railay/tonsai

An amazing, relaxing two days.  Read more here!

On the first boat.

To the left is Tonsai, to the right is Railay West.

Where I stayed.

Tonsai was just the beach in the front, then this road that went around in a loop and was lined with bungalows, bars, and restaurants.

Hehe

More fireshows at the jungle party.

Dressed up for the contest.

My 19 year old Thai friend.  Ha.

tonsai

Gah, I have so much to update since I was being super lazy for two days.

So three days ago, I think, I took a boat from Phuket to Railay.  I didn’t have a place booked to stay, so was debating where I wanted to go.  Railay is divided up in three areas: West Railay, East Railay, and Tonsai.  The west side is the fancier, expensive area with a nice small beach, the east side is cheaper with a nasty mud beach, and Tonsai I had heard was very chill and where all the hippie backpackers go.  But the whole area is very small, and not many people go there since it’s between the more developed areas of Ao Nang and Koh Lanta.  Railay is apparently one of the top rockclimbing destionations in the world, so at least half the people there are climbers.

Anyway, I decided to go with Tonsai.  So I had to take a longtail boat there from Railay, and when I was getting out of it, another boat had just arrived as well.  An American guy got off at the same time I did, and we ended up talking and hanging out the two days I was there.  All the bungalows were pretty booked, but we each found a room at different places pretty easily.

Then the two days were spent just lounging around.  Tonsai is sooo relaxed and it’s a really small place.  Every other person has dreadlocks, and the bars were all reggae-themed and had names such as Peace & Love Bar, Chill Out Bar, Stone Bar, etc. so you can imagine what kind of place it was.  There also isn’t electricity anywhere from 6am-6pm, so the only bad thing was that it was impossible to sleep in the heat when my fan turned off in the morning.  But the beach was pretty much empty the whole time, which is really rare for Thailand in high season.  So it was a very perfect place, one of my favorites on the trip for sure.

The first night there happened to be a Jungle Fantasy party, so a lot of people dressed up in leaf-clothes for prizes.  There were a ton of Spanish people there, so I got to practice what I have left in my memory.  Most of the night was a blur, but I remember talking to a lot of people who had been there for months, just climbing and hanging out.  I can see how people would want to stay there for so long, I wish I had been able to for longer than two days.

Anyway, not much really happened on Tonsai, but it was great.  This morning, I took another boat to Phi Phi, which is super crowded and totally different.  I want to find a boat tour for the day tomorrow to see all the different beautiful islands here.. then the day after I fly back to Phuket, then Bangkok, then Seoul for one day.  Ahhh, so sad to leave SE Asia but very excited to go home!

And there goes all my money…

I am just staying in Phuket Town today since I arrived too late for the beach, and I haven’t really heard anything good about this island anyway. So tomorrow I’m taking an early ferry to Railay where I hope I can find accommodation for a decent price. The two hour ferry cost $20 which is the most I’ve spent on a single thing in a really long time. I have four more full days (two on Railay and two on Koh Phi Phi) and I’m scared to think how much I’ll spend. Eep!