This last week was the realisation of a long awaited trip to the Krabi peninsula in Thailand! George and I headed off last Tuesday for the sun-kissed shores and limestone grandeur of Railay and Tonsai beaches for some serious relaxing and climbing in this world renowned rock based playground. T'was a bit of a mad moto scramble to get to the airport on time, but we made it!
Our first day traveling landed us in Bangkok in a ghetto hostel - 2 beds resplendent with Styrofoam (polystyrene to us brits) mattresses. Not that G and I were complaining (being men and all that)...a solid nights kip saw us ready to complete the journey to the Phra Nang peninsula.
As we rounded the headland in a longtail boat the beauty of the place really sunk in - it seriously is up there with the most amazing places I've been. Palm trees framed the cobalt horizon above azure seas and striking outcrops of limestone and stretches of gleaming sand. (Sold it to ya yet?) On the boat ride, we chatted to a local climber dude, and subsequently met many more locals at the bottom of the cliff faces, urging novice climbers higher and higher and hanging out after hours at the beachfront. They all exuded an effortless cool. Imagine Bob Marley combined with Jack Sparrow and Chris Sharma and you just about get the picture.
This was my only lead climb of the week. All the stuff was pretty hard and since neither of us had been climbing for a while, we were rustier than the original bolts on Humanality. Still, despite humbly requiring some help retrieving gear on one occasion, we stuck with it and got a good few climbs under the belt. Awesome rock, fantastic scenery, sunshine, hairy millipedes hiding in holds and good banter with other international climbers. Just like a typical day at Auchenstarrie.....
It seems like the peninsula contains 2 types of people - climbers, and young couples. On the last night, G and I watched the sunset from Phra Nang beach, surely up there on a list of romantic things to do. Sadly, G isn't a girl, and as he commented too, neither am I. Ah well. We shouldered our backpacks and trudged back to our hotel for another evening talking about cars, drinking petrol and crushing rocks on our foreheads while the rich young couples whiled away the evening hours.
The next day we were back to Bangkok where we explored the Koah Sarn road and had dinner with 2 Spanish girls who were staying in the same guesthouse as us. I think this one was even more ghetto that the first... ghetto enough to give me an ear infection. Saying Sayonara to G, I headed back to the familiar chaos of Phnom Penh where the VISA guys in the airport acknowledged me by name, a water Buffalo held up the traffic, and my moto driver held my leg all the way home. It's strange coming back to a place that is not your home, but feels homely. A curious mix of emotions. So far, this trip has been amazing and even though it won't last forever, I love this unique and special country* :-) More pictures will follow on the flickr account...
D
*not because of the leg holding, that still freaks me out...
2 comments:
You are definitely going to remember these days for the rest of your life. Good job on living it well! Can't wait till we're at Ratho and your saying "man, this is nothing like climbing in the Thai sun with... and..." blah blah blah. Oh wait, I can! =p
Ph, while I remember Alex and Jacquie had a baby, called Eve! All good.
Love Matt-tiny-bit-jealous-but-mainly-chuft-for-you!!-Donn
man, i'm more than a tiny bit jealous.
looks beautiful.
hey, and since when did u start calling things "ghetto"? gettin a bit american there dave....
tho maybe that is the only way to describe bangkok hostels.
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