Day 3 Railay Beach

It's amazing that two places so close in proximity can be so different. Phi Phi is touristy, has anything you could ever hope to find in terms of comfort items from home, there are internet cafes everywhere, hundreds of restaurants and bars and LOTs of people. To give you a visual, it's a bit like Playa Del Carmen inhabited with Jersey Shore tourists (It is absolutely hilarious to sit at a restaurant and watch the people walk by, there is definitely a predominant "type" of tourist. The guys are huge, tanned, waxed, juicers (no complaints to look at but dumb as posts) and the girls all have little dresses and heels and about a pound of makeup.)

Railay Beach on the other hand is like the Roberts Creek or Squamish of Vancouver, the vibe is completely different. The people here are more laid back and chill and the locals are much more friendly. Whoever came up with the term that Thailand is the land of smiles is dead wrong, but the people in Railay are definitely nicer. I think it might be because the tourists are nicer? The vibe here is driven by the fact that it's a climbing mecca, so there's tons of laid back, out-doorsy, hippy people mixed with some small towners and families. There are far fewer shops and only a couple of bars and some cute little coffee shop hideaways. It's a nice change of pace from Phi Phi, reminiscent of home :)

I switched hotels for the third time in three days this morning, but am staying in a much nicer one. Two of the Albertans are leaving today an so I'll room with the third for two nights and only pay 300B per night, same as my dingy little bungalow :) One of my favorite things about traveling is finding ways to stretch my money so that I can do more. I get a sweet sense of satisfaction from never having to pay for Internet, finding the places with the cheapest meals and free toilets (yup, they charge for everything here) and I like to think I'm getting pretty good at it.

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