Day 27 and 28: Sun Burn and Climbers

Day 27

I said the best night sleep of the trip a little loosely as I didn't sleep soundly the whole night, I had a dream about being an artist and had woken up and written weird notes about Horse and Hound magazine halfway through the night.

The beaches near us are meant to be spectacular so we dress quickly and meander down to the pier to grab a boat within 2 minutes of arriving. The journey is short, only bout 5 minutes and we arrive on Railey pier. Unsurprisingly out first stop is breakfast and we fall on our feet with this one, enjoying an incredible buffet in a 5 star hotel for only £6. It's full of pastries, fruit, salad and curry a amount many other things and we literally fill our faces, going up for 3 or 4 refills, oh it's heaven.

After the mass food devourment, we wander over to over the west beach and it was a bit of an anti-climax, it's pretty to look at but really stoned and it very quickly fills with people, we sun bathe for a little bit but Ben's got an itch for an adventure so we head off in search of Phra Nga beach, the one that we confused Phang Nag about a week ago. We walk back to the east side, down the beach till be reach the coolest coves, perfect for a little bat photo shoot. We carry on walking and come across a whole family of macaques including some tiny babies that are making their way along the fence, parallel to path we are walk on. 

Half way down to the beach is a climbing lagoon and Ben gets all excited and leaves me to sun bathe whilst he climbs up it. The heat is unreal at this point so I sit in the shade, reading on the soft sand, occasionally cooling down in the sea. Ben reappears a few hours later full of stories but no injuries, Woohoo, so we cool down with a swim. Where he gets stung by a jelly fish. I swear they follow him. With Ben's arm stinging and the slow reddening of my skin we decide to leave the beach for food and an ATM to get back to the hotel. My skin is getting hotter and hotter as we walk and as I hear the gasps from the fisherman as we pass, I know I must be very burnt. A short boat ride back and in the hotel, the full extent becomes clear. I am a lobster and a part cooked one at that. My whole body is throbbing red apart from two small patches on my knees and face and this was all from the small sun bathing session on the west beach. 

I don't fancy eating and Ben's actually full from all the feast so we stay in tonight and I introduce Ben to the notebook and he to me, the magic of aloe Vera.

Day 28 

I had an unsurprising fitful night sleep last night due to my new lobster tendencies and it night has done nothing to calm it. We were meant to be hiring a canoe today to go off exploring but I'm just too burnt so Ben goes off alone after another epic breakfast and I sit on the beach, covered in loose cotton, in the shade with all the toddlers. 

After about an hour and a half, I can see him paddling back into view, full of excitement. He's found Tonsai, it looks beautiful, there's a quick mountain path, can we go? I laugh and pack my bits up straight away, I love it when he's like this. We wander to the other end of west beach and then through a very rocky and quite hilly path to get to Tonsai another beautiful beach and renowned climbing area. The area we've just left is full of day trippers and tourists and there's a real feel of "Don't enter my space" whereas here it's so relaxed.

The first thing you meet is a cliff face full of climbers of all different abilities from the nervous beginners to the monkey like men, free climbing the wall. The first bar we spot is full of hippies and relaxed families and we sit here for a while drinking cocktails, gawping at the climbers and playing pool. Lunch is next on our agenda so we find a little restaurant and fill up on snacks and the ever refreshing watermelon shake. Weirdly, Ben is jealous of the crisp of my skin and gets a beach craving so we find s nice bit of shade for me and a stretch of sun filled sand for Ben. I do venture out of my little shade cave for a few cooling swims and it's bliss as all of life seems to be at the moment.

Before we boat back, we both grab some new shades for a fraction of the UK price and strut around a bit showing them off. The boat back is much rougher than the others we've done and full of a rude French group so I'm glad it's only a 5 minute commute. Tonight's dinner is a 7/11 special full of weird snacks and collagen drinks for young looking stomachs? And we pack, sad that tomorrow we'd be leaving the beaches for the clamminess of Bangkok.