We are staying in Ao Nang in the province of Krabi. Krabi province is best known for Koh Phi Phi, but Ao Nang is the main hopping point to access the surrounding islands (by ferry) and the beautiful isthmus of Railay (by long tail boat).
 
I hadn't fully researched the South Western gulf area and consequently we found ourselves arriving in the midst of low season, which predominantly means rainy season. This is the case across the majority of Thailand right now, but here they only have two seasons, missing out on the [middle] season and suffering from longer periods of rain. This also means there are no ferries running to the islands and the long tail boats to Railay are often suspended due to rough seas.
  
Coming from the UK, you would think that almost constant downpours wouldn't be an issue to us, but the rain here makes a lot of areas difficult to access and as keen walkers, scratching hiking off the list due to the risk of mud slides and being in a beachy area when it's wet, after a while, can become a little depressing. 
 
We of course did our best to make the most of it and merged into the atmosphere as best as a 'farang' can, dawning our umbrellas and plastic ponchos!
 
In Ao Nang they appear to be having an overhaul so the pavements on both sides of the main street have been taken up leaving just a stretch of sand. I actually thought this added to the authenticity of a beach side resort until I realised it wasn't permanent.
 
The main beach here isn't anything special, consisting of a mismash of crushed shells as well as finer sand, but when the tide goes out in the evening it is over run with locals paddling or collecting the conch shells (to eat!). 
 
South of the beach is a stretch of huts that have now been taken over by massuers. Each of them is numbered sequentially and prices do vary, but no doubt so does the quality. They definitely haven't seen the commercial advantage of each offering something unique to compete with the competition with the current count being 29.
 
If you keep heading south a set of rickety steps, which the service staff and locals use, leads up and over to a nice resort with it's own beach. There are many monkeys along the path, a lot of which were carrying babies and seemed a little aggressive, but were not deterred by us passing by.
 
Once again, hiring a motorbike seemed the best option to get out and about, particularly as the best food is served at the night market in Krabi town (22km's away) and the famous Tiger Cave temple (Wat Tham Seua) is about 20 minutes from there too.

Wat Tham Suea is built into a limestone caves with a number of huts (kuti) scattered close by, where monks live. Wandering through the caves takes you on a cooling hike around the area where giant bamboo and banyan trees provide a home for hiding tortoises; if you are lucky these can be spotted from the path. I would recommend exploring this area after climbing the 1237 stairs up the limestone karst to the top.
 
The climb to the top should not be attempted without being appropriately clothed, it's warm here but this is a temple and although there are no signs until you reach the top, it was disappointing to see how few people respected the dress code. Also make sure you take plenty of water as this is an exhausting ascent - there were a few moments when I was debating whether I would actually make it to the top! The descent afterwards seemed almost harder as my legs had become like jelly by then!
 
We had quite a few downpours to contend with throughout our few days in Ao Nang but although this involved rather damp moments out on the bike and sitting at the night market in Krabi town with our umbrellas, it was actually quite fun. However the in between parts where the bugs ventured out and I acquired a new set of bites started to get me down. By day 4 the weather had gotten worse so we decided to make a dash for Railay, just around the corner, which I was promised would be beautiful.
 
Frustratingly the long tail boats official office closed, just a few minutes before we arrived there with our bags, sodden from the rain, but we managed to join a bunch of other drowned tourists and chartered a boat 'off the record', ignoring the safety advice and braving the crashing waves. It wasn't unsafe at all so perhaps they were being over cautious, however the weather didn't let up and the intermittent rain continued throughout our stay in Railay...