Birthday Adventure Part II - Ton Sai, Railay, Ao Nang

I'll Leave Ton Sai Tomorrow... MAYBE

A little known fact to non-sport enthusiasts; South East Asia is a paradise for various activities including rock climbing. Thailand, in particular, is world known for its geological beauty and diversity. Therefore, in an attempt to spoil myself in light of my birthday, I planned to explore some of these pristine formations. My original plan was to spend only a day on the beach of Ton Sai and to meet with my friend Felipa from New Zealand. Little did I know the heaven that was awaiting and would eventually consume me.

Our group began as four: my friend Emma from Paresa, good ol’ Matt, my new friend Shelly and myself. We traveled to the city of Ao Nang in the Krabi province via local transportation. For anyone curious, a bus from Phuket-Krabi is roughly 135baht, then a local bus/tuk-tuk from Krabi to Ao-Nang is 60baht so the trip is fairly cheap and takes roughly 3-4 hours. Sadly, we arrived in Ao Nang too late that evening to catch the last long tail to the island (last longtails depart at 6pm so our lesson is learned!). Therefore, the night was spent in Ao Nang. The typical events of eating, hookah smoking and casual drinking concluded our quiet evening in this adorable beach town.

The next day, however, we were determined to reach our island! Obviously, my plan of a one-night adventure was already about to be surpassed as now the tally marks two. The longtail costs 100baht and takes the group to Railay West. Railay is a popular tourist island that is the postcard image for any southern Thai beach. I have been here once before with Matt to attempt Deep Water Soloing and kayaking. As beautiful as Railay is, it is catered towards tourism and booms with resorts and small trinket and clothing shops. My inner backpacker struggles with paying too much for moderate accommodation in places such as Thailand. Plus, with the advice from Felipa, Ton Sai is the climbing community so I was eager to see what that exactly entailed.

If you walk along the beach of Railay West until it ends, you will find the shortest and fastest way of reaching Ton Sai. A slight crawl up some ocean rocks will reveal a rope left to guide the travelers to this hidden world. Roughly takes 10-15minutes and you must time the tide otherwise it is more of a swim! Upon emerging from this jungle trek, my heart immediately jumped for joy – we reached Ton Sai. What is the first thing I see? A magnificent, tall wall of rock exhibiting bouldering and sport climbing. People sat and were drinking beer casually as others were attempting routes and sweating teardrops. I thought, “I’ve died, this can’t be real”.

Continuing down the beach it is quick to see why this is a “climbing community”. The bars are no more than open-air wood shacks whose employees are laying in hammocks smoking joints and listening to reggae. Accommodation options consist of mostly jungle bungalows for 150baht a night. For this price, your room includes a bug net, an occasionally functional toilet and electricity between the hours of 6pm-6am only. The meeting point for new friends and fellow climbers is the ever-popular restaurant (or more so food truck) called Mama’s Chicken. Here, you order delicious Thai food and fresh fruit smoothies for never more than 90baht. Then, sitting in your colorful plastic child’s chair, you watch as fellow adventures pass by and wave with friendly smiles – this is the “main road”.

My new friend from Alaska phrased the energy of Ton Sai perfectly. He said that the bonding and the relationships you make in such a short amount of time on this island could only be compared to that of summer camp. Within days, you feel like you’ve known people for months. By the end of the week, you are all best friends. The days are spent climbing and the nights are spent chilling.

During my stay I did every type of climbing physically possible. The bouldering cave offers a dark, damp area with high ratings and old, dirty mattress crash pads. Sport climbing is endless with multi-pitch and single pitch options. (My personal favorite was called “The Groove Tube” – first route I’ve ever cleaned!). But my favorite type that is unique to Thailand? You guessed it! Deep Water Soloing…

Now after my previous entry of what I thought was DWS, I must admit I was terribly mistaken. My first experience with this sport could be compared to that of a kid being given only a black and gray crayon to color with. This second attempt… I was given the whole box! My world will never be the same!!

Various guides offer tours for DWS that cost roughly 800baht. However, if you have experience climbing and don’t mind just playing around, I offer a cheaper option. My group of Canadian friends and I rented our own personal longtail boat and driver. He drives us out to the popular island and stops at the routes we want to try. The routes are either in the climbing book (if you purchase one) or else easy to spot because there are ladders hanging from them. Then, the driver anchors and watches as you scramble and fall. Once finished, he’ll take you to the next stop and so on until you are too tired to even get in and out of the boat. For this full day of adventure, it costs merely 100baht per person in a group of 6+ people.

This experience was true DWS, I tried some amazing problems and ate some hard falls. One fall, in fact, was so hard that it snapped my bathing suit top! The boys of course had no complaints and I even found it hilarious. I guess that Victoria Secret was not prepared for going that crazy.

I could continue to write about all the people I met and all the fantastic climbs, but that would take ages. In a nutshell, I stayed in Ton Sai for 10 days and still was drug away. There is a joke of the island saying “I’ll leave Ton Sai tomorrow….. Maybe!”. I was the embodiment and victim of this saying so much so that my friend Andy even bought me a shirt to always remember it.

Any avid climbers, or even curious travelers for climbing, must add Ton Sai to their bucketlist. Not only for the routes or the rocks, but for the energy and vibe. I don’t think there is more of a climber paradise on this world.

Last travel advice:

- A boat from Railay East to Phuket only takes 2hrs and costs 600baht for those wanting a quicker option

- Bring LOTS of bug spray, the mosquito’s are little buggers in Ton Sai

- Cuts and scraps don’t heal well on the island so bring a basic medical kit because you’ll be sure to get a few and don’t want the bugs festering them away

Sorry for no pictures, my camera's were dead on a count of my lack of preparation for 10-days of travel!