Weirded Out in Railay

Last stop in Southern Thailand was Railay Island

From the moment I got to Tonsai beach I started having weird feelings about the island. I felt like I had been transported to a whole different planet. The scenery was so dramatic with the huge lime stone cliffs jutting out of the water. It felt very Jurassic Park-esque. After getting off the boat we found a cute little bungalow set back from the beach on a small jungle road. Our accommodations were a bit more “rustic” then I had been anticipating (man, I got spoiled in Bali J ). Electricity was only available between 6pm and 6am, and even then it was prone to random bumps and outages. The people on the island were friendly but a bit odd. Kind of like they had been stranded on a remote island for too long (maybe that’s the case?)

When we checked in to our hotel we were warned about the ferocious monkeys. Oh great. More monkeys. What we weren’t warned about were the GIGANTIC bugs on the island. Seriously. These bugs were about 10 times the size a normal bug should be. Even the mosquitoes were giant sized.

After getting settled we wandered in search of food. The place seemed deserted. There were lots of little restaurants and bars but nobody was around. I know Thailand is headed into the low tourist season but it was a little spooky. Kind of like we were the only ones dumb enough to come to this island and stay here. We finally found a restaurant that was crowded with people and we watched the locals playing volleyball on the beach and watched some rock climbers scaling the enormous cliffs.

That night there was a charity concert at the “Chill Out Bar” to help raise money for the victims of the tsunami in Japan and for the flood victims in Southern Thailand.  During the concert I felt like I had been transported to a whole different time and place. I have never seen so many Thai hippies in my life. And these were serious hippies too. I felt like I had gone back in time to 60’s or 70’s. All the local Thai men had dreads, afros or really long hair. They were dressed in serious bell bottoms, tie-dye shirts and even vests with flowers on them. The air was permeated with the smell of…ahem…a certain substance.

Where am I??

 The concert started and the band played one of the strangest collections of songs I have ever heard. They played Thai and English songs, followed by what sounded like Irish step music, something Middle Eastern, and then a polka melody.  I am still in Thailand right?

In the middle of the concert the power went off. Mai Pen Rai. No worries. The band kept playing like it was an everyday occurrence (which it probably is) and out came the fire dancers to keep the crowd entertained. When the lights came back they started a Thai puppet show which was pretty awesome. Finally about 1am, after sitting through hours of weird music (and getting a little sick of the...ahem…smell…coming from the bar), the band we had come to see finally came on. Job 2 Do is a famous Thai “reggae band”. So we listened and sang along to the songs we had come to recognize living in Thailand.  The concert was fun but I have never seen such an odd gathering of people.  

Walking back to our bungalow after the concert was also quite spooky. Walking down the beach in the pitch black and looking up to see the ominous looking cliffs above. That’s the stuff nightmares are made of. As we started up the jungle path leading to our place, my mind was running through all the various creatures that would emerge from the jungle and attack us. Monkeys? Giant Lizards? Snakes? More of those gigantic bugs? Luckily we survived the walk and did not get attacked by any wild jungle animals. We quickly shut and locked the door praying none of the monster size mosquitoes got in. 

Needless to say the next morning Olivia and I weren’t feeling the need to spend another night here. That morning we rented kayaks and paddled out to see the clliffs up close and personal. We came back, packed our bags and decided it was time to get the heck off this strange, strange island.  

On the way to the boat we did indeed see a giant lizard/komodo dragon type thing in the middle of the road. The locals just carried about like it was the most normal thing in the world.