Adventures of a Wandering Thirtysomething

We planned our trip to Thailand strategically: sights and cities first, beaches and relaxation last.

Our first stop was at the five-star Rayavadee Resort, and what we experienced was truly spectacular. From the moment we landed in nearby Krabi, we were pampered like rock stars. It was truly a taste of living like the rich and famous. We were so spoiled that we couldn’t even bother lifting a finger to crank out a blog.

Rayavadee is situated among three distinct beaches separated by limestone cliffs that create a natural border for the resort. The resort owns the most beautiful of those beaches, Pharang, and then borders the famous West Railay Beach and East Railay Beach. Accommodations are two-story luxury villas tucked amongst the jungle between the these beaches. Add to this location the very best service that a country known for hospitality has to offer and it all added up to pure paradise.

One of the most fun parts of the resort was its abundance of wildlife including wild monkeys, hornbills and other exotic birds, water monitors and more.

With plenty of wildlife and beach hopping to keep us entertained, the only occasion for leaving our resort was to climb the limestone cliffs for breath-taking views. With a guide from the hotel and a small group, we ascended through a bat cave into total darkness with just a few headlamps serving as our lighting and climbed up makeshift wooden ladders and ropes to a viewpoint high above Railay Beach. Plunged into darkness and concerned about the rickety bamboo ladders collapsing under my weight, Christina and I chuckled at the lack of warning provided by the hotel for such an undertaking. This was not an activity any hotel in the United States would sanction.

 On another day, we awoke with the dawn and set out to climb the opposing limestone cliff on our own. The southern region of Thailand is famous for rock climbing and our climb turned out to be more of a beginner’s free climb than a hike. As we stared at the cliff face that served as the trail head, I was not backing out and barely convinced Christina not to either. We scaled the rocks using ropes placed along the path and the roots of trees to reach the spectacular view. Again, the knowledge that this kind of adventure could not be found back home made it all the more enjoyable to me.

From Rayavadee, we headed on to the islands. Ko Phi Phi Don (the larger island) is to Southeast Asia what Cabo San Lucas is to North America. It’s a party town and comes with the young, frat house types who go to party towns. In short, the shirts were few and the beer was plenty. Thankfully, I was well aware of the island’s party reputation and booked us on a quieter part of the island where the beach was nicer and the loud music, partying and fire dancing was no where to be found.

But Phi Phi Don is nothing more than a home base. The star attraction here is the uninhabited island of Phi Phi Leh and specifically Maya Bay. When you put an image of paradise on a postcard, this is it. It’s also this image that set my heart on visiting Thailand in the first place. We arranged for a private boat to take us there just after sunrise to beat the crowds in our typical fashion, and for a couple hours it was surreal. Then the boats started to come. I wouldn’t consider myself opposed to crowds but this was a mob. Christina and I had made ourselves a spot on the beach spreading out our towels and lathering on our sunscreen, but the masses of humanity that showed up surprised us not just in volume but in what they spent their time doing on the beach.

We learned that most people visiting the island do a tour that hops to several beaches throughout the day and Maya Bay was just a one hour stop for most. This resulted in hoards of people visiting one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, not to swim and layout in the sun, but as an attraction. They would get off their jam-packed speed boats, walk up and down the beach to take ridiculous pictures and generally behave obnoxiously, many not even wearing swimsuits, and then leave. We laid there trying to imagine ourselves as the only ones on the beach while hundreds of people walked all around our towels. Our imagining proved futile so we eventually caved and packed up shop. After our boat driver took us to tour the rest of the island and swim in the lagoon, we retired to the quiet beach of our resort and basked in the sun and the peace for our final night in Thailand.

Now we’re heading home to Nashville. Our trip to the other side of the world is complete and our Southern summer and Sundays at the pool with rum smoothies can’t come soon enough. Just crossing my fingers that my new tan won’t fade too much before the weather heats up.