking out on a bunch of little islands off the coast.  We strategically placed our little towel to keep our sunburned top halves in the shade and our pasty white legs in the sun. =) 

Tonight we were pretty hungry so we splurged and split a BBQ skewer from our hotel restaurant that was basically a chicken kabob but came with salad, soup, corn & a baked potato for 120baht.  We think that tomorrow we'll go check out the last beach in this area and then take a longtail boat to Ao Nang and try to find a guesthouse there.  On the 17th we have to make our way back to Surat Thani for our overnight train back to Bangkok.  We probably won't be back online til we're back in Bangkok. 

Okay, I should wrap this up and finish a couple more things online before we head to bed!  Thanks again to everyone who has been texting or commenting on the blog. =)

-mari