The sights and sounds of Ao Nang seemed too beautiful to be real. We often felt like we must have fallen into a movie scene or a postcard photograph. My personal favourite was feeling like Tarzan in the jungle, literally swinging from vines at a couple points. This was on a hike, perhaps better described as a climb, to the lagoon nestled among the limestone cliffs of Railay Beach.
The hike began with a scramble up a cliff side of smooth rocks covered in red clay. Ropes were available but unneeded, as the ascent was not too steep. Nevertheless, you did need to use all four limbs. The rocks were so smooth, from years of people climbing them, that they almost felt artificial, like the ones constructed for Tarzan’s Treehouse in Disneyland. The sound of monkeys playing in the trees above added to the effect.
At the top, the trail forked. We took the left fork to the viewpoint, rested for a moment there, and took in the beauty of the beaches below and the cliffs in the distance. The hike had not exhausted us by this point, so we opted to go back to the fork and take the other trail, which led to a lagoon. We expected a similar difficulty level, but we were in for a surprise!
After half hiking, half sliding down a long muddy slope of red clay, we figured we were getting close. Then we saw the drop. The final ten metres of the “hike” went straight down the cliff face. We hesitated. It looked like fun, but was it perhaps too dangerous? However, seeing a couple of other people go down convinced me it would be fine. I grabbed the first rope, found a good foothold, and started my descent, suddenly very glad that I have been regularly climbing at the indoor gym back home. As I went, I realized that there were plenty of good holds in the rock, and the rope wasn’t even necessary if you knew what you were doing. For those who are familiar with the rating system for vertical climbs, I would guess it was a 5.7 or so. Ellsa was a little more hesitant to try, but once she got going she, too, had a great time.
The lagoon at the bottom took us from Tarzan’s jungle into Neverland. The sun sparkled on the surface of the green-blue water, a colour one of my students once described as botanical mint. The salty water was dense enough to float in with no effort at all, allowing you to lie on your back and gaze up at the steep cliffs surrounding this small piece of paradise. The rock faces were overgrown with undisturbed jungle life – leaves taller than I am, vines as thick as my arms, and thousands of cicadas chirping in unison. The air was thick with humidity, making the water feel that much more refreshing. Floating there truly felt like a dream.
The climb back up was just as fun as the descent. By the end of it, both of us were covered in red mud, but grinning ear to ear.
We probably wouldn’t have found the hike if it hadn’t been for the tour we took the day prior. We went on a four-island adventure with Thalassa Tours, and our friendly Thai guides, Kao and Tony, seemed to know every nook and cranny of all four. The tour included both day snorkeling and night snorkeling, as well as a picnic lunch and dinner.
The entire day was an absolute blast, but the evening was definitely the best part. Besides our two guides and our boat driver, the tour group was just myself, Ellsa, and a French family of five. The youngest, Pol, was celebrating his ninth birthday, and we toasted him with sparkling wine on Railay Beach after supper. We stayed there to watch the sunset, which was incredibly beautiful, especially with the pinks and oranges reflecting off the crashing waves. The sense of peacefulness there was complete, Pol and his sister playing in the waves, and the adults silently basking in the beauty of the moment.
The next part of our adventure was anything but peaceful, but it was certainly exciting! Our little longtail boat now headed back toward Ao Nang, in the dark and amongst large ocean waves. At first, the whole group of tourists screamed at every crash of the bow against the waves, alarmed by the water splashing up at us and the loud flat thud that accompanied it, but soon Pol started humming to himself, and I joined in with the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song. We were braving the seas, indeed! The rocky ride quickly became fun rather than frightening.
The evening came to a close with the magic of night snorkeling. If you keep still in the water, look down and you will see nothing, but if you wiggle your fingers, the darkness lights up with the twinkling of bioluminescent plankton. It’s like being able to fill the night sky with stars just by the wave of your hand.