Krabi

Krabi is gorgeous! Krabi is made of limestone jetting out of the Adaman Sea and surrounded by Islands of the same. The shape of the rocks has changed over time due to erosion, which enhances the view by adding nooks, crannies and caves throughout the islands. Everywhere you look, the scenery is stunning to say the least. The first day I took an organized tour around some of the local islands and snorkeled. This is one of many of the beaches we visited.

The rest of this is going to read like a story in the hopes of having you experience it the way I did. Given my literary skills, I mainly hope you can follow my emotional roller coaster.

U of M reference: ladies, do you remember the day we went to the Arb and when we walked in we saw that dog running in, clean and happy about to have a great day? When we walked out, the dog was muddy and dirty and slowly humping along. It's kind of like that.

On the second day I got a long boat from Ao Nang, the beach where I am staying, and headed over to Railay Beach. I had heard from a girl in my dive class that there was a great lagoon you could hike to. Also, I was flirting with trying an introductory rock climbing course, depending on the height and steepness of the climbs, and Railay was a good place to do it. After inquiring about climbing, I decided to search out the path to the lagoon. People kept telling me where to go, but I couldn't find it. There was supposed to be a sign right by a hut along the concrete path between two beaches. After about an hour of walking back and forth, back and forth, I finally found it. By that time I had succumbed to wanting what I didn't think I could have; I needed to see that damn lagoon. There was one small problem, the path to the lagoon started at about a 65-degree angle and wasn't a path at all, but rather a hillside with rocks and tree roots.

After sitting for a few minutes, staring at that initial climb, I decided there wasn't a chance I was going up there alone. I asked everyone passing by if they were going to the lagoon, hoping to find a group to tag along with, but no one was going. I started to think that the beach would be good enough for the day.

Although the beach had some nice caves and scenery and the rest of the area was great, I still wanted to either find the lagoon or go rock climbing. After seeing the sheer vertical nature of the rocks, I thought I'd go the easy route and find a local guide to take me to the lagoon.

So, I hired Paul, a local rock climbing instructor. A professional was probably a bit extreme for this venture, but what the hell, he was the only guy I could find who would take me. That should have been my first clue.

We made our way up the first part pretty easily and for a few minutes, I had thought I was being a wimp by hiring a guide. But after we got to the view point overlooking all of Railay Beach, it all changed.

Because the lagoon is at sea level, we had to go back down to get to it. This was not for the faint of heart. It was actual rock climbing, unharnessed. The path down was tiered with vertical descents supported by knotted ropes. With each step I had to find a foot hold and something to grip on to with my hands, which was usually rock instead of the rope. Each 3-point hold, obviously, had to be secure. One tier had me hanging from a rope off of a 15' high drop. I nearly had a panic attack at that point and was no longer thinking that a professional rock climber was too much. At many points, he was the only way I could have found foot holds. After I made my way down from my hanging adventure, I could see the lagoon, so we kept going. The picture below on the left is a view looking up, you can see the path on the right side of the picture; the one on the right is looking down, you can see the lagoon through the crevice.

By the time we got there, I was covered, head to toe, in clay mud. Paul told me that the locals always know when someone has gone there because they come out looking like a disaster. The lagoon was gorgeous. It was about 100-150 feet wide with 200' high vertical limestone cliffs surrounding it. The lagoon was at sea level and filled with sea water. It was full at high tide, as seen here, but empty at low tide. Surprise, surprise, there were only a few people there. I think most of those who found the path decided the beach was a better choice for the day.

Since the most difficult part was the decent to the lagoon, the trip back was easy. It is much easier to go up than down when climbing. On the way back Paul told me this climb was scarier than actual rock climbing....no harness.

This shirt is a reference point as to how dirty I got. I only wore this on the way to the lagoon. After my swim, it was entirely too dirty to put back on. Needless to say, my bathing suit and body bore the brunt of the clay mud on the way out.