Krabi and Phuket, Thailand

We flew from Bangkok to Krabi on a Friday evening. It was only about an hour flight, and we arrived around 6:00pm. We collected our bags from the very empty airport and boarded a bus to our hotel in Ao Nang. We arrived at our hotel, and tried to check in. The hotel did not have a record of our reservation, so the receptionist had to make a few phone calls, but it was all sorted fairly quickly. We were glad to find our room exceptionally clean. It was a pretty plain room, but what do you expect for $33 a night walking distance to the beach with WiFi and breakfast included??

In the morning we looked out our balcony and we quite surprised by the view.

Having arrived at night, we had no idea we had full view of a series of approximately 400' limestone cliffs! and if you leaned out the balcony a little, you could see the beach/ocean. We were planning on sampling the rock climbing the next day so we counted on an easy day. After having breakfast, (eggs, bacon, toast, baked beans, fruit and juice) we went for a wander down to the beach. The beach was view was amazing. The beach was capped on one end by the limestone cliff band we could see from the room, and there were a few islands with similar sheer (or overhung) limestone cliffs. This is where they shot the movie 'The Beach' with Leonardo DiCaprio, where they live on an island paradise, if the pictures aren't clear enough.

The water was turquoise and probably the warmest ocean water either of us have ever experienced. We lounged on the beach, repeatedly declining the same hawkers again and again that offered us everything from cold drinks to necklaces to wooden handicrafts. Then a woman approached us to tell us about her massage practice, and we chatted with her for some time as she was much more friendly and less pushy than any of the other hawkers. She left us with a little rate sheet and some free pineapple wedges, and said "If you are planning on getting a massage, please consider my place." We were in fact, planning on getting a famous Thai massage at some point, and really appreciated her far less annoying approach to marketing. The rate sheet sealed the deal. It was 200 ฿ for an hour massage, or for those looking up the conversion at home, about $7. An HOUR. She also said if we both get a massage, she'd also paint Janine's toenails for free. Then she helped us carry our beach mat and umbrella as she led us down the beach to her establishment.

When we arrived, we found what we dubbed "massage parlor row". There were no less than 25 wall-less huts, each owned by a different person, with 10 or so beds under each one, and about 5 masseuses at each hut. We couldn't believe the guidebook neglected to share that there was a massage parlor utopia at the south end of the beach. The next hour was mixture of relaxation and pain that can best be described as "having yoga done to you" (not our clever description). Janine loved it. Adam is not so sure. Then they gave us more fresh cut pineapple quarters and painted Janine's toes. We got pad Thai and Massaman curry from this cheap restaurant along the main road, and felt very satisfied about our day, and it was only 4PM.

Then we stopped by the store-front (shack-front, honestly) of one of the local climbing guides. After inquiring about rates for renting gear, or going out with a guide, we decided we were better off going out with the guide, as the boat trip to the cliff would be organized for us, and we wouldn't waste time finding the cliffs and routes. We set up the trip for the next day, went back to the hotel to shower, and cruised back down to the beach in time for sunset. Here you can really appreciate the new camera we bought in Bangkok!

We grabbed some $3 cocktails from a Rasta bar near the beach, and retired early for climbing the next day.

We met up promptly at 8:15AM, got sized up for harnesses and shoes, and introduced ourselves to the rest of the group that we'd be climbing with. An Italian guy and 3 German girls were coming with us, and we realized that we were on a truly beginner focused trip. It wasn't ideal, but we're not exactly in the shape to be ticking off a ton of hard routes anyway, especially with Janine's injured thumb, so we went with it. We all hopped in the back of a pickup truck and took off down the road. The driver dropped us off at a pier and said some words that we assumed meant the guide would meet us here, then turned around and left. After waiting for about 20 minutes and getting less and less confident that we had understood correctly, our guide showed up, and motioned us all onto a longtail boat.

The longtail boats are long and skinny, usually with a covered section in the middle of the boat, and giant car engines mounted in the back. The propeller is mounted on a long shaft sticking out of the back of the boat (hence the name). The drive shaft has to be about 10-20 feet long in order to get into the water at an appropriate angle. The whole mechanism is mounted on giant pivot that they use to steer the boat. It is quite noisy, impressive, and terrifying.

The ride out to Railay beach was awesome, we passed by more gorgeous remote beaches, islands, and steep cliffs.

The boat pulled up and grounded itself on the beach under some more tall, overhung cliffs (noticing a theme here?) We all hopped out into knee high water and trudged up to the base of the cliff, which already had 3 or 4 groups climbing. The guide wasted no time in tossing Adam a harness and asking him to belay while he led the first climb. He said, "I'm going to climb 30 Meters", and after a quick look at Adam's belay device and technique, cruised up the climb. The reason the 30 Meters matters, is most ropes are 60M long, and if you want to go 30 M high, you need at least 60M to also get lowered down to the ground. Before Adam started lowering him, the guide (his name is Mor) shouted down "is there enough?" Adam looked down and saw that the halfway mark of the rope was about a foot away, and shouted, "yup!" The guide reached the ground with about 2' extra rope left.

Janine belayed Adam on the route while the guide got one of the other climbers to belay him on another route. The route was fun, pretty steep in some spots, and offered an amazing view of the beach and bay from the top, as well as some really cool stalactites hanging down around the top of the climb. When he got back down to the ground, Janine asked "what do you think that was graded?" Adam guessed 5.8, maybe 5.9, apparently the grades were pretty soft, as the harder section was listed at 5.10b. If this doesn't mean anything to you, just take away from this that the routes claimed to be considerably harder than they actually were, which made us feel super strong and awesome!


We spent the next couple hours climbing, Janine managed to climb some 10's even with an injured hand! Eventually Adam asked the guide to put up slightly harder route, as most of the climbs had been set up for the beginners. Theoretically listed as a 10c, the guide cruised it without hesitation, and Adam followed it and bungled the last few moves several times before seeing how to do it and finishing with ease. While resting from one of his failed attempts, he grabbed some photos from near the top of the climb.

After that our time was up, and our longtail boat was back in the bay waiting for us when Adam got lowered to the ground.

The other climbers in the group decided to spend the rest of the day on Railay beach and take a later boat back to the hotels, so we were the only ones with the guide on the way back. We invited him to come climb with us if he ever makes it to the US, and hopped back in the pickup truck for the ride back to the hotel. Sweaty and sore, we showered up and headed out for dinner at an Indian restaurant (where we ordered pizza; you can't eat Thai all the time) and Janine was served a pina colada in the classiest glass ever... which hopefully Adam has a picture of on his phone.

All in all a really successful time in Krabi!

After that, we made our way across the bay to Phuket, where we stayed in a luxurious Hilton that greeted us with an abundance of flowers and fresh fruit, some of which we couldn't even identify! Unfortunately, something that Janine ate finally caught up with her here, so she spent most of a miserable day in bed, leaving Adam to explore the beach across the street by himself. Adam is not much of a beach person, especially since we think he kept getting stung by tiny jellyfish... so we spent most of the time enjoying the views from the executive lounge.

Check out more pictures from Krabi, climbing in Railay Beach, and Phuket on the pictures page!