The muddy beach at Hat Rai Ley East was now clearly visible as the tide had gone out at least 100 metres. This left some of the boats anchored high and dry. At the south end of the beach we found a path that led through the forest, presumably to the other beach. We past a young couple who were attempting to clean themselves up. They were caked in thick clumps of red mud. What the hell have they been up to?
Along the path there are various small caves in the limestone cliffs. At about the halfway point there was a hut and several benches pointing towards the cliff face. It seemed an odd spot for it until we saw the path to the view point. It was up a sheer vertical cliff, covered in thick red mud. At least that answers one question today. There was a rope hanging down to aid the climber and a few signs that seemed to indicate that you needed hiking boots or at least covered shoes to climb the route. We were only wearing flip-flops and had no change of clothes so we decided against it.
Way to View Point.
A few minutes walk along the path brings you to another beautiful beach, Hat Phra Nang. If anything, this beach had more spectacular views than Hat Rai Ley West. Two limestone karsts formed islands just off the shore, Happy Island and Ko Rung Nok also known as Birds nest island. An easy swim across and a number of people were on the other side exploring the island.
Hat Phra Nang.
At the eastern end of the beach is Tham Phra Nang, the Princess cave. The legend is that an Indian princess drowned here in the 3rd century BC during a storm. Her spirit remains in the cave and it is believed that she will grant favours to all that come and pay respect. The local fisherman took to placing offerings to the princess in the form of sculpted penises in the hope that the princess would provide them with a good days catch.
Penis offerings at the Princess cave.
View of Happy and Birds Nest Islands from the Cave.
Hat Phra Nang is also the location of the most exclusive resort in the area, the Rayavadee. This five star retreat along the beach is seriously expensive at between 42,000 and 55,000 Baht per night (£840 to £1100). Unfortunately, they wouldn’t show us a room as the security guard informed us "Sorry full".
We decided to spend the rest of the day lazing on the western end of the beach. Here, a series of rocks formed a barrier, but with the tide going out it looked possible to walk around to see what was on the other side. A few minutes of exploration later and we found our own secret beach, now known as Mon Ka Dea Beach.
Discovering the secret beach.
The scene across the water to the Birds Nest island was becoming surreal. You had a Long-tail boat anchored just off the beach serving cold drinks. The odd kayak or two were paddling between the straits. Some people were swimming to and from the island. And then there was this bloke who appeared to be walking across. How deep was it? I had to find out so I waded in to cross for myself. The deepest the water got was waist high but I realised why so many people had swum across. The sea bed was covered with broken coral that made it painful to walk. Still I managed to get across without swimming. There wasn’t much on the Island to explore without having any shoes to climb across the rocks. So with mission accomplished I headed back to the other side, this time I swam!
Mission to Birds Nest Island.
The weather looked like it was going to turn nasty. It was approaching 4pm and Mr Doy said he would be back to pick us up at 5pm. We decided not to wait and headed back to catch the next available boat. The start of the path back was now the playground of the local monkeys. They enjoyed jumping off the cliff on to the tree tops, making a crashing sound as the branches buckled under their weight. I am sure they did it to scare the unsuspecting tourists walking underneath. Back at Hat Rai Ley East and we found a boatman to take us back, after a German couple with two kids and a baby managed to successfully haggle the price down. We arrived back in Krabi Town at around 4:30pm. Perfect timing as no sooner had we stepped into the hotel the heavens opened and it lashed it down.
Older monkey watches on.
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