Dear friends and family,
Greeting from Railey! A few of us volunteers decided to get away from Khao Lak for a few days and go Island Hopping a little farther south. On Thursday afternoon, we boarded a minibus and arrived in Phi Phi to find a multitude of white people. Very strange to us. We quickly decided that we needed to get off the beaten track a bit more. After a day of hot springs, emerald pools (lakes), and elephant trecking we jumped onto a longtail boat and ended to the island of Railey. Ok, I guess I need to explain that day a bit better. A friend of ours from Khao Lak hooked us up with a travel agent in Phi Phi and her husband ended up taking us around for the day. After an amazing $1 Thai breakfast, we went to a local elephant hike where our tour guide assured us that the elephants were well fed and treated humanely. Yes, it is still not the most humane use of giant animals but I couldn't sick on the experience. Half way through the trek, the guide (who had been sitting on the elephants head while we sat on a chair strapped to the back) turned to David and asked if he wanted to ride in the front. I held my breath as David slowly slid foward and straddled the elephant's head. After a few minutes, I knew that David shouldn't have all the fun and changed places with him. Super scarey. You have to adjust your hips with every step in order to keep steady. I guess it was good practice for my motorbiking next week. After the elephants, we hiked to a natural lakes called Emerald Pool. Unfortunately, our timing was off because a Japanese double-decker tour bus arrived right after us. The lake was amazingly refreshing after such a strenuous hike. (Ok, if i keep saying hike I know David will call me out, it was more like a brisk walk...) We then headed over to some natural hot springs and had a blast trying to slide down the rocks. David has a nasty fall and bruised his behind, which he promptly showed to everyone on our walk back to the car. "Father like son."
After such an exhausting day, I was hopeful to find a place to eat, sleep, and shower before quickly hitting the sack. Unfortunately, we still had a 20-minute longtail boat between such dreams. I ended up sitting in the front seat on the side where teh waves break. Anyone want to guess who was the wettest? The worst part about it was that a Thai woman sat next to me who did the trek every morning and night. At one point, she grabbed my thigh and said that the waves were much bigger than normal. I then had the bright idea to ask if she had ever seen a boat capsize. She proceeded to tell me an extremely detailed story of a long tail boat she saw flip over in the "exact same waves as these." I held tightly to the side. Meanwhile, David is sitting at the top of the boat Titanic-style with not a care in the world! I finished the night with a quick dinner, couple rounds of card playing, dancing, talking education with a fellow American teacher, and pulling a cockroach out of my hair.
Today we woke up early to do a snorkeling adventure to four neighboring islands. Absolutely perfect weather! Luckily, none of us got the dreaded back leg sunburn. We just finished dinner and have found a place that has seven mats for seven massages. Yes, that's right. We are splurging on $10/hour massages! Here, massage parlors have their bed mats lifted onto a raised platform with shower curtains dividing each bed. There is probably only a foot of space between each bed. This should be interesting...
Love to you all!
Jesicah Rolapp
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