Railay Island, Thailand

I went backpacking last year and of my three trips, Phuket, Thailand was my favorite. We went there near the Thai New Year (and was there for their New Year) so lodgings and stuff were kinda expensive, but the whole trip was just so worth it.

Railay Island has one of the loveliest beaches ever. I remember wanting to go back there with some friends, when I still had friends. ANYWAY. Last year I went with this Canadian girl who was in one of my classes. There was just two of us and we did things I never expected I could do, like:

• go to a whole new country without a detailed itinerary or plans and reserved lodgings
• backpack! This was my first “backpacking” trip ever!
• ride their public transportation (their version of the jeepney!) without knowing the language so we had to have complete trust on the driver
• ride on a stranger’s motorbike, with the said stranger

I don’t know if we were just lucky nobody tried to trick us or anything, but it’s one of my few memorable things from 2010 (aka The Year That Sucked) and I can’t express just how much I want to do it all over again (although last time we still stayed one day/night at Krabi Town, which is something I’d skip altogether now and just jump right to Railay Island).