Jeremy's Cool Travel Blog: Thailand! Ton Sai!

I arrived in Bangkok the evening of Februrary 24. My plan was to spend two nights in the city and then fly down to Ton Sai / Railay (near Krabi) for a few weeks of rock climbing and mucho relaxo.

The first thing I noticed walking through the airport in Bangkok was how friendly and smiley the Thais are. In the taxi to my hostel, I was then struck by how orderly the traffic was; everyone was driving between the lines and nobody was honking. For the 30-odd minute taxi ride from the airport, I didn't hear a single car honking AND we stopped at every single traffic signal (I should mention too that my driver took me directly to my destination and didn't try to cheat me). After two months in India, this was truly amazing!

The Grand Palace

After a quiet night and a morning spent dealing with 'life administration' (i.e. things like procuring a local SIM card, booking flights, checking emails, etc.), I ventured out of my hostel to explore Wat Phra Kaew (aka. the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and the Grand Palace. Both of these are housed in an incredibly ornate and colourful compound, which is one of Bangkok's most popular attractions. To get there, it was suggested that I take a long-tail boat up the Chao Phraya River and get off near the temple. It turns out that this is a common form of transportation and one that makes a lot of sense because the road traffic in Bangkok can be pretty bad. The boat ride is also a great way to see the city. I spent the next few hours exploring the Grand Palace and the neighbouring Wat Pho (home of the 46m long, 15m high reclining Buddha). Both sites are simply incredible. That evening I enjoyed an excellent Thai dinner accompanied by my roommate, Brandon from Atlanta (an aspiring monk who was hoping to move to Burma), at a fancy-ish restaurant near our hostel where we felt quite underdressed, but ate like kings.

The next morning I caught my flight to Krabi. From there I took a 45 minute bus ride to the costal town of Ao Nang and then a short long-tail boat ride to Ton Sai / Railay. Boarding the long-tail was a bit of an adventure, as we had to wade in up to our waists in water to reach the boat. Luckily I could wear my big backpack, but those with normal suitcases (not to mention phones and wallets in their pockets) struggled to get to the boat.

Railay beach, with Ton Sai on the far left

Ton Sai and Railay are neighbouring beach / resort villages in a small bay on the Pra-Nang Peninsula. This area has over 50 climbing areas with over 500 bolted routes, making it the most popular climbing destination in Asia. Both Ton Sai and Railay exist exclusively for tourism; there is no native population here. The two are separated by a cliff / rock face and are connected via a short, rocky trail. Railay has a very nice beach and attracts the posh, sunbathing set, whereas Ton Sai can resemble a muddy bog during low tide and, so, is less developed and more 'rustic'. Most of the climbers stay in Ton Sai and it's here where the best bars and Thai food can be found. An overview of Ton Sai, including photos, is available here.

Upon my arrival, I checked into a small one-room bungalow with ensuite bathroom at the Mountain View 'resort', which was recommened by a friend. The place costs about $25 per night, which is way more than any place I stayed at in India, but it's very nice and clean.

The next day at my soon-to-be-regular breakfast joint, Pyramid, I met Nathan from Humbolt County, California, and Janet and Peter, a couple from Banff - all climbers. We teamed up and headed to a nearby sector called Fire Wall for some climbing. There we met Chris and Lise, an excellent brother-and-sister duo from South Africa, and a couple from Norway. That night we went for drinks at a tiki bar called Small World, where were entertained by a fireshow / slack-line act (which I soon discovered are featured most nights at most bars). And so it began...

Since then, most of my days have unrolled something like this:

Wake up around 8:30 am and meet folks at Pyramid for breakfast

Head out climbing at whichever crag has shade in the morning or just chill out til lunch

Get lunch at a nearby restaurant (unlike Kalymnos, it's not cheaper or convenient to pack your own lunch here)

Climb in the afternoon (again, at a shady area) or relax by the beach

Meet friends for dinner and evening drinks

Hit the hay sometime between 10:00 and midnight

Repeat the next day

Some highlights from the past three weeks:

Climbing! The rock and variety of routes here is amazing and all within walking distance. The rock itself is very similar to Kalymnos (limestone with lots of stalactites and tuffas). After three weeks I'm getting stronger and hope to send a 7a before I leave.

Hanging out and climbing with so many great people, including: Chris, Lise and Kobe (South Africa); Nathan (USA); Evan (USA); Peter and Janet (Canada); Femke (Holland); Viviane (Spain); Darran (UK); Jussi (Finland); Ashley and Kevin (USA); Stephanie (France); Gordon (Canada); Terry (Canada); Chrissy (Germany); Jules (New Zealand); Victor, aka. V-Funk (Germany), Simon (Sweden); Amy (Australia); Francois, Robin, Hugo and Louis (Canada); Pon, Tuffy, Yip and Chai (Thailand).

Eating delicious food again and again at our favourite Ton Sai restaurants: Boatman, Mama's Chicken, Legacy, Pyramid, Family, and Ton Sai Bay

Hanging out on the beach-side deck at Sunset bar or Sawadee

Going deep water soloing, which is rock climbing without ropes over a body of water. When you're done climbing, you simply jump (or fall) into the sea. Several of the climbing schools in Ton Sai organize day trips for deep water soloing around the nearby islands. I'm not a fan of jumping into water from high up, so my DWS experience was pretty tame, but it was fun to watch others get as high as 20m and realize "Oh man, I gotta jump down now!"

Jamming at Sunset bar with a few Thai musicians / climbers. I noticed the drum kit at Sunset when I first arrived and asked the staff on a couple occasions if they ever organized jams. Each time they were too stoned to give me a coherent response. A few days later, I noticed this big Thai dude with Slash-like hair and a pirate hat struggling to do a drum sound check (i.e. hitting a drum; going to the sound board to adjust the volume; hitting the drum again; returning to the sound board). I took the opportunity help him out and then I was in. Tuffy and I jammed a bit that afternoon and then again a few nights later with a couple other guys in front of a pretty full bar. Our repetoire has included lots of reggae and some rock hits (and Stand By Me). It's all quite rough around the edges (Tuffy's perpetually-out-of-tune guitar helps with that), but I love it.

Doing my first multi-pitch climb (Big Wave: 6a+, 6b, 6b, 6b) with Chris. It was interesting to notice that I wasn't really any more nervous being 100m off the ground than I'm doing a 20m climb.

Getting amped to do 'happy shakes' with Chris, Lise, Femke and Viviane and lying on the beach under the stars waiting for them to kick in. They didn't, but we laughed a lot listening to Chris throw up in the bushes.

Watching Evan get ready for a body suspension, which involves having your body suspended by hooks through the skin. Yes, this is freaky shit, but it's something that Evan is into. It turns out that one of the leading suspension practitioners was in Ton Sai (a Russian guy with tattoos on his face, named Staz) and Evan jumped at the chance to do some suspensions with him. The scene burned into my memory is Evan lying on the ground while Staz was putting something like oversized safety pins through his chest. While we're watching Staz says "Evan, please keep talking to your friends, but in the meantime do you mind if I put a hook through your knee?" I've now seen it all.

Seeing a 2m long snake with Chris while walking up the road. It was too dark to tell what type of snake it was, but it was certainly the biggest I've ever spotted in nature.

Watching a bunch of Russian base jump off one off one of the cliffs on Ton Sai bay. These guys jumped every afternoon for a few days, and it was pretty wild to watch. One time, one of the guys actually hit the cliff face after his chute deployed and then ended up in a tree. Amazingly, he only suffered minor injuries; it obviously could have been a lot worse.

Yelling out "TON SAI!" at random intervals

Some photos: