Ton Sai, Heat, and Humility

Lesson Number One: Do not go on a climbing trip unless you are a solid 5.11 climber. At least not to Ton Sai.

We have been here... 3 days? I think? It is hard to remember time here. After an absolute shitshow at the Phuket ferry station we hung legs off the side of an extremely crowded ferry for 2.5 hours to get to Railay. Then had to transfer from the ferry to a long tail boat in the middle of the ocean because there is no harbor in Railay so the big ferry couldn't land. I had to stifle a few laughs witnessing some of the people trying to jump from the ferry to the longtail. We motored (really, those beasts are loud) into west Railay where we had to jump from the boat into the water (about thigh deep for me, again funny to see some people do it with their giant suitcases) and waded to shore where we were immediately accosted by beach vendors, hotel people, and boatmen wanting to take us here, there, and everywhere... for 500 baht!

Let me interject here to say how hard it must be to be a whitey living in Thailand. I wonder if it ever gets old walking down the street and being harassed by vendors everywhere you go? I wished I could turn my skin darker so people would leave me alone. I can't even count the times Jamie and I have said "No, thank you!" on this trip. I can't imagine living here- how would the locals know you live here and are not a rich tourist as the rest of us supposedly are? Anyways, by the time we arrived in Railay I was sick of people asking me if I want to buy something or if I want to go somewhere. Geez.

We tried to walk to Ton Sai but when we got to the "trail" it was more of a class 3 scramble, which neither Jamie nor I wanted to do, he carrying a 50 + pound pack of climbing gear and me with the two smaller bags each nearing 30 lbs, one on my back and one on the front of me. So we paid 200 baht to charter our own longtail since there was no one else going to Ton Sai. Dios mio!

We landed in Ton Sai and dragged ourselves and our overpacked bags up to Dream Valley Resort where we had booked a place for the next 8 nights. Lesson Number Two: No matter how many people tell you to book ahead in high season, don't. We definitely overpaid for our bungalow; we paid 1000 baht/night to ensure a room and there were tons of available bungalows all over the place. Ah well, live and learn.

The rest of the day we were too tired to start climbing so we explored all over Ton Sai, West Railay, East Railay, and Phranang Beach. East Railay smells like an outhouse. West Railay was beautiful but overrun with vendors, as was Phranang but not as much. Phranang did have these delightful boat vendors who stayed on their boats and waited for us to come to them, novel concept in Thailand! I had some delicious phad thai and Jamie some bbq chicken. The most incredible views from these places, and the most delicious ocean breeze. We spent the day playing in the incredibly clear waters, laying on the sand, and taking pictures of the cheeky monkeys that were swinging from the trees.

Our first night in Tonsai was... a bit sleepless. The power here comes on at 6 pm, and the power to our room was not working, hence the fan wasn't working great either. It was oppressively hot in the bungalow and for awhile I considered taking my beach mat out to the porch. The next morning though we talked to the people at reception and they were very nice, they let us switch bungalows to one which I am happy to say has a perfectly good working fan which kept us cool all night long.

Our second day we decided to get out for some climbing, we went to warm up at the "beginner area" which is full of 5.10 routes. Ah, it was good to be climbing limestone again!! There is not much where we live in Golden, only at Shelf Road which is about 2.5 hours away. I wish I could describe the limestone, full of pockets and sharp crimps and toeholds. Very sharp, I think I lost much of the skin on my fingertips on the first day. We learned that all the guides from the rock shops here take their clients to this beginner area since it is the only area on the peninsula not filled with 5.12+ climbs. We waited awhile to get on some climbs, in which time we met Sandra and Casey, a couple from New Jersey who were also here to climb and soak up the sun. We climbed with them for a couple of hours once the morning guided groups left. Then the afternoon guided groups moved in and we moved on to Phranang for some more beach time and swimming.

In the evening we made the hike back to Ton Sai and hung out at the Chill Out Bar where we met Tom, a traveler from New Zealand. We of course had a lot to talk about, me having lived there for awhile back in 2003, and Jamie having traveled throughout the south island for a month. There was great ambient music there too so we hung out for awhile drinking beer then we started to get hungry. We decided to hit up a beach bbq stand where I attemped to eat a whole blue crab. It didn't work very well, I don't think I knew were to start with the thing but I did end up getting out some fresh succulent meat!

This morning we tried to climb at the Tonsai wall here on the beach by the freedom bar. Let me just say we were humbled by the ferocity of the climbs here. Everything is incredibly overhung, the rock is slippery from the humidity and lots of sweaty hands, and 5.10d was the lowest grade which even proved to be formidable to Jamie who is a solid upper 5.10 climber. It was not a great experience and left both of us wishing we had spent more time at the bouldering gym before coming here. All the climbs on TonSai are extremely hard and I especially am not a good enough climber to belong here. It is definitely an elitist climbing culture here and the extremely good climbers are not very patient. Thoroughly humbled, we retreated to our bungalow and I went for a walk along the "street" of Ton Sai, bought a giant Singha beer and a book and am currently ambling along the beach and decided to stop in here. Jamie was chilling out on the porch of our bungalow here and who knows what he's doing now... hopefully resting his forearms for he was thoroughly worked after his climb.

Well, as usual, I have to pee, so that is the end for now. There is ample internet access here but it is expensive so I'll check in in a couple of days. Until then we will be relaxing in the chilled-out atmosphere of Ton Sai and trying to locate some easier areas to climb in. =)

Peace,

Liz and Jamie