Spring break or paradise?

I made my way south to go diving on the west coast of Thailand. There are 2 primary beach spots to go to, Phuket and Krabi. I mean, there are a lot of other ones but I was the most interested in this region located near the Phi Phi (pronounced pee-pee) islands, Lonely Planet does Phi Phi is the prettiest place on earth, though I don't believe them. Phuket is a tourist magnet filled with strip-malls, sex tourism, and child prostitution so I avoided it. I'm probably exaggerating this a bit and I bet Phuket isn't that bad, it wouldn't be a tourist hot-spot if it was, but I've been told by several reliable backpackers to avoid it like the plague. So Krabi it is.

There are a few main beaches in Krabi. Ao Nang is located on the main road so there are a lot of amenities right there. I decided to head to the quieter Railay beach, which is more like a honey-mooners beach. It is just gorgeous here. Crystal clear blue water, easy waves, limestone rock formations jutting out of the water everywhere you look, and its quiet. There are no roads to Railay so it's a little bit isolated and not nearly as developed as Ao Nang. The perfect place to relax for a week.

I got a gorgeous little bungalow for a super discount on East Railay (West Railay is the nice beach with amazing views, but I can't afford $50-1,000 a night) and have been relaxing since. I met back up with Lauren and Dana here and have largely spent my days reading on the beach, running, and bouldering (a form of climbing at very low heights, you kind of climb sideways as oppose to up and is really all you can do without ropes). I should mention that Krabi is a mecca for climbers. The limestone cliffs that are everywhere make for some of the best and most picturesque climbing in the world. There are literal hundreds of these skinny towers or pillars shooting straight out of the ocean.

It is amazing down here, though a massive rainstorm did just sweep in, hence the reason I'm updating this thing.

My only complaint about southern Thailand in general, and really its not their fault, is that the atmosphere down here is a mix between a tropical paradise and spring break crowd....though the lines between those two are probably quite blurred. What I mean though is despite the fact that Railay is the quieter beach there are huge parties here everynight. I didn't exactly come to Thailand for the chest thumbing techno, although the fire shows are really fun to watch, but it seems to be unavoidable here that you are going to run into it.