Back to the beaches… Railay beach in Krabi, Thailand

Up to this point in the trip, we had done a proper job researching each place prior to visiting to try to understand what we were in for. We didn’t really do that for Railay Beach, near Krabi in the Andaman Sea. We just picked a place on the beach & booked a night to check it out before committing to anything else. Two of my best friends, the Veit sisters, have previously been to Railay beach & I talked with them about it not long before my trip. However, only a “you probably don’t need to spend much time there” rang out in my head along with “the beach is gorgeous & this is a must see” so I guess I attributed “not needing much time” to time limitations of their trip… Why not spend more time there if it’s so beautiful?
We flew from Siagon to Krabi & hopped in a taxi to take us to Railay Beach. The taxi dropped us at a pier & told us to book a boat to Railay Beach bc apparently no roads. This is where more research would’ve come in handy. Oh well, everything’s an adventure. It was 3:20 & luckily the next boat was leaving at 3:30. It was a wooden longboat & the ride was 15 mins to Railay. It dropped us at Railay East which doesn’t have good beaches but only a 10 minute walk to Railay West are good beaches & our beachfront hotel. We did a quick change into suits & went out to enjoy the beach at 4pm to check out the area to see if we like it enough to stay additional nights. Within 15 minutes we had decided the afternoon & evening would be plenty of time & we’d look for hotels on Ko Phi Phi for the next few nights. This quick decision was due to the following factors:

– The lovely longboats that make for beautiful photos in the foreground of mountainous scenery were so goddam loud & constantly picking up & dropping day trippers off. Total noise pollution which did not make for a peaceful relaxing atmosphere.

– It’s 98 degrees during day (prob 90 at 4 which was bearable) but no way to cool off as the water, protected by the inlet, was like bath water. It didn’t even make me want to go in after walking in knee deep. I thought it would make me hotter. The opposite of refreshing.

– The beach was swarming with a lot of families & a lot of couples, who we determined were very boring as we weren’t sure what there was to do here given swimming in the ocean & relaxing on the beach were out. I just couldn’t reconcile why couples, looking for a nice quiet romantic spot, would come to a place w such noise pollution all day long. Doesn’t make sense.

– Then we finally realized what there was to do… Serious climbers come there to climb the massive rocks overlooking the water. We saw maybe 20 people w ropes & climbing shoes so we determined the majority of the people were boring couples.

– The topper was when we sat down to split a spicy squid salad at 6:30 & to book our Ko Phi Phi hotel. We were given food menus but no drink menus. We asked the server for one & we deciphered he told us he couldn’t serve us bc he was Muslim but we were welcome to go to the bar, order drinks & bring them back to enjoy w dinner. Umm, what? I traveled all over the Middle East & in Turkey & believe me, we were served a lot of drinks by Muslims without judgement. Why wouldn’t you want to make a buck? So Amy desperately went in search for the bar, which we thought was our hotel’s along the beach. Nope. She tried the next beach hotel and the next. They all directed her to “the bar” which she finally found bc there’s only one on the beach. The only ones to serve beer & booze on the island. WTF? 20 minutes later she returned w 2 mojitos, we ate the salad, booked our Phi Phi hotel, settled our tab & promptly went back to “the bar” for dinner (a delicious red curry w duck & pineapple), beers, cards & some great people watching.
A simply stunning beach bound by these massive awe inspiring mountains but a 2-hr day trip would’ve been sufficient bc it was a weird place overnight and while we made the best of it & had fun, we were thankful we were leaving in the morning.

The pier where we caught our longboat taxi

Son My… one place, two dichotomous destinations

I headed alone to Son My, approximately 3 hours south of Hoi An right along the coast, while Amy stayed to enjoy a free day in Hoi An.
Purpose 1: to visit the memorial site commemorating the 1968 My Lai massacre

Purpose 2: to visit Me Khe beach, Vietnam beach #5 & final, which is located just a 10 minute drive from the memorial
It was supposed to be a 3-hr drive each direction but bc my hired driver was a maniac, he cut the whole trip down to 4 hours. No complaints here as it shortened my long day & I survived. My visit to the My Lai memorial roughly coincided with the 48th anniversary of the horrific massacre of 504 local unarmed Vietnamese by the US Army. The war crime was one of the pivotal moments of the war that shaped the US & worldwide perceptions of our involvement. It was a very somber, disgusting, embarrassing visit. There weren’t many other visitors but those present certainly seemed to be Vietnamese locals & I admit I got a few weird looks & questions if I was American. The highlight of that visit was after I had finished w the sickening museum tour & exited outdoors to see the memorial & the remnants of the torched village, I was approached by two darling university students who stake out the place just in hopes an English speaker shows & they can practice. I agreed to chat so we talked for maybe 20 minutes & they rapidly fired questions including heavy topics like how & when I learned about the massacre & why I was visiting to lighter subjects explaining certain slang terms. I found interesting that not only do they take a ton of courses to learn English, but they also take several intonation courses to “change the way their voice sounds”. Kinda crazy & a moment of reflection where I felt especially lucky to be a natural born speaker of what is now becoming the common language of the world.
As I didn’t want to travel that distance to only be depressed by My Lai, I made sure to stop at this local beach, Me Khe, a mere 10 minute drive from the site of those atrocities. My LP book had a quick blurb on it explaining it was massive, stunning & super isolated & that was all that was needed for me to negotiate a stop at the beach on the return trip. It was easily the most beautiful beach I’ve seen in Vietnam. Isolated & the whitest sand but there’s certainly proof of activity as a portion of the beach was dotted w fishing boats, abandoned by their fishermen as it was now early afternoon, as well as goalie nets on either end of an imagined football field. It was pretty sweet. There wasn’t much else around there but that is the place I’d come back to & rent a room & just do nothing for a couple months.

The memorial is based on a famous photograph of an old woman grasping a dead child & standing in defiance of our troops (bc the Army brilliantly did this in front of official Army photographers who documented everything; the photo evidence, along w eyewitness testimony (including American soldiers) torpedoed the US cover-up attempts)

This lovely place was an irrigation ditch into which the troops herded 175 villagers , shot them & then set them on fire to not only ensure their death but also destroy the evidence

Foundation of a torched hut that survived the bombs the US dropped on the place after evacuating in jopes to destroy any remaining evidemce

One cool part of the museum was a corner dedicated to the story of a helicopter pilot who saw what was happening on the ground, landed & confronted the head ground commander, insisting he order the villagers placed in the irrigation ditch to be released. Upon takeoff, he instead watched as the troops opened fire on the villagers. He then saw another group of 10+ villagers running to escape from other soldiers. He landed his helicopter between the villagers & the soldiers & ordered his gunman to direct fire on the Americans if they fire at the villagers. No gunfire was exchanged & he was able to herd those villagers into his helicopter & lifted them to safety. Unbelievable. What a hero.

One small portion of the beach was lined w empty restos & my only company that day were these 2 cows outside them

Vietnam beach #4 is An Bang portion of THE China Beach

I wanted to visit the beach made famous by all those old Vietnam movies of when the American soldiers, on leave, would surf China Beach. The old China Beach was a 30+km white sand beach stretching south from Da Nang to Hoi An & now it’s known by various other names as it was informally divided by little beach towns dotting the coast. We read (& then confirmed w a drive-by) the old China Beach near Da Nang is all built up & lined w expensive massive resorts while the beaches closet to Hoi An are less developed. One section in particular, called An Bang, has no hotels & only local restaurants lining the beach, is a particularly beautiful stretch, & is an up & coming spot.
We did read on Trip Advisor that people at An Bang aggressively pursue bikers to pay to park in their lot just before the beach. We also read that local beach restos will guard them for free if you sit on their beach chairs & order food & drinks for the day. So we picked out a beach resto & headed off on the 6km bike ride past rice paddies. We quickly learned, upon arrival, the Trip Advisor reviews understated the aggressiveness as there were people yelling at us, one man started in a dead sprint chasing after me (as if he had a chance), & the last line of defense was an older woman frantically blowing a whistle & waving her arms as if she were directing traffic & we were on the other side of the law. I swerved & successfully cycled past those lunatics & made it to the promised land, at which point they gave up their pursuit, ceding victory to me. Amy was not so lucky as she hesitated & slowed down allowing the whistle woman to physically restrain her bike & gesturing helplessly to me in defeat while I asked locals where our Banyan Bar was located. Thankfully Amy watches a lot of American football at home & in her strong-willed pursuit of freedom from the bike parking nazis, she juked & weaved & freed herself from the whistler’s grasp. We were free to walk our bikes down to Banyan at the end of the beach & park ourselves in beach chairs for the rest of the day.
The beach was lovely and was somewhat crowded so we were happy to get an early start. The water was a bit more refreshing (read cold) than the beaches down south but it felt great. We enjoyed mojitos & fresh prawns on the beach. The prawns were cooked with head on in-shell & marinated in a delicious chili spice sauce. Peeling them seemed to defeat the purpose as you lose the yummy marinade so I just ate the head & all while Amy tried to dig in & messily separate the shell, eventually giving up but refusing to eat the head (delicious IMHO). We spent a lazy day here & then happily rode our bikes back to Hoi An. This beach ranks no 2 behind Doc Let but perhaps first as far as those I’d revisit & spend more time.

Quy Nhon, Vietnam beach #3

There have been a few places I’ve traveled in Turkey & the Middle East that are a bit off the beaten path & it seems as if there’s a pretty good shot these people have never seen a white person before, let alone an American. We found a place like that in Quy Ngon. This seems to be a weekend holiday destination for the Vietnamese, but bc there are no name brand fancy hotel chains, the international traveling elite hasn’t yet discovered it, nor have the early adopting backpackers. Young people especially seemed very taken by us & often went out of their way to ride a bike or run past wildly waving just to say hello. A young Dutchman was interning in our hotel & explained in his rough English there was only one person in the city who spoke good English. So it seemed perfect for us.
We visited during the week so the gorgeous, wide beach & waterfront were empty and all ours all day long, for the most part. The early rising locals mobbed the beach at 5am before sunrise to cram exercise into their busy schedules and then the school kids would hit the beach after school released at 3:30 to swim & play football.
Like everywhere else, the people were very warm & helpful and we enjoyed the very best seafood we’ve had all trip. The beach was lovely but to be picky (& to compare & contrast), not quite as white & soft of sand & as blue & warm of water as Doc Let & a bit more intense afternoon winds than Nha Trang, but it’s massive & empty so we really enjoyed it. So overall, very glad we found this place & continued to get off the beaten track.

The food… toasted grouper eaten wrapped in rice paper w mint, basil, cilantro, lettuce, cucumbers & chili spice

Grilled crab… delicious but a lot of work

Doc Let, Vietnam beach #2… Good luck finding it on a map

We “made a reservation” the day before arrival which involved me tracking down Sylvio, the French-Canadian now long-time Vietnam resident and Jungle Beach Hut owner, on his cell phone. He said they had room for us but we’d sort out the type of room (ranging from a bed outside w a mosquito net to a 2 BR thatched hut with a private bathroom) and cost upon arrival and he arranged for a car to pick us up at our Nha Trang hotel as it’s an hour+ drive to a quite remote locale. We were all set. The driver arrived at 9am and we arrived at Doc Let, in the middle of nowhere, by 10am to find Sylvio, shirtless, tanned and hairy, demanding our passports and then giving us a quick 5 minute tour of the place, including its common dining room, shared bathrooms, and all of the available accommodations. We decided on a 2 BR with private bath as it cost us an additional $10 over 2 nights. By 10:30, we were on the isolated 18km beach, featuring the most glorious soft white sand, crystal clear blue water and gentle warm waves, perfect for swimming.

Price included 3 meals a day and 1 afternoon fruit snack so we literally had no decisions to make and nowhere to go. Beer and wine were extra and tracked by tallies next to names on a piece of paper. Beers were 75 cents and the local Dalat wine was $5 a bottle. For the first time ever, I felt as if I was in a movie sans beer-promo-product-placement-dollars bc when you wanted one, you simply ordered “a beer” as they stock only one kind (Bia Saigon). The local food was delicious, the communal atmosphere facilitated meeting interesting like-minded travelers, the nightly after dinner drinks and beach bonfires led to a lot of fun and the remote location made for a very special stay. Can’t imagine any place topping this. This is the place.

The “hotel”/”town”/”everything”… bc that’s all that’s around

We had the right half of this hut, top & bottom

View from our hut (yes, that’s our hammock)

My afternoon view from the shade of man-made beach furniture. The entire place, all structures, were built by Sylvio the owner.

To the beaches of Vietnam’s SE coast… #1 is Nha Trang. Warning… The Russians have invaded Vietnam

From Siagon, we decided to travel north up the SE coast of Vietnam, starting with Nha Trang. We read it’s built up w fancy hotels & restaurants but the beach itself is beautiful. All of that proved to be true. As we stayed at an “okay” place in Saigon, we decided to splurge a bit & stay at a nice joint right on the beach.
We took an early morning flight from Siagon. Prior to landing, we flew over Nha Trang & its surroundings & it looked gorgeous. A 45 min drive into Nha Trang revealed it’s even prettier as the beaches are vast and backed by lush mountains & the blue sea is dotted w similar lush mountainous islands (upwards of 70 islands just off the coast). I had pho for breakfast for the first time since landing in Vietnam & was on the beach in comfy chairs by 10:30am without a care in the world.
Our days went like this:

– Sleep in, workout in morning

– Pho breakfast

– Beach chairs & umbrella by 9:30/10 for swimming, sunbathing, napping, walks on the beach. We needed that umbrella. I think we’re fairly close to the equator here & that sun gets awfully hot.

– Lunch on the beach

– The winds would pickup around 3pm so we’d head up to shower at 4 & hit the rooftop bar w gorgeous views for 2-for-1 happy hour drinks & trip research

– Great dinners, drinks & then retire
After 3+ weeks of non-stop traveling & touring, it was just what we needed. What we certainly did not need was all of the loud, obnoxious, selfie-stick obsessed Russians who have infiltrated this place & apparently adopted it as a vacation destination. There are store signs and menus in Russian & some servers even speak a little, all catering to the fact that they apparently love this place & are everywhere. As a result, the city at night is a little douchey. There are bright neon lights everywhere. There are douchey clubs everywhere playing douchey music as if that’s going to lure me inside. After dinner one night around 11, we swung by a mini-mart type shop along the beach to pick up some water, beer & snacks for the room only to find the shop also sold handbags, luggage, shoes, etc. We commented on how odd it was they carried that stuff just as 2 different Russian couples entered & a woman picked out a bright pink handbag & a man was inspecting the luggage. I guess they know their customer base.
Also a little tiresome were the tour buses jammed with Chinese & Japanese tourists that would periodically stop for an hour break & swarm the beach dressed head to toe in clothes, hats & raingear so they could enjoy the sun without threatening their pasty white skin tone, painstakingly documenting the excursion w their selfie sticks.
So while the atmosphere during the day was, for the most part, relaxing & definitely entertaining, we had our fill after a few days as I needed to go in search of what I had dreamed about when thinking of Vietnam beaches… Pristine beach & a whole lot of nothing.