Perfect Little Accident

You see why we keep coming back?!

We have been to Railay Beach about five times in the nearly two months we’ve lived in Krabi.  Some may call that boring.  We call it affordable repetition.  It’s breathtakingly beautiful, and as long as we don’t buy something while we’re there (which, let’s face it, isn’t often) costs us a mere 300 baht round trip.  It’s our little piece of paradise that’s practically in our backyard.

We’ve read about Diamond Cave a million times, and the promise of a cave was actually one of the things that drew us to Railay to begin with, but after two failed attempts to actually find said cave, we gave up the search and passed our days contentedly baking away in the tropical sun.

This time however, we found the cave.

A fellow OEG teacher came to spend a couple days in Krabi and as a geologist, he was keen on seeing all that Diamond Cave had to offer.  As his tour guides, we were a bit lacking in the cave department since we’ve thus far failed to locate it. 

I’d like to say we stepped up big time here, really pulled one out for our friend, but the truth is that we came upon Diamond Cave by sheer dumb luck.  Stacy and I were aimlessly walking around, stretching our lazy beach-legs, when we decided to wander past the point where we usually walk.  Spurred on by signs for the “YaYa Bar,” we continued walking down a dirt path.  We had no real intention of bellying up to the bar (After that Full Moon craziness, we may not drink again for months), but we were curious about a bar whose signs appeared to lead us deeper and deeper into the jungle.  We did wonder for a bit if we were walking to our deaths, following a dirt path straight into the arms of kidnappers who would sell us to the highest bidder for our luxurious hair and alabaster skin.

There were monkeys.  I was NOT happy.

Cave entrance

We walked past some vans that looked like they were props from Lost, past a guy sawing a piece of tree (people are constantly sawing small pieces of trees here), and past a cement wall with broken glass glued to the top to prevent people from climbing over.  Eventually we started seeing signs for Diamond Cave, and then suddenly there it was – no fanfare or anything, just a simple sign, a few flags, and a man taking money.  It was practically deserted.  It was strange for a culture that tries to squeeze money out of tourists at every turn that there wasn’t heavy advertising for the 40 baht trek through the cave.

We went back to the beach to get Paul and Carlyn, then paid our forty baht to see the cave.  It wasn’t exactly the Cave of Wonders – no genie lamp, no flying carpet or piles of gold – but it was still pretty cool.  Like I said, Paul is a geologist, so he was our defacto tour guide, occasionally spouting information about stalagmites and stalactites, calcium-rich water, and generally just being a good sport when we acted like novices.

Carlyn [excitedly, after learning how stalagmites are formed]:  Who knew rocks could be so interesting?!

Paul [deadpan/slightly offended]:  I did.

Clearly we were cave virgins.

It took us barely ten minutes to make our way across the little wooden foot bridge built through the cave.  Forty baht started to seem a little steep to walk fifty meters through some rocks, but now we can finally say that we’ve been to Diamond Cave!

Also, there were a ton of bats.  They were chattering up a storm some dozens of feet above our head which was nothing short of unnerving.  This exchange brought me to my knees (literally to my knees with my hands covering my head):

Stacy:  Hey Paul, if you shined your headlamp up there, would the bats fly at us?

[Paul lifts his head to the roof of the cave, illuminating what looks like a million specks of bat.  The bats start freaking out, squeaking and detaching from their perches.  I hit the floor, hands over my head like an extra in those “Duck and Cover” safety videos from the Cold War.]  

Stacy:  Take the light away!  Take the light away!

We’re a fun group J

Bundled up for our boat ride home as we
were getting totally drenched by ocean spray!