We landed in Bangkok in the early morning and were immediately confused as to how we should get to our connecting flight to Krabi. There were multiple immigration ports and we had to choose the right one or end up on the wrong end of the airport. 

After some exasperation and trying to ask airport employees who couldn’t read the Japanese on our tickets (sorry about that), we found the right immigration line and ended up in the correct terminal for our flight. 

After waiting a few hours for the flight and the 90-minute flight itself, we landed in Krabi, already sweating. It was 85 percent humidity and nearly 100-degree heat. 

Since our bags were checked from Japan, they did not come out with the other luggage from the flight and somehow ended up at the international terminal. Once laden, we got a taxi to the Krabi pier and then a long-tail boat to Railay. The boat was loud as they just strap old car engines to a long metal pole with a propellor on the end to move the boat. 

By midday, we were in Railay and checked into our hotel. After basking in the air conditioner and enjoying the Internet for a bit, we headed out to explore. We soon found a rock climbing outfit that agreed to rent us gear. We found the Rock and geared up, climbing until sunset. 

Our time in Thailand was spent climbing from sunrise to mid morning, then hiking, swimming or reading all afternoon and climbing again around 5 p.m. to sunset. 

We found great food a place called Mom’s Kitchen and got food poisoning at the Diamond Cave Resort restaurant. 

Railay definitely looks like another world with rock pillars covered in green trees and vines towering over beaches. But the most interesting part of Railay was the caves. The rocks have huge, winding holes carved out by the ocean. One large cave took us a few tries to find our way through and then ended with a 30-meter rappel to the ground.