Christmas Eve in Krabi

An entire days worth of travel to get to Thailand and the high cost of airfare etc and it was all worth it even if to just spend the one day we had today at Railay Beach. Railay is a little island just a few minutes away from Krabi by longtail boat. Lonely Planet lists it's beach as one of their faves in Thailand. It is famous for it's limestone cliffs highly suitable for rock climbing. We hired a guide, Noi, who taught us the belay knot and coached us for four hours in some intense climbing. It was a first for all of us. I (Angie) had a few seconds of a little voice screaming "your gonna die" in my head, Bill to a lesser degree and Sawyer pretty much not at all. At the end, our fingers and arms were cooked but our self satisfaction was sky high.

The landscape on the island is impressive as you can see. Limestone karsts burst out of the sea. Cliffs with stalactites are in abundance along with caves to meander through. The water was delicious to swim in until we started getting stinging bites from some mysterious microscopic something. Then we skeedaddled out of there.

Back in Krabi for the night we hit the night market again for dinner. About 75 food vendors with portable kitchens set up in the main pier parking lot (about 20 yds wide by 50 yds long). Woks are sizzling, soup is ladling, kids are running around, and the air is thick with aerosolized fried chili pepper. We met a London couple on the longtail boat return and saw them again at the night market, David and Nicola. Nice couple...we promised to mention them in our blog!

We are thinking of all those we love back home and wishing them a Merry Christmas!