First Impresions

They say first impressions determine the outcome of a relationship, a trip, or really any experience. I don't really believe in this philosophy. The outcome of something is based on your attitude towards it. But our first impression of Krabi hasn't been too shabby!

The first thing Deacon said when we got out of the airport was: "it's hot and it's smelly." But hey, that was Krabi, this is Railay.

To get to Railay we had to take a Longtail boat. It's pretty much a long motor boat. The sun shone, the wind blew through our hair, blue waves surrounded us, white foam flew out from under our boat. Tall peaks with sheer cliffs grew out of the water which were attached to small islands. You could see Railay in the distance. But when we got there I couldn't help but think, "what? This looks nothing like the pictures I've seen!" Clumps of wet sand covered the beach, there were small crabs everywhere! Don't get me wrong, it was nice, but... not exactly what I expected. The reason why it didn't look very nice, was because we were on the opposite side of the island, the not-so-nice side of the island. Railay is a peninsula, and the side we're on is where the tourists flock to (well anyone really), because it's the nice side of the island, where all the pictures are taken.

Someone from our hotel had come to help us find our way, it was a semi-long walk across the island, but compared to some walks we had in Chiang Mai, it was nothing! And wow, it was worth it. My dad had been keeping a secret, even from mom. It was about the hotel. Well it's not really a hotel, it's a house. And it is amazing! We haven't really had a place of our own to eat or play one of our favourite card games "Dutch Blitz". But now we have a whole house to ourselves. It contains a large bookcase and I've already picked out a book and have lounged around reading. It backs to a sheer cliff, and the front looks out to a jungle-like area. The trees are mostly palm trees. A few minutes walk on a small path takes us staight to a picture peferct beach. The first time we saw the beach, the sun was setting and the sky was pink. You could see silhouettes from other islands in the distance, and waves crashing into the shore. Unfortunatly we could see lots of tourists, but right at this moment I feel like Annie and her song "I Think I'm Going to Like it Here", except, I KNOW I'm going to like it here! Sitting out on the beach tanning, swimming in the ocean, sitting in our house reading a book... Sounds good to me!

Falling asleep to the sound of the ocean, hearing the bugs chirp, seeing bats fly through our house, it's all part of our adventure. It was sad leaving Chiang Mai, but this is just the beginning of our next adventure, the adventure in Railay and it is going to be awesome!

- E