Ao Nang Longtail Boat Service Club

This guide to the Ao Nang Longtail Boat Service Club follows the unwritten rule that keeps a paid ticket from meaning much: the boat to Railay Beach will not leave until roughly eight strangers are standing on the sand. You'll hear about the food stalls where travelers wait it out, and about the boats themselves, converted car or truck engines bolted to a swiveling shaft, a design that has worked this coast since the nineteen thirties. Watch the driver steer by pointing the whole propeller assembly rather than turning a wheel.