Klimbing in Krabi Thailand!

Railay Beach, Krabi, Thailand

One of our last stops was in Krabi, Thailand on Railay Beach where we spent 8 days spoiling ourselves at a nice private villa at one of the beach resorts. Besides being absolutely gorgeous, the next best thing about Railay is that it is only accessible by boat. The beach is cut off from the mainland by huge limestone cliffs shooting out of the water which means no roads or motorized vehicles . . . . and most importantly no motor scooters! Being away from roads and cars gave us the much needed excuse to finally relax and slow down after traveling for 4 weeks. On the days we weren't relaxing we took a thai cooking class (so I can make Thai food that WON'T make me sweat profusely), snorkeled, kayaked, swam, and climbed.   

On the day we snorkeled, we hired a guy from the resort to take us around on his boat. . . which basically meant we paid him to go spear fishing with his buddies while we snorkeled. We actually had a lot of fun with them despite thinking they were pirates when we pulled up to their boat. Judge for yourself. So instead of snorkeling looking at fish, I was more fascinated watching them catch fish with their spear guns. It was impressive to watch them track a fish from the surface, take a deep breath, dive down about 20 feet, aim, and take a shot.  They caught a couple good size barracudas that we ate that night for dinner at our hotel!

The climbing on Railay was incredible and definitely the highlight of the trip for me (close second for Margie behind those cute Tiger cubs). The rock was unlike anything I have climbed before with stalagtites and giant pockets in the rocks everywhere. We hired a guide named Jan, who was the top ranked woman's climber in Thailand, to take us climbing four days. She was great fun and took us on a bunch of awesome, challenging climbs. As I was climbing one of the routes, I heard something next to me. I turned and saw a monkey who climbed a tree next to the rock to see what I was up to. He looked right at me and cackeled. . . . I assume he was laughing at my poor climbing technique as he swung from branch to branch effortlessly.

Bangkok, ThailandBefore flying home we did have a quick layover in Bangkok for 1.5 days. We spent the day siteseeing and found that our feet were pretty tired from shopping and walking around temples. Luckily there was a "fish spa" near by. A fish spa is where you stick your feet into a large aquariam that has about 5000 little fish inside that enjoy to feast on the dead skin of your feet. It felt nice and relaxing until you looked down and saw all the fish basically eating away at your toes! I can't say that we'd do it again. . . .but it really did help both of our feet! After 2 months of walking in flip flops and barefoot on the sand, my feet were a bit rough, however after a 20 minute buffet for those little fish, they honestly felt much softer! When in Rome . . . . .  

Probably the only good thing that came out of the riots in Bangkok earlier this year was that Margie and I got over half price for a couple nights at a 5 star hotel called the Penninsula. We had already planned a nice "end of the trip" dinner at the hotel but as we were getting ready for dinner Margie checked her email to find some exiting news that she had just made partner at her law firm! It made for an extra special dinner that night and a perfect end to our 5 weeks together traveling! It was also something to keep our spirits up as we headed back home and back to work. . . I wonder. . . what will fade first, my smile, tan or spirit?