A trip to the south provinces was all about those sandy exotic beaches that I always admired in movies. I might say that Krabi didn’t disappoint me.

Railay or Rai Leh is a large peninsula between the city of Krabi and Ao Nang, where we stayed, and the beach is accessible only by long-tail boats due to high limestone cliffs that are cutting off the access through the mainland.

The long-tail boats drive every 20 minutes or so from the Ao Nang beach in various directions and on the return you just have to wait for the boat to be full (around 8 passengers) but that goes very quickly.

Our first full day in Krabi we have decided to spend on the Ao Phra Nang beach that is an attraction for the cliff climbers as well as for the lazy tourists that enjoys the sun and the sea. Not so much the peace and quiet because the beach is overcrowded, but still there was room for everybody.

At the very far end of the beach there’s a small cave. With penises. Quite surprising and funny 🙂

The cave has been dedicated to a princess goddess of love named Phra Nang whose name carries the whole beach.

According to one legend, Phra Nang was an Indian princess who was killed in a shipwreck, but according to another tale, Phra Nang was the wife of a fisherman who was lost at sea. She lived out the rest of her days in the cave, awaiting her husband’s return.

Nowadays, the local fisherman and boatmen leave offerings in the Phra Nang cave to ensure safe travel on the sea.
These offers take the form of male genitalia, so the cave is covered in many linga or lingams that are a symbol of the Hindu god Shiva and are associated with fertility and virility.

We have actually witnessed one of such offerings when a group of women brought several very realistically carved penises decorated in color cloths and colors to a cave filled with incense 🙂

We have arrived on the beach around noon. Not the best time to enjoy some alone time as the beach was slightly overcrowded, but people were moving around, coming and going out of the water so the zen experience of soaking up in the warm sea water in mid of February was not disturbed.

We stayed couple of hours on the beach before returning back to the city, just enough for Debeli to fall a sleep couple of times and for me to take dozens of photos and million memory moments for the long cold winters in Norway 🙂

PLAŽA

Pješčane plaže i tirkizno more bili su jedni od razloga zašto sam pristala na put u Tajland. Moram priznati da sve one fotografije i videi koje sam gledala prije puta nisu umanjili doživljaj toplog mora i sitnog pijeska pod prstima.
Krabi je divan. Ali najdivnije su plaže.

Plaže do kojih se dolazi malim long-tail brodovima karakterističnim za sjeveroistočnu Aziju, a koji su naziv ”dugačak rep” dobili po dugom motornom upravljaču.

Vratovi brodova urešeni su cvjetovima i dugim šarenim vrpcama u znak zahvalnosti i poštovanja prema duhu Mae Ya Nang koja brodove i njihove vozače štiti od morskih i inih nevolja i nedaća.

S plaže u Ao Nangu brodovi voze svako malo na jednu od bezbroj destinacija u blizini. Svaki od brodova može prevesti od 6 do 8 putnika i kad se koji kako napuni tako se kreće na put.

Manje od petnaestak minuta trebalo nam je da dođemo do Phra Nang plaže na Railay poluotoku do kojeg se najlakše može doći brodom jer je okružen nepristupačnim terenom koji se sastoji od visokih vapnenačkih stijena privlačnih brojnim slobodnim penjačima.

Na kraju Phra Nang plaže, u debeloj borovoj hladovini gdje smo se sparkirali, naišli smo na malu pećinu. Punu drvenih penisa 🙂

Pećina je posvećena indijskoj princezi božici istog imena, Phra Nang, koja je prema jednoj legendi poginula u brodolomu nedaleko od pećine.

Prema drugo legendi Phra Nang je bila supruga nestalog ribolovca koja je svoj život provela u pećini čekajući da se suprug vrati. Zahvaljujući legendama i pričama, ribolovci još uvijek ostavljaju darove u pećini da bi osigurali svoj siguran povratak.

Taman kako smo mi boravili na plaži, svjedočili smo maloj procesiji žena koje su donijele nekoliko skulpturica penisa i ostavile ih u pećini obogaćenoj raznoraznim mirisnim štapićima.

Pećina je omiljena turistička atrakcija za brojne turiste koji dolaze na plažu u potrazi za osvježavajućim morem i dugom pješčanom plažom.

Mjesto nije najbolje za zen relaksaciju jer je krcato turistima, ali svejedno bilo je mjesta za sve i Debeli je uspio ulovit par sati sna između toćanja u moru, dok sam ja bauljala okolo, fotografirala i skupljala sunčevu energiju za dugu zimu. Uostalom po to smo i došli 🙂