Over Thanksgiving weekend, we headed down to Rai Leh Beach in Krabi Province with Grandpa Harris and Grammy who were visiting from Seattle. While there was no turkey, the scenery and the ocean water more than made up for it. While Rai Leh is not an island, it's a peninsula surrounded by high limestone cliffs so there are no cars and, to get there, you have to take a boat.
We stayed on the east side of the peninsula, with the two best beaches being short walks away. To get to the best beach, Phra Nang Beach, you had to walk on a path alongside beach, limestone caves and jungle.
Sometimes through a tropical rain storm...
Sometimes, the kids would spelunk on the way over.
The beach itself was breathtaking--turquoise water surrounded by craggy, prehistoric limestone cliffs with khosts (limestone-cliffed islands) sitting in the distance.
(Samantha and Eliana exploring the nearby caves)
For lunch, we would head over the the boats parked on the beach, where they cooked up meals on board.
And, every day around lunchtime, monkeys would come down to the beach looking for scraps. One time, they took one of Shane's dirty diapers which was undoubtedly disappointing.
Rai Leh is famous for its rock climbing, which also went on right on the beach.
The other beach was on the west side of Rai Leh. It had more of the hotels and restaurants on it and extremely fine sand. Good shell collecting, too. The walk over...
The beach itself...
Because it was the west-facing beach, it was well-known for its sunsets.
Dinner on the beach, flowers in the hair.
Letting a lantern go for good luck.
Shane on a morning beach walk.
Back at our hotel, we had monkeys and hornbills in the trees around our bungalows. Plus, little lizards stalking the grounds.
Dinner up in the jungle on our last night there.
And back in the boat on the way to the airport.
