10-22-19 - Treacherous storm, sea kayak & impromptu karaoke
/Day 128. Leanne & Kyle joint blog.
It’s a sleep in day. Haven’t had one of these types of days in forever. Kyle actually sleeps until 8:30am which is two hours past his normal wakeup time. Kyle and Leanne barely make it to breakfast which ends at the disrespectful time of 10:30.
Yesterday we arrived here to probably the closest thing to Heaven of Earth. We took the plane from Bangkok to Krabi to a minivan to an open air restaurant for a welcome drink..... to a speed boat that takes us to a bay ... where a tractor pulls us and our luggage into a remote beach at low tide. Our daily adventure quotient was met just getting to the resort.
Given we have been pursuing a pretty aggressive schedule for the last few months, this stop will be about nature, hiking and relaxing at a much-needed slower pace. And we couldn’t have picked a sweeter, more tranquil place than Railay Beach in Krabi for a truly secluded feel. Because we are here the last week of monsoon season, we enjoy a fairly empty resort when we arrive on Monday.
It’s so restful and peaceful, it makes us wonder if they even need clocks here. Surrounded by cliffs and tall peaks, according to one source, Railay Beach is one of the ten best places in the world to rock climb. It’s such a chill place we feel as if we are starting in a 1970s hippie throwback movie. Everyone is so relaxed and smiling. Kyle has dubbed it the land that time forgot. It’s so incredibly beautiful that every photo we take makes us feel like the next Ansel Adams. It’s so incredibly beautiful that every photo we take makes us feel like the next Ansel Adams.
We decide to enjoy the beach sea kayaking, paddle boarding and swimming in the surprisingly balmy ocean. Kyle and Justin head into “town” to plan some activities for the week. Actually, it’s not really a town but a stretch of beach with sand alley running back from the beach with various open air bars, restaurants and shops. Kyle is amused by a large sign that dramatically proclaims “Do not die of thirst….cold beer sold here!” Good to know that’s one less life threatening situation the clan will face this week. Justin has taken the lead in planning this week and so visit the local dive center to arrange scuba diving and sign-up for rock climbing.
We arrive back around 1:30pm and Kyle heads off to meet Leanne at the beach to do sea kayaking. Just as we are about to enter the ocean with the kayaks, dark storm clouds arise over the limestone cliff islands and the sky is lit ablaze with lightening and thunder causes our drinks to rumble and shudder on the tables. We are told that the afternoon storms can last anywhere from an hour to a few hours.
But even the rainstorm coming over the beach couldn’t deter our happiness just being in this incredible place where coconuts grow above our heads, monkeys bounce from tree to tree and cliffs soar out of the ocean into the sky giving us both wind protection and shade in this cove that feels as if paradise is delivered on a tray to us.
But then Leanne realizes that the boys just left 40 minutes ago for their Viewpoint Hike with a hotel employee and several other adults. Panic erupts on her face after she sees the lightening added to the torrential downpour. Neither Corey nor Justin answer their texts. Kyle and Leanne opted not to go on the hike but knew our Candidate for Eagle Scout boys would like the advertised “strenuous, difficult and arduous” hike-climb. Nothing to do but wait it out and hope we don’t see the boys being tossed in around the currents below the cliffs.
We quickly retreat to our room with the girls during the rain and play a fierce game of “Uno” while we await word. The game goes on for a long while. Just when it looks like someone will win, their neighbor drops the dreaded “+4” card on them. At one point, Ashlynn is holding about 70% of the cards in her hand so there is not much to shuffle in the discard pile. As the marathon game continues on, everyone starts muttering “who shuffled these cards?” That would be Kyle. After two hours, Kyle finally declares victory giving full credit to his shuffling abilities.
Finally Justin calls to say they are “basically okay but that it was really dicey mom.” He continues, “there were these parts that you had to climb straight up these rocks with no harness. When the storm hit, it was totally slippery and when we had to climb back down, we thought we were going to slip off rocks, fall over the cliff and plunge to our deaths.” “Ack!” screeches a relieved Leanne, thankful she said her prayers this morning and mad at herself for allowing them to go on the near-death hike in the first place.
With the rain subsided and the boys alive, Kyle, Justin, Ashley & Ashlynn had back to the cove to try the sea kayaking. Ashley and Ashlynn take a double kayak and Justin & Kyle take single kayaks. The water is warm and the kayaks slice through water with ease as we head towards the rock islands that seem to explode out of the sea. We are able to paddle right up against the rock islands with the limestone cliffs. There is a large cave entrance and Kyle is all set to lead the kids into a black cave “adventure” when he realizes that if something goes awry, Leanne’s heart might not be able to handle another misadventure today. Kyle stares at his phone contemplating face-timing her and asking for permission but comes to his senses and decides its entirely safer for everyone to stay on the open water in view of the resort.
Later, we dine at the hotel next door which has a restaurant right on the beach that is more reasonably priced. We try some Thai food including tam yan gong soup and pad thai. The teens head back to their rooms while Kyle and Leanne decide to check out the “town” that is really an alley of hut open-air businesses which include restaurants, bars, smokehouses, hostels ($20 a night), massage parlors, shops and drop off laundry services. There’s even a place for cooking lessons and a shooting range. For a small two block area, most of one’s vices could be satisfied here. It’s the kind of place where if you ran into Jimmy Buffet, you might not be able to distinguish him. There’s people from all over - Poland, Russia, China, Japan and a handful of Americas. Everyone looks chill or on their way there.
After $17 massages, Leanne and Kyle head to an empty bar-restaurant with a live guitar singer performing to 30 or so empty tables. The singer comes alive, totally excited that he now has an actually live person (two actually) to perform. After sticky rice with mango and two stiff drinks, the singer manages to lure Leanne up on stage and into singing Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. There is no sign for karaoke tonight but what the heck. Impulsively, she goes for it having never sung it before to what she thought was her audience of one. Just for Kyle. At the end of her song, people applaud her good-old-college-try from the street and the pool table at the next hut restaurant — apparently there was more than her hubby subjected to her off tune singing! But at least they clapped.
