1-15-08 Tonsai/Railay

We're here! One of the major destinations of the trip. We're on beautiful world class beaches surrounded by endless beautiful limestone formations waiting to be climbed! Our life is glorious right now!


We got in, and promptly looked at every affordable bungaloo at Tonsai. As soon as we had seen them all, and failed at bargaining since it was high season and many were full, we chose one that was about 400 baht/night ($14) and thought it would be alright. Once we dumped our packs and settled in a little, we quickly departed to find some FOOD!


Within 15 minutes we ran into Neil Simpson from the Vertical Hold climbing gym! It was hilarous. Here's this sweaty guy jingling back in the dark covered in climbing gear just finishing up with some nighttime rope soloing, and it was a friend from San Diego! Neil ended up being VERY helpful getting us settled here at Tonsai, and we ended up climbing with him for the next few days as he showed us everything from a tour on how to get around to a beautiful secluded tidal lagoon that is only full at high tide.

The evening we went to the tidal lagoon, we were stuck in Railay during a heavy rain at night and we were supposed to meet some friends in Tonsai where we were staying. There are 4 ways to Tonsai - longtail boat, walking across sharp rocks at low tide, a trail through a short bit of jungle with some scrambling connecting the two beaches, or a very long small trail up through behind the beaches through the jungle. We were close to the beach crossing, but the tide was coming in. We decided to brave it with a single mag light between 4 people and we waded through the ocean over the sharp limestone boulders while it downpoured on us. We were laughing the whole time and showed up late and soaked for dinner. It was a fun little adventure!


As the first two days passed, we became unhappier and unhappier in our bungaloo. It turned out that the shower didn't work, so we had to fill a bucket thing and pour it over us. Power is limited here at Tonsai, so we only had electricity from 6pm to 6am. Our bathroom was enclosed, so all day we referred to it as the "dungeon" since you had to descend concrete stairs to enter it, and the water from the shower didn't drain properly. We needed out....


Luckily, Neil was on his way out of Tonsai, so we just jumped into his bungaloo. Andaman (recommended to us by others) was where he was staying, and they have cheaper bungaloos that are pretty good. They were full, but Neil sweet talked them and we jumped ahead on the waiting list since we were there and had money in hand to give them. Soon we were unpacking and happy with our new home for 500 baht/night ($18).

We went climbing the next day, and the next, and were loving it. Nath was working her way up to leading 6b+ (5.11a) and I managed to onsight a 7a+ (5.12a) that was wildly steep. We were having fun trying street vendor mango sticky rice, and swimming at the beautiful beaches between climbs, but that all came to an end on our third night in Neil's bungaloo....

On the way home that night, I felt a little funny. Was I hungry, or sick? I wasn't sure, so I ate! Oops... I was sick! We went home as the sun fell, and I immediately went to bed. However, that didn't last long as the stomach cramps set in as did the frequent trips to the bathroom (which luckily wasn't the dungeon anymore). I won't give you horrible graphic details, but it was the worst night of my life. By the end standing was extremely difficult, and I almost passed out a few times. To add to the nightmare, since we were awake at night for the first time, we found out our bungaloo was infested with rats! It was a complete horror to lay there sick hearing them scurrying all over the entire room all night. After two hours we turned the light on, but that didn't even work! Nath saw one, but for the most part they just stayed out of view but they were all there and there were many of them! One almost ran across Nath's head through the mosquito net at one point.

In the morning, Nath went to work finding us another bungaloo. She visited all the others with openings, including the more expensive ones while I laid in bed, sicker than I'd ever been. She would check in on me and try to get me to eat and drink and did a wonderful job all day taking care of everything while I tried to survive. In the end, Andaman told us that the 300 baht/night bungaloos were full until Nath told them about the rats. Then suddenly they had one free! Surprise surprise.... Nath packed all of my stuff, and hers, and then moved us into the bungaloo carrying loads while I slowly staggered up the hill to our new, hopefully better, home.

It turned out that while cheaper and smaller, the new bungaloo was paradise! It was farther from any sounds, no enclosed attic area for rats to live, just as nice as the last one although a little smaller, and had great water pressure in the shower! We were set! After 2 rest days, I was feeling better, although it was 4 days before drinking water didn't hurt my stomach.

Soon we were back to climbing hard every day and enjoying the beach. We did amazing climbs day after day, saw monkeys, and pretty much worked ourselves into destruction. After a few days of climbing limestone, you're ready for a break! So, we called the next day a rest day and went to sleep. I woke early, and went for a run, only to return to Nath in bed with the closest thing she could find to cake since it was my birthday! I had totally forgotten! We lounged on the most beautiful beach I've ever seen for a few hours that day, swam, I cliff jumped, and we ended the evening with dinner at a "nice" restaurant ($7/person!) that we really like and drank a little cheap Thai rum on the beach that night with some friends. It was awesome!