Our time in Railay has finally come to an end. It has been an odd few nights - not quite what I expected. When we were planning our trip we wanted to spend a few days in an expensive resort just to relax and unwind. After reading through our Lonely Planet guide it seemed this place was pretty quiet and laidback, with very beautiful surroundings. It is quite a remarkable place. Although it's still part of the mainland of Thailand, it is only accessible by boat as there are huge cliffs separating us from the rest of society.

The boat ride over here is a story in itself. It was raining for most of the day when we travelled from Phuket to Ao Nang on the bus, and it started raining again when we hopped on the long-tail boat over to Railay. Although we were sitting under a cover, our bags weren't and they got saturated. The long-tail boats are actually powered by a car motor, which is quite funny to see.

After trying to check into the wrong resort when we arrived (it was raining and dark and there are a few resorts side by side on the same beach), we finally found where we were supposed to be staying - however they sprung on an extra fee when we arrived that we weren't aware of. I argued it but I'm not sure if we have to pay it (will find out when we checkout today).

We opted for a "Privacy Cottage", which was about double the price of a normal apartment-style room. Although it had a private spa (with only cold water), the price difference wasn't really worth it. Our power kept going off, usually only for a short amount of time, but last night the breaker-switch kept flicking off, leaving us without power. I kept going around the back of the cottage and flicking it back on, but it would flick off again within a few minutes, sometimes only lasting 20 seconds. Finally after complaining to the resort and them doing the same tests that I already did, they moved us to a more expensive cottage - this one has a private pool. Unfortunately it was our last night, so we didn't really get to enjoy it, but it's the thought that counts.

Rewind a little - to a few days ago. After we checked in, I realised we didn't have a lot of money left in our Visa debit card account. This was the account my Mum had used on her trip to Thailand, and gave to us to use while we were over here. You have to BPAY money onto the account before using it, and the transfer takes 2 business days to clear. We had about 3500B left in our account (about $140 AUD), and we obviously needed a bit more than that for our last few days in Bangkok. I spent all night and the next morning stressing out about how I would get some cash. Being a Thursday night when we checked in, the money wouldn't clear until Tuesday at the earliest, which is when we are flying out! Thankfully our accommodation and airfares were prepaid by credit card, but we wanted money for the markets and other things around town.

After walking past one of the ATMs here in the resort, Nee said "Why don't you just try your commonwealth card". So I figured, why not? Thankfully it actually worked (I think I have a special card which has the lovely Cirrus symbol - this is what made the difference). I could unstress and actually enjoy myself, not being worried about having to sell myself on the streets of Bangkok.

Yesterday we went kayaking around the cliffs near our resort, and came across an interesting beach. I still don't know the real story, but there was a shrine near the cliffs on the edge of this beach, which had big statues of the male genital organ commonly referred to as a "penis". There were literally hundreds, of many different sizes and colours. Interesting, but weird.

Anyhoo, back on track, for the past few days we've just been swimming and eating and watching some movies, and that's about it! Although that may sound perfect to some people, it's something that you can do anywhere, so I'm a bit over it. I enjoyed our time in Chiang Mai much more, mostly because of the traditional Thai culture. Down here in the islands is much more touristy, and much less traditional. The people who come to holiday on the beach here miss out on so much by not travelling North.

We both really can't wait to get home. We are seriously missing Elli, and haven't spoken to her for about a week. We've been emailing back and forth but that's not enough!

We fly back into Bangkok today, and are staying at the Classic Place Hotel (recommended by Andrea). We plan to do a bit of shopping, and get our photos developed. Oh yeah, and actually go and see the Grand Palace without being taken on a crazy tuk-tuk ride :)

Only two more sleeps until we are on the plane ride home. I can't wait to get home, relax in our comfortable water bed, use our fast computers and internet (Ed I hope you've left me some bandwidth), and see our beautiful daughter, eat a delicious breakfast cooked by my Dad (I'm missing BACON!!! It seems no one eats it here!!). And we want to catch up with all our friends and stuff, of course.

When we get home we intend to go to Tara's gig on Thursday night, and then we have Mike and Katie's bucks and hens day/night on Saturday. Hope to see some or all of you there so we can catch up.