Thailand West Coast

Sawasdee. Adam and I are on our way out of Thailand tomorrow, after 6 weeks here. We could both spend longer, except we're not allowed ... Yep, that's right, despite falling tourism after a disasterous closure of both Bangkok's airports by protesters and on-going civil unrest in Bangkok and the deep south, the Thai immigration authorities make it difficult for Canadians and others to extend their visa or visa-free stay. We've already done one "visa run" to the Malaysian border (which was encouraged by the immigration officer in Krabi!) to get another 14 days in Thailand after our initial 30-day entry permit expired. In any event, we really must get a move-on to the rest of Indochina, as we've realized that we have to come home to Canada in just 2 short months! (sniff, sniff) Not that I don't love Canada -- travelling always makes me appreciate home even more -- but I certainly don't love the idea of going back to work after so many months of leisure.

Adam's last post covered the islands and beaches that we visited on the east coast. Since then, we've spent most of our time on Tonsai beach, near Krabi, a rock climber's Mecca. To say that Tonsai/Railay is one of the foremost rock climbing areas in the world is not an overstatement, and it undoubtedly attracts an incredible number of rock climbers every year. I was mildly surprised at just how many, and from how many countries -- Canada, U.S., all over Europe, Czech republic, Russia, Korea, China, etc. -- in fact, we had a running joke about being able to convene a United Nations of climbers on Tonsai beach. And even non-climbers can appreciate why Tonsai is popular - in addition to excellent rock, the setting is superb. Rock climbing on the beach, where your biggest worry is whether the tide is low enough for a "dry" belay, is amazing.

We were on Tonsai for about 6 days before we had to leave to do the visa run to Malaysia, and then we made a short visit to Koh Lanta for 4 days before running to Tonsai for another 8 days afterward. I have been to Koh Lanta before, and we ended up staying just 100 metres or so down the beach from where I stayed 8 years ago. Koh Lanta has changed much, but I don't think the change has been as dramatic as on Koh Tao or Koh Phangan. Much of what I loved about Koh Lanta remains intact. It's a large island with very long, white sandy beaches, and the length of the beaches means that you can always find a quiet piece of sand to call your own, away from any crowds. There are more high-end resorts and facilities on Koh Lanta now (e.g. lots of 7-11s) but budget-to-mid-range options remain, some even right on the beach -- a rarity in Thailand these days. Koh Lanta is quiet, but you aren't terribly isolated and there are lots of local restaurants. Notably, "Spicy" restaurant, which I had loved eight years ago, was still there, still open, and still cheap and delicious -- we ate there at least once a day.

We didn't do much on Koh Lanta, spending most of our time lounging on our veranda (with sea view) or walking along the beach. We did go diving on one day -- a trip via speedboat out to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang -- famous pinnacles in the middle of the Andaman Sea. We didn't see any sharks or Manta rays, but did see an amazing abundance and assortment of tropical fish, two schools of big barracuda, and lots of titan triggerfish. They were really good dives.

As I mentioned, after Koh Lanta we went back to Tonsai for a week, then it was time to go ... I'm sure Adam would have loved to have stayed for a month or two, as many climbers do, but our visa extension was up and there's so much else to see and do on this trip (as well as other places to climb in Laos and Vietnam) that it is time to move on. We're on Phuket at the moment, on Kata Beach, for a day of relative luxury (after the fairly basic conditions on Tonsai) and because we fly from here (via Bangkok) to Luang Prabang, Laos, tomorrow morning.

Adam will likely put up a further post about our rock climbing on Tonsai at a later date. I know he's got more pictures he wants to post to make all the climbers jealous! ;)

Cheers,
Robin

Climbing Photos

Here are some photos from our recent trip to Tonsai...more to come...

View of Tonsai beach from Thaiwand Wall

Little Deep Water Solo action...

No ropes, no pads....just water...

Robin realizing just how high she has climbed...and now she has to jump!

Trying to crank out some close to the water routes...

Working the flake on "The Lion King"

Sticking the throw for the victory jug on "The Lion King"

Thailand East Coast Wrap-up

Robin and I are currently sitting in Krabi preparing for a full day trip to Malaysia in order to extend our visa for Thailand for another 15 days. I started this post for the east coast about a week ago but never finished it (such is life on a Thai beach) ...so here goes...

We had an AMAZING time!! Koh Tao was all about the activities (diving and climbing) while Koh Phangan was all about seeing how little we could do.

We arrived on Koh Tao on Boxing Day and didn't really have a plan about where to stay. My only thought was to get to Sairee Beach as that was where many of the dive shops and the climbing outfit was located. Once there, I was sent to find us a place to sleep, which I was able to do rather quickly and didn't get "too" ripped off. We were able to walk around the town a bit and speak to a couple of dive shops where we would potentially do our diving. We decided that an outfit called Scuba Junction best fit our needs (my open water course and Robin's refresher course). The next morning we went to the shop and were able to enroll in our respective courses and were able to obtain very cheap accomodation for what would be the next 6 nights. The bungalow was small, the matress hard, there was no hot water, and we kept hearing a very strange bleating noise the first night and could not figure out what it was (more on that later). But it was cheap (200 baht/night compared to 750 baht for our first night). My open water course consisted of 2 days of theory and then 4 dives. The theory part was not the most exciting but once we were in the water with the gear it was pretty awesome! On the third day of the course we did our first two dives and these were "only" to 12 meters. The visibility at this time of year is not great (only 5 meters max) but that was enough to see lots of coral and fish. After these dives, I knew I was hooked on diving. The feeling of weightlessness is pretty cool. The next day we had our last two days and Robin was able to join our class and be my "buddy" for the dives! We spotted moray eels and a pretty large barracuda which trolled right past us and turned around for another look at us and then kept on going. After the dives I was fully certified and we will probably be doing some diving in Ko Lanta over the next week.

While I was in my course, Robin also did a deeper water dive to 29 meters at the famed Chumphon Pinnacle, which is pretty impressive, but she found the visibility was terrible. She did enjoy her dives but she is looking forward to the clearer water of the west coast.

We also figured out what the bleating was we had been hearing each night. It was a giant gecko called a Tokai! ["Giant" means about a foot long -- not your average gecko!] Not only did we hear it but after we had seen it one night, we came home from dinner to find one hiding behind the mirror in the washroom! Robin was "slightly" freaked but I wanted to get close so I tried to move the mirror but it then took off and hid in the rafters of the roof. We do have a great shot of the mirror and one of its legs sticking out!

Now that the diving was finished it was time to climb! I finished my course on New Year's Eve and the next day everything on the island which is run by foreigners would have been closed so I went over to the climbing outfit and hooked up a crashpad for a couple of days. Good Time Adventures is a relatively new shop on the island but they have pretty much cornered the adventure tourism niche! They offer guided top-roping, cliff jumping, diving, crazy custom adventures and good, ol' fashioned booze cruises on their pretty slick boat. In other words, if you are going to Koh Tao, check these guys out as they have their stuff together.

We had a pretty low key New Year's eve celebration and the next day I woke up to what was going to be an AWESOME day of climbing! Except for the rain. Sure enough, right after we had breakfast, it started to pour! And it didn't stop raining until after lunch. :-( I thought my day would be wiped but happily it dried a bit so I took a chance, grabbed Robin and the pad and wandered up to the two areas I would be visiting on this trip; the Frontyard and the Backyard.

These areas are right across from each other are pretty close to Mae Haad. We hit up the Backyard first as that was where more of the easier problems were located and my skin was pretty soft after not having climbed since the end of October. The granite here is razor sharp and I had a pretty good idea that I would only survive a couple of days before my hands would be raw. I climbed a bunch of problems for a couple of hours before the mosquitos got too bad and the sun was setting so we high-tailed it back to Sairee Beach. The next day we had to move accomodations which we did early and then I went off solo back to the Backyard. Robin didn't really enjoy the bugs [or the thought of how many snakes were likely hanging around, as the area is a coconut plantation] and wasn't really interested in bouldering on this stuff. So I went back and finished off the rest of the problems in the area which were classics and weren't too high for a solo attempt. My confidence was up and I still had some skin left so I went over to the Frontyard to check it out. This is definitely where the better bouldering is at. I did a couple of mid-range highballs and then went further up the hill to check out the harder problems. I was able to finish a couple more before my skin ran out. There's lots of more detail which climbers would appreciate but most people who read this would find it boring so I'll share it with other climbers in another forum.

On January 3rd we left Koh Tao and took a ferry to Koh Phangan for 5 days of relaxation. Robin found us a great spot on Than Sadet which is a very secluded bay on the east coast of the island. It is a 45 min ride in a 4x4 along a pretty gnarly dirt road but we arrived in piece. The resort is called Mai Pen Rai (which roughly translates to "don't worry, be happy") and they gave us a bungalow which was built on top of the boulders right on the ocean! I was blown away by the surroundings and immediately felt my body kick into relax mode. There's really nothing to do there but eat, relax and sleep! Over the course of the next 4 days that is exactly what we did! Waking up and going to sleep to the sound of the ocean was a great way to start and finish a day. I'm usually a pretty active person but this place was more than enough to turn me into a pile of useless goo! The food at the restaurant was great although a bit repetetive as it was really the only place to eat (they have a captive audience). Overall the experience was amazing and we left the resort completely relaxed and ready for our climbing adventure on Tonsai to begin!

We've finished our first 5 days out on Tonsai beach, but as I mentioned above, we're taking a break to do a visa-run to the Malaysian border, and then will likely go find some chill for a few days on a nearby island (likely Koh Lanta) while we rest. We'll post about Tonsai and the west coast in a few weeks.

Happy Trails!