Phi Phi & Railay, Thailand

(September 11-15) Matt and I have absolutely no bargaining skills. None. Our attempts end in us paying close to full price. When the difference is a couple of baht which equates to US chump change we don't get too bothered by our lack of haggling. I am still tramatized from having to sell candy bars door to door as a child and the inevitable rejection of that. How that translates to bargaining rejection I have no idea, I just don't like confrontation.

Our Tuk Tuk driver deposited us at the Ferry Terminal and we were sleuthly approached by a Thai woman selling tickets to Koh Phi Phi. She spoke in hushed tones averting her eyes as though we weren't engaged in conversation merely just occupying the same piece of land at the same time. She quietly begged us to go with her for a reduced rate and we agreed. The ferry took over an hour and was filled with Chinese day-trippers. I burned my tonge on the free coffee and dove into my book.

We'd heard mixed reviews about Phi Phi and off the boat I could understand the negative. The street down the main drag was elbow to elbow with travel agencies and farangs (aka whitey or to be more PC, foreigners). Last time I checked we fall into the farang category too, but there's something romantic about having an island all to yourself and clearly everyone else had the same idea. After some shock at the prices on Ton Sai Beach we took a boat taxi to Rantee beach.
The guide book described nameless bungalows at criminally low rates and we happy at the author's acurateness. For 7 US dollars we got a thatched grass tree house right on the beach with a deck and most importantly a hammock. With a white sand beach, coral reef and a bar right outside our door step we were happy campers. Roosters would rouse us out of sleep and we'd watch the sunrise on damp chairs with puffy eyes.

The rainy season in Thailand doesn't come by that name lightly and we were made acutely aware of the torrent of the downpours on our second day at Rantee and the two days in Railay. The sky absolutely unloaded as we waited for a boat taxi to Raily from Krabi pier. Day went quickly to night and mud just liquified down the streets into the bay. With the rain still coming down, but not as angerly as before, we boarded the long boat and huttled together under the small awning scrunching our faces against the water spraying us and simultaneously beating down on us. We climbed up what felt like ten foot waves every couple of feet and would crash down at various intervals. Scarey alittle, thrilling totally.

Railay and Phi Phi share the uniqueness of limestone formations that droop into the water and over the land like a wet drippy sandcastles. It is a rock climbers Mecca and a spalunker's dream. To avoid the heavy constant raindrops we ventured into the depths of the Diamond Cave and cowered every time we heard the wings of a bat flutter. When the sun managed to break through the gray storm clouds we sat on the beach and watched monkeys play overhead being careful not to get impalled by a discarded corn cob on a stick compliments of the monkeys.