Thailand: mostly a Paradise

We made it to the beautiful beaches of southwestern Thailand on the Andaman Sea.  Since we did not want to be stuck to any one place due to the rainy season and ease of transportation, we decided to book our first stop was Railay Beach for 3 nights.  To get to the beach you have to take a longtail boat and climb through the water with all your luggage.  Despite our precautions, I dropped my iPhone into the Andaman sea, while getting off the boat.  It probably happens a lot, but I was dismayed to see how happy it made the crew of our boat to watch a tourist drop an iPhone.  Somehow it survived and we were off to a good time.

Sondra Making the slippery climb.

We wanted to explore Railay and one of the fun things to do was to climb to the "view point."  The signs to the view point were clear,  they pointed directly up a muddy cliff with some ropes hanging down.  What we thought would be a relaxing beach day turned into a muddy climb.  It was worth it for the view though. Since we promised our families we would come back in one piece and we still had 4 weeks of travel at that point, we opted to not repel without a harness to the bottom of a lagoon.

Panorama of Railay from the "viewpoint."  Out hotel is the bright white one on the rightish.

On our last day in Railay we decided to do an excursion to the myriad of cliff islands around the bay.  The water was beautiful for some snorkeling and the islands were exotic to say the least.  This is the rainy season for Southeast Asia, so in the distance we could see rain clouds come and go, dispensing rain on unlucky tourists.  It's fun to look at when it's not happening to you.

We pose while rain drenches other tourists.  My nipple is smushed.

We stopped at Poda island for a dinner cooked by the crew (which may or may not have given us food poisoning, the verdict is out. . . and it's back, this did cause us food poisoning).  The view and sunset were amazing though.  

Beautiful Poda Island with sand walkway.

We left Railay beach, which is actually a peninsula of the mainland, for a the non-touristic island of Koh Yao Noi. We had to take a giant long tail boat with some locals to the island in a rainstorm. 

Otherworldly sunset from Poda Beach.

We loved Koh Yao Noi, but don't have very many pictures to prove it, due to a serious rainstorm dumping buckets of rain on the area for 3 days straight.  For the first 2 nights we stayed at a secluded resort in the middle of a nature preserve and the last 2 nights we stayed in the village. The island is inhabited by native Thai people and some very friendly French people. We rented a scooter to get around the single street that connects all of Koh Yao Noi and managed to find one of the best restaurants on our trip so far- Je t'aime, which had some amazingly fresh seafood prepared french style.

Our boat departing Koh Yao Noi.  The amount of little islands in this area is astounding.  I think if Jax beach had just one of these little islands it would be a huge tourist destination.  Just look at Cannon beach, Oregon.

We leave the relaxation of southern Thailand for the hustle and bustle of Bangkok.  Bangkok is a truly international city that can offer any type of person what they are looking for.  Just ask David Carradine.    We wake up early and hit the tourist spots.

The "watching sports center Buddha," more accurately known as the "reclining Buddha" at Wat Pho.

The palace and reclining Buddha in Bangkok are amazing sites.  Compared to the minimalistic temples of Japan, and the ruins of Angkor Wat, they are outrageous.  The palace is covered with tiles of every color, mirrors, and glass.  The reclining buddha was coated in gold.  It was a completely different take on Buddha.

For 20 Baht, you can get a tin of about 100 coins to place in other containers, and make a wish for each one.  This is an awesome tradition that every religion should have.  We actually ran out of things to wish for.  How many times does that happen?  BTW everyone reading this blog should now have good health thanks to our wishes.

Mo money mo wishes.

We met up with family friends, KC and his wife Yui.  Yui is from Thailand.  They met in the US, and have since married, and lived in Thailand for the last year.  KC met us and took us shopping, and that night they took us to an amazing Thai restaurant by the water, where we had some truly amazing food and conversation.  This meal was definitely the best authentic thai food we ate during our trip. Thank you KC and Yui for a wonderful last night in southeast Asia.  The next morning we leave for Istanbul.

Beautiful dinner and company.