Saturday, March 13, 2010

Tonsai Bay: Climbers Mecca


2-2-10 Tuesday
I'm now sitting on a hot bus bound for Krabi, Southwest Thailand. I'm keeping in touch with the guys from California so we can meet up tomorrow to do some Deep Water Soloing. I'm really glad I didn't go back to Bangkok the other day. I wouldn't know what to do with myself for 11 days with no beaches! After Krabi I may check out Phuket or Malaysia. I really don't want to have to stay in Bangkok for more than a couple days before leaving for China. It's hot, humid and filled with tourists and the people that pray on them.
We came to a bus changing place in the middle of nowhere with really expensive food so I went for a stoll and luckily found a gas station. For the same price as a tiny portion of noodles, I got 2 bowls of noodles an Ice cream and a bag of chocolate chip cookies. The next bus came soon enough and we were on the way to Krabi. I sat with some really nice Australian girls and we split a cab from the bus depot to town.

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We split up and I headed towards downtown to look for a guesthouse. Krabi is a really small town.

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I found a bunch of cheap ones in the middle of town with a great feel to them, but they were all full. I ran into a little night market by the river, so I stopped and had some seafood fried noodles and a banana pancake. Delicious.

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I finally found a nice guesthouse with an open room for about $5. I'm way over budget for this trip with the main culprit being transportation, but it's not every day I'm in Thailand and I'm not going to miss out on something I really want to do here over a few bucks.

2-3-10 Wednesday

I woke up really late today, I was pooped. The guys had emailed me to say they were starting the day early and for me to meet them at their hotel, but it was already 10. Raleigh beach is supposedly the place with the deep water soloing, so I went down to the pier to catch a boat there. The boats were super expensive though so I started walking to find a bus that would get me closer first.

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The heat got to me really fast and there were no buses in sight, I found some nice guys with a side car though that picked me up and got me a lot closer.

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They dropped me off at a place with a bus stop, but I found a guy on a motorcycle going that way so I hopped on.

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I was surprised how far the beach was. It's mainly because of these beautiful rock formations in Krabi that get in the way.

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I got to Ao-Nang beach and bought a $2 taxi boat ticket to Raleigh beach which is inaccessible by foot.

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I arrived at Raleigh beach- clear water over a long stretch of sand surrounded by rock formations on all sides.

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After wrong directions had me walking back and forth between beaches, I found a rock climbing shop that knew where to go for the deep water solo. Apparently I was supposed to take a taxi boat to Tonsai bay instead of Raleigh beach. While I was waiting for a taxi boat, an old man told me there was a way through the rocks to get to the other beach. Sounded like fun to me.

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About 30 minutes later, Tonsai bay was in sight.

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There were A LOT of climbers here.

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The village here is like nothing else, it's a huge base camp for climbers from all over the world here for the abundant surrounding rock faces.

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I met a couple nice travelers and signed up for a deep water solo trip tomorrow. Sergei from Russia is going on the trip too. He happens to have the same camera charger as me, so I get to charge my camera when they turn the power on tonight and take some more pictures!
The cafe near the climbing school has tons of western sweets, so I'm sitting here after a bowl of noodles waiting anxiously for my first brownie in months. All the people here are very friendly and nice. I think climbers are like that because at one time or other they've all had to look for climbing parters- somebody to literally hold life their life in their hands- so making bonds (and especially not making enemies!) is important to them.

I had a great chat with the people at the cafe, really interesting people. The waitress had come here to visit a friend for 2 days and loved it so much she found a job here and just stayed. A lot of people here have a similar story- the South Thailand trap.

Today I relaxed on the beach and met a lot of people that are going on the deep water solo tomorrow- Jared from Los Angeles, Michael and Katie from the MidWEst who are teaching in China, Sergei from Russia, Kim from Holland and Pablo and Brian from the US. I've been making a concious effort to remember people's names lately but it's still a big challenge.

I went out with Sergei and Kim to watch the sunset climbers.

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Afterwards I had dinner at a little stand here on the beach and sat all night meeting some really interesting people from all over the world. One was Chinese but born and raised in the Philippines- we had a great chat in Chinese. Later a guy from Mexico with perfect English took us to his friend's restaurant on the beach to hang out. They had a tight rope there and some climbing, it was a really fun atmosphere.

I was planning on sleeping on the beach, but I had no luck finding a mosquito net today. At 1:30 in the morning I realized I was overdue for finding a bed. Everything was closed, but I woke up the manager of some bungalows and got a discount on a great room that would have otherwise gone empty.


2-4-10 Thursday

I woke up around 9:30, had some Pad Thai and went to the meet up. We got our gear and hopped in a long tail boat.

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We rode out to these giant rock formations in the middle of the ocean and went to work.

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The first climb was an easy 10 m to the ridge on the top right.

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The second climb was much more challenging.

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We rode over to a tiny hidden beach on a micro island for lunch.

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The water was so clear here if I stayed still and made bubble with my mouth, a school of blue yellow fish would flock over and nibble on my fingers. It was like nothing I've experienced, I wish I had an underwater camera.

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I went snorkeling a bit, then we jumped in the boat and headed off to "Spiderman Rock."

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Finally at the top, 20M. The guy under me here fell on his side when he jumped... it looked really painful.

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We rode back and I'm sitting at the beach cafe again after a curry rice with Michael, Katie and Ben. We went out to the beach to watch the beautiful sunset again.

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Afterwards I ran into Pablo and Bryan and hung out with them. They're really nice guys and funny too. We went abck to the climbing shop and met with everybody to share photos from the trip. I found a cheap little bungalow afterwards and hit the hay.


2-5-10 Friday

This morning as I gathered my things I found that the $180 US that I had brought in to travel in Burma, Cambodia or Laos was stolen. Bummer. Luckily it's just paper and there are much much worse things that could have happened.

Here are some of the roads through the village.

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I had breakfast with Pablo and Bryan and I'm sitting on the beach now during low tide. I'm trying to figure out where to go now and I have plenty of time to think about it. The taxi boats can't pick people up during low tide like this.

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I don't want to go back to Bangkok so soon. I still have 6 days before I fly out of there, but I'm concerned about my passport at the Chinese consulate and the travel agent I left my laptop with. I'd like to check out Phi Phi island but getting there is expensive and I hear lodging there is even worse. I think I'll leave Tonsai for nearby Ao-Nang beach, walk around in search of Wi-Fi and travel agents and figure it out there.

While I waited for high tide I met a Song Che, a korean guy waiting for a boat too. We ran into this cute little monkey and played with it while we waited.

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I tried to feed him some ketchup but he didn't like it.

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He liked my instant noodles though, but when I ran out he screamed at me and ran up and bit my neck. Little punk.

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Song Che and I hopped in the taxi boat and Sailed off to Ao-Nang.


That's it for this chapter, more to come soon!