After a leisurely start to our first full day at Railay, the men decided to go climbing to the highly-touted lagoon and viewpoint, while Lizard decided to channel her inner iguana and sunbathe on Pranang beach. Pranang is the most stunning of Railay's 3 beaches, situated at the end of the peninsula and surrounded by massive limestone cliffs and monkey-filled jungle.
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| Panoramic view of a Railay Beach |
The eastern cliffs (to the left in the picture) were what Come, Ben and I decided to climb. The climb began on the path to Pranang from the other beaches, a few ropes and a cautionary sign on the side of a steep, muddy vertical rise.
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| Looking down on Come and Ben climbing |
After making our way up to the top of the cliffs, we managed to find the lookout point pretty easily and got a few photos...
Afterwards, we went off to find the mysterious lagoon. Descending from the top of the cliffs, we made the tough trek down through the jungle and rock faces, hanging from ropes and shimmying through crevices and holes in the rocks.
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| Come in the jungle, en route to the lagoon |
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| The rocks down to the lagoon (from below) |
When we finally arrived to the lagoon, we were tired and ragged, sandals lost and shirts stained and ripped. Even though the lagoon was not particularly scenic and very muddy, the adventure of the climb made it worthwhile. And entertainingly, prior visitors had used the mud to create little shrunken heads along one of the walls - so I made one, and once I had placed it on the wall it shrunk and kind of looked like a football head (like Stewie from Family Guy).
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| The lagoon |
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| The lagoon's shrunken mud heads |
Afterwards, we joined Lizard to enjoy Railay Beach's less strenuous offerings. Pranang beach was beautiful, so many more pictures were taken...
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| Lizard lounging in the water |
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| A view of an island off the beach |
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| Cliffs and caves leading to the hollow center of the big limestone outcropping seen on the left-hand side of the panorama above |
That evening, we went to the hopping east side of the peninsula to find some dinner. After first stopping at a dud of a restaurant, we found a nice restaurant that Come said reminded him of Bali (we'll be there in less than a week!). There we had some great food and even some red wine, which all of us were missing after a month in Singapore (home of the $100 table wine).
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| Ben, Come and Karim at failed dinner spot #1 |
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| Sitting down for dinner at the more appealing second restaurant |
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| Tanned and flowered |
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| Sultry Lizard |
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| Thai Buddha/Santa |
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