2-1-08: Life in Tonsai

Where do I start... it's just so different here. We're cut off from the mainland by the massive cliffs that make climbing here so wonderful. The only way in and out of Railay and Tonsai is by boat. There are no roads or even footpaths to the surrounding cities of Ao Nang or Krabi. While this results in inflated prices, it is very isolated and has a high density of international climbers. The beaches are spectacular (especially at high tide) and the climbing amazing.

The heat and humidity never ends. Nath and I wake as the sun comes up since we don't party much and go to bed early, but when the power shuts off in the morning it wakes most other people up since their fan turns off. We sweat unendingly, but you get used to it. We either jump in the ocean to cool off, or jump in the cold shower which I've come to love! Sometimes it's the only way to get the body temperature down to a reasonable level and stop sweating after a hard day of climbing and hiking!

We wake, and the hardest thing we have to do during the day is find out where we want to climb. Climbing location is dictated by sun exposure and tides. Railay is often our desination in the morning since it get's good shade all day, and we return to Tonsai in the afternoon sun leaves the crags on that part of the peninsula. Some areas have sun in the morning, so if the tides don't cooperate, they are unclimbable. We figured out the tides pretty quick when I got online and wrote down the tide chart for a week. It helps us plan the day a lot and after having it for a week, we don't really need it any more luckily since we are more in tune to it.

We've slowly figured out where the good places are to eat. Some make great food, and some just don't. Some places are full of happy energy, and some have bad attitudes. We eat breakfast at the same place every morning, pretty much, and when we try something else it never stands up to the gold standard of Sawadee Cafe. There are some street vendors that sell delicious BBQ chicken, mango stickey rice, rice with sweet and sour sauce, and papaya salad for cheap down near the beach at Tonsai. We often eat lunch there, or maybe at the jaw droppingly beautiful Pra Nang beach where there are people preparing food right on the beach. You can buy a banana filled doughnut for a dollar, and some BBQ chicken for about 65 cents. Our favorite dinner place has games and drawings for beer, wine and other stuff once a week on tuesday. Last tuesday found us playing musical chairs and a balloon stomp game, but we didn't win. Nath stomped my balloon.

The people are super friendly. You smile, they smile bigger. They are for the most part all friendly, awesome, happy people. I doubt we'll find this in other countries we travel, but who knows!

All in all, life is good here. We're about 3 weeks in and I couldn't be happier about our decision to bail out on our jobs for year.

:)