Rock Climbing Railey

We found out more about Railey where we are staying, it is a small area on the mainland that is only accessible by boat, so it is more like an island. There are no police or hospitals, which seemed a little scary at first. This is the furthest south we have been and the population is more Muslim (still about 60% Buddhist, but we seem to notice more of the 40% of the Muslims, at least the women b/c they wear the head scarves). The religious make-up reflects on the atmosphere. We have seen Thai women swimming in clothes and only about 20% of the places on the west beach serve alcohol.

However, we also did see a 7 year old kid selling beers out of a bucket of ice on the west beach and conversely, the east beach seems to embrace all things Bob Marley. One of the bars on the east beach had a ladies night featuring "free magic juice & nine year old flame thrower." We want to find more about the flame dancing at night, we have seen it at a couple places and it doesn't seem to be rooted as a historical Thai past time, more like a gimmicky transplant from Hawaii or something.

Levi went rock climbing this morning on the giant limestone Karst formation that we can see from our bungalow (it reminds us of the Half Dome in Yosemite, it dominates the skyline). Levi booked a 1/2 day beginner package with King Climbers. Levi was pleasantly surprised to see that the guides were all Thai (our scuba instructors while great, were from Canada & Lebanon). All of the guides also had very unique styles (one had a necklace made out of a King Cobra skeleton, another was wearing Cowabunga pants- Bob Marley style of course). If most of these guys were dropped off any where in the world, they could pick up chicks, their coolness transcended cultures. Levi learned the double eight safety knot & how to belay w/an ACT. At one point Levi was belaying for his guide, Tik, when Tik called for more slack b/c the tension in the rope was hurting his "snake." It seemed funnier when the phrase was delivered from 100 feet up the rock in a Thai accent. The package included 5 climbs, staring with a first climb of about 50 feet and ending with two climbs that were about 180 feet high. All of the grips were real good, so it was a great morning of climbing for a beginner like Levi.

Jen spent most of the morning on the west beach, while Railey doesn't have near as many beach dogs as Koh Tao, it did have more beach cats, including this kitty, that Jen just had to cuddle. All of the cats' tails are crooked or bobbed off. When we asked the locals about it they didn't explain why.

We linked back up in the afternoon and checked out a cave system that was part of Thailand's national park (pictures didn't turn out great b/c they were too dark). On our way back from the cave we saw our first monkeys (3 of them!), this sighting happened exactly at the same time our batteries ran out in our camera.

We watched the sunset again from one of the few bars on the west beach and started a game of rummy with a giant deck of playing cards. We ate dinner at a place called the Rock Restaurant that was high up and had a beautiful view of the beaches & the giant karst. We finished the night at the Stone Bar, which was located right beneath the karst Levi climbed earlier that morning (the bar lit up the karst at night with giant flood lights). The Stone Bar had a very mellow vibe (we thought Rob Hatfield would love this place & never leave), the seating consisted mostly of pillows on decks looking up at the rock & the stars.