From Bangkok to Railay Beach

I have made it to Railay Beach, a small peninsula off of southern Thailand that is only accessible by boat. The trip down here involved my first ever train ride followed by a bus trip and finally a small speedboat. The train ride was so much fun. I left the Bahi'a school late Wednesday afternoon after spending a very peaceful day recuperating from the hectic pace I have going at since arriving in Bangkok. Scott, a fellow I met that arranged for me to stay at the school, had one of his Thai friends drive me to the train station on his motercycle. What an experience! Driving a motorcycle here is nothing like in the states. Lanes are disregarded, and zipping in and around traffic is common place. Add me carrying my 25 lb. pack to the mix and it was quite a fun ride. I think we only came to a complete stop twice during the 15 min ride, and a few times I had to make sure my knees didn't get caught on either of the two cars we were slipping in between. Scott's friend did not speak much English, but he insisted on stayed with me until the train I needed came and that I was all situated before returning home. I very kind fellow =] Once on the train, I immediately met two of my fellow passengers when they saved me from dropping my bag on my head trying to get it onto the storage rack. Dominick and Andy are from London (actually a small town outside that I can't remember the name of) who were traveling to Samui for holiday. We struck up a conversation and ended up talking and hanging out for most of the train ride. They taught me how to play Beanies (a type of Rumy that has a rotating wild card) and we played and drank beer in the Buffet car until they kicked us out. It was tons of fun, and I got a lot of great advice and recommended places to see all over SE Asia from them. The car we were staying in was a 2nd class sleeper car, which meant the seats folded down to make beds and an upper bunk was folded out of the wall. I paid a bit lower price for the upper bunk, but really enjoyed it. It was an surprisingly comfortable night, with the rhythmic sound of the train on the tracks and the smattering of rain on the roof lulling me to sleep. We awoke at 5:30 in the morning, hopped off the train at Krabi and grabbed banana smoothies for breakfast while waiting for our buses. (the shake cost only $1.20 by the way) =]
We three ended up getting on the same bus after breakfast, but after half an hour I swapped to a different bus and bid farewell to the two blokes from England. Unlike the first bus, the bus I joined had no other tourist or English speakers, so I just had to hope that the driver was looking out for me and would let me know what stop to get off at. After a few hours, a bit of napping, a frantic search for a toilet at the one rest break we had, and numerous drop offs and pickups I was getting a bit worried I had missed my stop. Luckily I soon saw a sign for Krabi and new the ride was almost over. I was the last to get dropped off, and felt a bit apprehensive as the bus drove to a remote, secluded group of buildings and stopped with no other people in sight. It turns out I was actually at a spot where I could get a van ride from here to any of the three docks providing rides to Railay Beach. For only 159 baht (and no other options for a ride) I headed over to one of the docks. How quickly I was able to leave Krabi was dependent on the boat taxi finding enough passengers, and since this was low season I ended up waiting for almost 2 hours. The 45 min ride was pretty bland; except it starting raining halfway there and we only had a rough tarp spread over piping for cover, so we all ended up a bit damp. I am sure I made quite a sight, with my fedora pulled low, sunglasses, a bandana covering the lower half of my face and my rain jacket pulled halfway on to cover my arms!
I finally waded onto East Railay beach (luckily the rain had stopped for a bit) and went searching for a room for the night. Let me say this about Railay, I am going to be in such good shape after staying a week or two here! Everything back from the small beach is steep walkways and stairs, and there are no cars and only a few motorcycles here, so I will have a bunch of hiking to do. It is also amazingly beautiful. A picture perfect tropical rainforest mixed in with amazing sheer limestone cliffs and emerald green water. After a few minutes of hiking around, I finally found a bungalow in my price range (300 baht which equals $9). I grabbed a quick shower and then headed out to explore the area and find some food. I didn't make it far before the smell of Pad Thai and the smiling face of a lovely Thai woman drew me into a Rastafarian Bar right on the beach. I ate my fill and hung around for a bit because the skies had opened up again and were dumping a tons of rain. Here I met Job and Laura, two travelers from Ireland, who recommended I stay at Railay Cabanas (cheaper and nicer) and invited me to hang out while I was on Railay. Job has been coming here for the past 4 years and has really gotten to know the locals and where all the best food and atmosphere is. I didn't reconnect with them later in the evening, because I went back to my room for a nap and ended up sleeping the whole night through.