Exploring Railay Beach: Part II

I went back to Railay Beach to hike the viewpoint. As soon as I get in the water taxi, a torrential downpour ensued. When talking about travel, most people just highlight the great and wonderful times with the great and wonderful pictures. However, I think it's important to briefly discuss this. Rain is great when traveling. People are afraid of it. If you go to a beach and it's raining, you will be the only one on the beach. Most people (couples and families) just hide underneath a restaurant or hotel cover and "wait it out". Rainy days are the best days to go to the most touristy of locations, because there will be almost no one there. If you see anyone walking around in torrential rain, almost always, backpackers. Why? Well backpackers are stubborn and don't let other things get in the way of their plans. I met another backpacker on my water taxi, Nora, 19, from Germany. She made me feel like a whimp having been solo traveling for the last 11 months. She was also planning on hiking the viewpoint... So we decided it probably would be safer to go together.

We arrived to the starting point and three other backpackers are coming down, covered in mud. They tell us not to go, that it's too dangerous. The signs tell us not to go, that it's too dangerous. Well, we ascended anyways. To give you a glimpse of the difficulty. It was almost a straight vertical climb. Every 10-15 meters, there would be a place where you could stand and then time to go up again. Someone had built in ropes on the trek to help pull you up. Except for us, the ropes were soaking wet and covered in mud. Slippery. Very slippery. It took us about 30 minutes (we think) to get to the top of the viewpoint. It was beautiful!

After the viewpoint, we decided to try to get to the lagoon, which is much more difficult. After getting 2/3 of the way, we had to stop. We got to a point that was literally 90 degrees straight down. Nora had already descended the first vertical when I was like "no wayyyy man". All you had was that little rope. I knew that if I got down I would not be able to get myself up, with the rope being so slick. So we took a pause, doused ourselves with insect repellent and started our route back to the starting point. There were certain moments where it was so slippery that I needed to skid on my butt. If I stood up, I was for sure a dead man. Getting down was pretty challenging. It was like a maze of wet rocks and wet ropes. But we did it!

Reflections on the Hike:

• In my opinion, it was all mental. I didn't feel like it was physically exhausting at all, on either the ascent or descent. Nora was completely physically exhausted when we made it to the bottom. So I don't know. I felt like it was the type of challenge where you had to be so highly engaged and concentrated. If you lost focus for one second, you could literally die.
• Because it is so steep, there are ropes to help you. So hiking it while it's completely dry must be way easier.
• Don't wear flip flops. Between the guys we saw coming down and everyone else the other day... Come on. Put on proper shoes. Of course if you are in flip flops it is going to be slippery, with or without rain.
• You really need to protect your skin. One slip or fall and you are going to be pretty cut up. Once again, don't hike up in your bathing suit. It's just not worth it.
• Hiking to the top in the rain actually is doable. But also really really dangerous.

To describe the kind of hike it is (disregarding the weather)...

If you lose footing and fall forward, a sharp rock will break your fall.

If you lose footing and fall backward, a sharp rock will break your fall.

If at any point you lose grip with the rope or rock you're holding, a sharp rock will break your fall.

It is a dangerous hike, with or without rain. There aren't really any places to stop and rest.

But would I recommend going?
​Go. Definitely go.