Railay doesn't really rock

This morning I surprised someone special having breakfast on the roof.

I stayed 3 nights at East Railay. Tanja was there until the 18th and then she left me weeping in the pier :( Well, not literally but still it's a strange feeling to be on my own now. But the rescue is also near as an old high school mate of mine is staying at Ao Nang. She's a devoted diver and managed to convince me to book myself for a test dive on next Friday. Seriously, I've got no problems with high places & hanging on a wall but I've always thought the deep blue is only for fish. I even think flying is more natural than diving. So considering how suspicious I'm about the whole thing I'm probably gonna love it.

That's also how it's been with almost all the places in Thailand. I thought the islands are gonna be the highlight but so far Umphang is beating everything 10 – 0. I was very suspicious of Koh Lanta and that's actually the island I liked the most. On the other hand I was really excited about coming to Railay / Krabi but I have to admit that in the end I'm not too fond of the place. Yes, it's amazingly beautiful and the climbing possibilities would be pretty fantastic, but the massed of tourists are really a turn off. And no, I don't want to speak with other tourists about places I've been before.

And I also don't wanna go climbing with an audience. So I'm heading to Koh Yao Noi on Saturday for a full week of climbing. That's an island with fantastic routes, hardly any tourists, just a few climbers and loads of local people who actually live there and don't just work for a resort. Yes I know, I'm probably gonna hate it.

The place I probably liked most at Railay was the lagoon. It's quite difficult to get there which means there aren't so many people. You have to climb up to a limestone formation and then go down a very steep & muddy path. Most of the people turn back when they see the last 10 meters. In climbing grading it might even be a 4 but there's also ropes so actually it's easier than it looks like. Just a tip: don't go on low tide like I did, then it's more like a muddy hole than a lagoon... Well, I should have known better. Also don't go with small bikini & flip flops, c'mon people what are you thinking??? Anyway, it is quite a unique & fascinating place.

One thing really pissed me off in Railay: it was the first place people tried to fool me with money. On one evening I payed the beers with a 1000 baht note, waited for change forever and finally had to ask for it. And even then the change wasn't correct. Okay, I lost 40 baht but it's the principle that counts. On the next day 500 baht was missing from the change in a restaurant. Yes, THAT I did notice. So from now on I'll always count the money immediately. But really, 500 baht? Does it say “I'm stupid” on my forehead?

Now it's thundering & huge storm outside so I'll use it as a good excuse for me to hang out in the hotel room, not to drink beer for probably the 1st time on this trip (the night bus doesn't count) and still to be pissed off about the waiter. Tomorrow I'll move on to Ao Nang for 2 nights for the diving. Excited!!!

Oh yea, I also had my first experience of thai doctors yesterday. I left to the trip with an eye infection and I thought it was healed already, but due to driving a scooter in Koh Lanta & getting all the bugs and sand into the eye it got worse again. It also didn't like to get sprayed with insect repellent. So it was about time to show it to someone. I found a doctor at Ao Nang which was a dental clinic at the same time. But at least it wasn't the dentist who took a look at the eye but a nose – throat specialist. He flushed it with some liquid and covered it with a huge plaster. Hmmm.... Yea. I could hide it behind my huge sun glasses but c'mon, in this heat it just doesn't stick. But anyways the treatment helped and I don't look like I'm having a constant hang over anymore.