Hip Hip..Rye Lay!

Railay was by far my favorite spot of the trip. I think I say that about everywhere, but I mean it this time!
It was so relaxed, so beautiful and SO fun.
Every time I think about Thailand I think of Railay (pronounced like the post title).
I cant remember If I have said this on my blog or not, but I have been lucky enough to travel all over the world and Thailand is the one place Iwould for sure go back anytime!
There is only 1 more post and our trip will be wrapped up. I really hope you can make it there one day.
After Phi Phi we were ready for a chill environment. I am so grateful for Russ who did some research on Railay because it was awesome!!!
We hopped on a ferry from Phi Phi and went across the wonderful ocean for a couple hours. The ferry deck was so hot and we enjoyed dangling our feet over the side again and listening to some more tunes.

Little did we know, both of our legs would be FRIED from dangling them right above the reflective water. Ouch is all I have to say. Probably one of the worst burns Ive had.
Arriving back on the mainland of Thailand.

Once we arrived at the mainland we had to take another small long tail boat to Railay. Its the only way to get to it!
We got off the long tail boat and started walking looking for a place to stay. It is such a small little area, but still kind of confusing. We were so hot and so hungry we stopped for another delicious Thai pancake and slushy.
This is about the time I realized how burned I really was. You could feel the heat coming off my legs from inches away. Again...ouch.
So we got a place to stay, got our towels wet with cold water and wrapped our legs for a bit.
That night we went to grab some food but on the way noticed our place had a cold swimming pool so Russ jumped in and I dangled my crisp legs in.
We had a delicious Thai dinner and sat on the beach and talked for hours. It was so chill and fun. I buried my legs in the cool sand and chatted away.
Next to us, there was a guy lighting a lantern.
You make a wish and release them into the sky. It was so cool to watch these lanterns fly all over in the sky.

The next morning we discovered the very best BLT Ive ever had in my life. Who would have thought? After breakfast we headed straight to the beach. I of course for the hundredth time had very burned legs so I just wanted to swim in the cool ocean all day and keep them out of the sun. And that we did. I have never spent so much time in the water as I did in Railay. The water temp was PERFECT, and the scenery was amazing.
We swam for a bit and decided to go get some food...that was the theme of the trip-food and ocean.
On our way to find some food we ran into these little critters!



At this point in the trip we had been there almost 2 weeks and had been eating Thai food for breakfast lunch and dinner. We had been seeing "hamburgers" advertised everywhere. We fought it for a long time thinking we should take advantage of the Thai food, but we couldnt resist! It was interesting, but a good change.

Then back to playing in the ocean we went! I loved loved LOVED this beach. We spent most of our time here and it was incredible. The pictures just do not do it justice. There were big beautiful island like things all over the place!



Railay is known for climbing and what an amazing place to climb. They also had really cool caves but this was about as much exploring we did in the caves and climbing...not much!

Oh but the water was so nice!

Russ did a little snorkeling

And I enjoyed the sunset


Isnt it beautiful?


We sat on the beach and watched the pretty sunset and got back in the water for some night swimming.
As we were simming, we noticed some fish like thing glowing in the dark!
They were something called microscoptic plenkton( I spelled that completely off of sound. I have no idea how to spell it, so sound it out :) ). As you move in the water they glow!! They are tiny little things, almost like static. It was incredible!!
The next morning we hung out at our sweet bungalow for a bit.


There was a cat that must have known how much I loved animals because he made himself right at home, helped himself right on in!

Since I had just been on my elephant Wendy I thought I would stick would stick with the Peter Pan theme, so this was my new cat Peter.

We then headed out, had another round of those delicious BLTs and went back to our favorite beach.
On our way, we decided to take a little hike to the view point.
It was basically a climb, not a hike, but the view was beautiful.
I would like to thank Russell for making me do it. I didnt want to because I was wearing a dress and flip flops, but he carried all the gear and talked me into it and Im so glad he did.

This is actually on the way down, but you can see what we climbed.

The view from the top.



Right after we did the hike, we stopped for another fruit shake.
As we were walking, we saw a pack (is that what a bunch of monkeys are called?) as we often did on our walks. Russ thought he would reach out to the monkeys, do a little bonding. Little did he realize they were thieves!



Well, I hope you enjoyed his shake monkey. "You got the best of me this time monkey".

If it seems like all we did in Thailand was eat and swim, then you are exactly right.
Because right when we got to the beach we saw this awesome boat just waiting to sell us some pad thai. Isnt it great!? You didnt even have to get out of the water to eat!
I enjoyed some delicious pad thai and Russ got another shake...but not before
strutting his speedo again.


We had another delicious dinner that night, and called it a day.
The next morning I was so bummed to leave! But, we were on to another tiny island which was supposed to be the best diving/snorkeling.
So, for our last day in Railay, we spent every second in the water. Im pretty sure I was in the ocean for like 5 hrs straight.
Russ did some last minute snorkeling...look how cool his pictures are.
Oh, but on our way to the beach I found this cat that I still think of to this day.
From what little English this lady knew, she was able to act out that this poor kitten couldnt see! So, I named it Stevie. When I went to put the kitty down it couldnt walk either :(
I wanted to take it home so bad...love ya Stevie.

Back to the snorkeling..



Gosh, its no wonder I gained so much weight on the trip, in almost every picture we are eating, or getting food!

Railay...you were really good to us.