Travel Diary: Alluring Raya Island, Thailand

The shaky platform- Our drop point

How excited are you on your 1st abroad trip, I was very excited. My friends and I were very clear where our 1st abroad trip was going to be. There was no doubt in our heads that it was going to be Thailand, because of many factors like budget, beaches, shopping, partying, I am not going to say food as I personally didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked to. But what surprised me was my friend’s choice of Raya Island out of the numerous famous/touristy islands we could have gone to. However, I am glad I went ahead with this decision.

The trip was planned for the month of November. Just a week before our trip Thailand was hit by heavy rains. By the day of our departure Thailand was flooded. I always try and see the positive of every scenario, due to the floods, the crowd of tourists were very less. I personally enjoy less crowded spots.

In front of the resort

From Bangalore via Bangkok we reached Phuket. The only sight I could see from our flight window was water and water everywhere. One was the ocean and the other was the flood water on the land. From Phuket we took a speedboat to Raya Island, it’s a 30 minute choppy yet tantalizing ride. The sea got more crystalline as we got closer to the island. Once we reached Raya Island, the drop point is a little scary as obviously the boat doesn’t go to the shore, we needed to walk on a platform floating on water for approx. 50 meters to reach the beach, due to the breeze and water movement below, it kept shaking. I was sure one of us will fall in the sea but luckily nothing dramatic happened.

One of the walks

We reached around midday, the 1st sight of the island was breathtaking, white powdery sand and crystal clear blue water. There were just 4 resorts on the island (Not sure if there are more now). All the meals were on the beach. We ate, relaxed, snorkeled- the water is perfect for this, kayaked (my 1st time kayaking was here in the sea), I was skeptical because as much as I love the sea I am also aware that we have no control over it. I guess too many effects of movies on me. I have done numerous water activities after this and I am still scared but I don’t let fear overtake me. I feel very satisfied when I overcome my fear.

View from a hillock

Since it’s a small island you can walk around the island and mix with the local islanders, on one of our walks we had to cut through a village and that’s when we realized the locals keep water monitor lizards as pets. The lizards look a lot like Komodo dragons. We didn’t get a picture as it was too dark to click pictures and we wanted to get away from them ASAP. I really advise going on these walks as you get a feel of the island and the local culture. But do get back before dark as it’s pretty scary in the dark. The moonlight/torch is your only source of light there (I was there much before the smart phones arrived). Being shut off from the hustle and bustle of the world gave us a paradise like stay and after 4 days when the time came for us to leave, I felt as if I got up from a dream to get back to reality.

We then flew to Bangkok for 2 days, apart from crazy shopping, I did nothing there. I personally loved the shopping in Bangkok and feel it’s a shopper’s paradise as it caters to various and different budgets. I returned to India smiling and satisfied as finally we had managed to do our 1st abroad trip.

Thailand, I will definitely see you again, you have a lot to offer. I love this country.

A quiet spot

Points to note:

Raya is also called Racha Island.

Anyone interested in snorkeling, my suggestion is to buy a snorkeling kit and keep it, as renting snorkeling kits by the hour is nearly the same or maybe more than the price of a new one.

With it raining heavily one day before we landed, to not raining even once through our whole trip I realized it does have unpredictable weather.