Post #141 - March 1, 2013 - Krabi Town, Thailand

What we did: Ton Sai beach, walking night market
Budget: 1800B/$60; Spent: 2131B/$71

Our guesthouse's owners recommended we check out a beach called Railay, so that was our plan this morning. Unfortunately, we woke up pretty late because we desperately needed sleep, so we skipped breakfast and hopped on a bus to Au Nang, from where we could take a boat to Railay. We found the bus easily enough, it was just a couple blocks from our guesthouse and locals knew that's where we wanted to go, so they directed us there. The stop for the buses is right in front of the 7-11, so it's pretty easy to figure out.

The bus, which is really just a truck with its bed converted into a covered seating area, took about 30 minutes and then we were in Au Nang, a touristy, beach resort type location. We were a little bit disappointed with how nice it was. Lonely Planet didn't recommend staying there, but we immediately wished we had once we saw it. It also has a nice long beach! It's not really wide, but Krabi Town doesn't have a beach at all!

We asked the bus driver where we could get a boat to Railay and he directed us to a nearby kiosk. We bought decent-priced return tickets to Railay and soon enough we were skipping along the surface of the ocean in a long boat. The ride took no longer than 10 minutes and the boat pulled into a very isolated looking beach surrounded by enormous karst hills. It was very beautiful, but a little more secluded than we had anticipated.

We jumped out of the boat and began looking for a place to eat. We found a nearby restaurant called "Ton Sai Cafe", which was confusing to us since Ton Sai is a beach distinct from Railay. It was then that Patty suggested we had not been dropped off at Railay, but at Ton Sai. We didn't really think too much of it, as we assumed this would not be an issue.

After a meal with a picturesque view, we wandered down the beach and observed many rock climbers. The rocks face here is so convoluted, it must be a rock climbers' paradise. Some of the climbers here were really good and many were doing it on their own without an instructor. It was neat to watch. This is where Brian from Chiang Mai had done a month of climbing only a month or so ago.

Unfortunately, the beach itself wasn't that nice. It was kind of rocky, which made us wonder why our guesthouse owners had recommended this beach to us in the first place. Anyway, we splashed around in the water for a couple hours and by the time sunset neared we began thinking of heading back to Au Nang. After 6pm we would have to pay more for the ride back, so we wanted to leave before then. We asked a travel agent type person and he pointed us in the direction of the long boats. When we went over there, they told us our tickets were only valid for Railay. This was when we learned without a shadow of a doubt that we had spent the entire day on the wrong beach. This beach was, in fact, Ton Sai, not Railay. Awesome.

Thankfully, Railay was literally around the corner at the end of the beach and the tide was low, so we could just walk there. There were some dicey moments walking over some of the rocks, but we eventually made it to the way better beach of Railay. Of course, it was a race against time since we wanted to make it there before 6pm, so some stress was involved in all of this.

It was a real shame we hadn't spent the day at the Railay beach because it’s about 1000 times better than Ton Sai. The sand is not rocky at all at Railay!

We caught a boat back to Au Nang, and then caught a bus back to Krabi town. It was all pretty quick and easy. When we arrived back to Krabi Town we decided to check out the weekend walking market. We were also hoping to grab a cheap dinner there, and we did. Krabi Town is much less touristy than Au Nang, Railay, and Ton Sai, so we got quite an interesting experience. The first thing we saw was a huge stage with young kids trying to breakdance. It was pretty hilarious. Some of them were pretty good, and others not so much. But they were all having a great time, and many people were watching and clapping.

We both got pretty good meals for really cheap. We stayed around the market and perused the shops, but didn't buy anything. After this, we just went back to the guesthouse to sleep.