Location: Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

I woke up earlier than everyone else, so I decided to take a stroll to Ao Nang beach which is maybe 10 minutes down the road. I haven’t even left this street yet since getting here yesterday and I can already tell I’m really going to like Krabi. I think it might have been high tide when I got there because the strip of sand was pretty small and the waves crashed up against a stone wall built next to the street. I stood in the sand anyway and wiggled my toes into it but it was a weird feeling because it was really gritty. Like every piece of sand was just a full chunk of seashell!

I wandered around the area, stopping for a cashew chicken stir-fry breakfast. I have leaned hard into basically having whatever I want to eat whenever I want it so when Sanni came to join me she was so surprised that’s the way I was eating… given that she isn’t really even into Thai food, let alone for breakfast. I know, wild right?

We herded Stuart, Giuliano, and Annie together and after 19 different versions of ‘I just need to grab this one thing’, we finally set out to see Railay Beach. None of us really knew how to get there but we wandered towards the water and eventually found a long tail boat ticket stand who adhered to the ‘we will go when the boat is full’ schedule.

I didn’t think that we would go too far off the coast but even with the big waves, wind, and rain clouds the driver seemed totally unbothered and went straight into the open ocean. A bit wide eyed, and a little wetter after walking through thigh deep water to get to and from the boat, we made it to the beach.

Sharp limestone cliffs rose up around us, with big overhangs of pointed stalactites and deep caves marking the sides. A lot of the area definitely looked like a dragon could dive out of any crag any second and I was in awe that people willingly rock climb this stuff. All of us for sure thought we’d be able to dive right into the water and swim around but it stayed no more than thigh deep for at least a kilometre out and was brown and silty. We ended up all sitting in the water (with some sun shining even!) until we got pruny, rubbing the soft dark sand onto our skin and chatting away. I was happy to see Railay beach, but was even happier to be there with good people. I think without them it might not quiiiite have lived up to what I was expecting. It seems like none of us have much of anything in common, which meant I was consistently surprised by the turns in conversation as we all sat in the water.

Late in the afternoon the clouds started rolling in and we were all getting peckish, particularly Stuart and Giuliano who hadn’t eaten yet all day. We waded back out to the long tail boats, giving up entirely on keeping our clothes dry as the waves crashed up right to our chests. Ok cool that’s fine!

And then we left the bay.

The wind really picked up when we hit the open ocean, and waves started crashing up against the boat. Rain poured in and we all got absolutely, completely soaked. right. through. I looked around at one point with salt water stinging my eyes and every person was dripping head to toe, hair plastered to our faces and whipping around in the wind, laughing. They say you don’t know when you’re making a memory, but strangers from seven different countries sitting on a boat in the Straight of Malacca, soaked to the bone and laughing at each other is one of those moments you know you won’t forget. The driver stood at the back, forcing the boat between waves to manoeuvre us closer to land.

The five of us piled into a tuk tuk, because despite being already 100% wet, none of us really felt like walking 30 minutes in the rain to get back to the hostel. After a quick clean up, Stuart, Giuliano, Annie and I grabbed dinner at a local food market. Stalls in a square surrounded metal tables, covered by a big tent with lights strung up around were all selling familiar Thai fare.

We were all getting pretty tired but it was till too early to crawl into bed, so we stopped into a massage parlour to kill a little time and relax. I have been really leaning into the foot massages, which sometimes have a little head, neck and shoulder massage tacked onto the end. The other three went for a full oil massage, which I haven’t been quite brave enough to try yet. I have had quite a number of massages in Thailand so far, and yet this was the first place that turned off most of the lights and put on what what basically a lullaby. Stuart fell asleep so hard he forgot where we he was, and I nodded in and out on my lazyboy chair. I probably could have stayed for another full hour when they finished up.

We all took up spots on the floor pillows at the hostel, reading, sorting through pictures and chatting lazily on and off. I’m still sitting here, writing away as my friends trickle off to bed, and I think I might be happy to stay in Krabi awhile longer.

Sav