As the Phi Phi to Ao Nang ferry drew around a headland of limestone cliffs, the beautiful West Railay beach came into view. Wow wow wow! I am not one to use the word beautiful without good cause but West Railay beach left me with no option… I was amazed.

After Phuket and Phi Phi I expected the ferry to draw alongside a pier to disembark… this is not the case at Railay. Instead several longtail boats approached from the shore to transfer passengers and their luggage to the beach. As the longtails got closer, the scenery unfolded further and became even more impressive.

In Phi Phi you are met at the pier by hawkers trying to sell you their accommodation… this is not the case at Railay. There was nobody selling anything and we therefore had to wonder off into the small town in search. Luckily we only looked at one bad place before finding the Phurit Resort set 5 minutes from the beach at the side of a cliff face and climbing centre (Railay is great for climbers). At 650 baht (13 GBP) for a nice twin bed bungalow it was a no-brainer so I moved in with fellow travellers from my longtail boat.

Railay is a very small place formed of East and West beaches – West is best (as the saying goes in London) with a fine sand beach, whereas East is almost sandless with lots of mangroves. Only around 10 places to stay in the entire Railay area and I counted only 5 bars with only two of those worth a serious look.

Aside from taking serious looks at the bars, I hiked to the viewpoint with a couple of friends to take in the view of both East and West beaches from a cliff-side spot with only a thin rope protecting the wary climber from a fall to the death. UK health and safety would have a field day on this one; in fact the pen-pushing bureauprats  would have a field day on 90% of Thailand’s activities! After the viewpoint, we hiked down into the lagoon that is set inside the limestone cliffs. The hike / clamber involves a bit of abseiling and is not recommended for anyone who cannot support their own body weight on a rope without any harnesses. There were a couple of points where I had to adopt a blind faith attitude and even spoke to some climbers who had bailed out during their descent. Do not try the hike with flip-flops – I did so and found that I was losing my footing all over the place. The lagoon itself is worth the 45 minute effort as you do get the sense of an almost prehistoric world that few have witnessed (even though 100+ visit every day!). Take a swim in the lagoon to wash off the sweat of the climb.

Railay restaurants are hit and miss. I sent food back in the Diamond Cave Resort restaurant when a burger was pink and also sent a pizza back when the base was simply dough. This may sound like I was dining on Western food only but let me assure you that this was a brak from my norm of delicious Thai cuisine. BTW, prices were approx half of current UK prices for meals; wine though was the same price as UK.

After 4 nights in Railay’s Phurit Resort, it was time to move on. I was torn between learning to dive in Koh Tao or Koh Lanta. At 10 hours by ferry, bus and ferry Koh Tao lost out to Koh Lanta which is just 2 hours away. Aboard the ferry to Lanta I felt again a great sense of being lucky to be doing what I am doing. Travelling, particularly by boat, is an exciting experience… one does not know what is coming next and is excited to find out. ..