Pi Leh Bay

This guide to Pi Leh Bay in Krabi traces why swiftlet-nest harvesters still climb barehanded into caves ringing this emerald lagoon, generations after boats first came for the sound of bamboo being tested underfoot. You'll hear how climbers tap each pole, pause at a shrine beneath the stalactites, and pry nests loose with a three-pronged knife. The guide traces the trade that makes their harvest so prized, long before the film The Beach ever discovered this coastline.