Sorry, full!
I am way past due for a post, but I have an excuse and that excuse is Railay Beach!
Between Khao Lak and Phuket, we were pleasantly surprised with how affordable the islands have been despite the high season. In Khao Lak we benefitted from the sluggish December, and in Phuket we benefitted from the fact that I knew the area, our “going local but still indulging in resort beaches” savviness and the fact that we found a great Swedish couple who believe that Thailand should be affordable and thus offer nice rooms for rock bottom prices, right in Nai Han, the area where I had my teacher training back in May. It was a fun reunion with my old stomping grounds, and a million times better now that I had Gabe to share it with!
After five days of cruising around beautiful Phuket on a motorbike and lounging on the pristine beaches, it was time to head to Railay Beach, an international rock climbing destination that Gabe has been anticipating since last year. Railay is surrounded by huge overhanging karst limestone cliffs that end at the waters edge. Numerous limestone towers litter the sea providing ample opportunity for deep water solo climbing. I was in Railay during my first few weeks in Thailand and loved it; I remembered that it was pretty expensive to eat, since it is strictly tourism (though connected to the mainland, there are no roads over the huge limestone formations, so it can only be reached by boat), but that we had no problem finding reasonable accomodation. Surely prices would be a bit steeper in the high season, but how bad could it be?
By the time we rode our motorbike to the Phuket bus station, travelled to Krabi, took a songtaew to Ao Nammeo Pier and then a longtail to Railay, it was near 6:00. We knew that finding a room would be a bit tough at that time, but we’ve always found a place and weren’t too worried. Our first stop was the really nice place that I’d stayed in for 250B back in May. They were full, but no matter – they wanted 1500B for the same room! We moved on.
We covered every inch of east Railay (the ‘budget’ side) and were greeted with one of two scenarios at each place; either rooms were “cheap” at 950B and completely booked, or else there was a room available for upwards of 2000B! As our budget allows around 2-300B per night, we were at a loss and didn’t even bother checking out the ritzy west side. It was beginning to get dark and we were exhausted – where to go?
Tonsai Beach was the place to go, according to some rasta-type Thai climbers that were lounging at one of the many reggae bars. We’d briefly read about Tonsai, that it was the true climbers hangout on Railay, but that it was quite a hike to get to and only had electricity for a couple of hours a day. Regardless, we set off over the steepest, sandiest, sweatiest trail ever, hauling our bags and chasing the last bit of daylight; I was having Cambodian jungle flashbacks!
Finally, finally we reached Tonsai, and it certainly seemed more our speed. There was a very definite “type” of crowd there – everyone was young, extremely fit and in no rush to be anywhere. We figured that with that hike, it’d be no problem to find a room, right?
Wrong! After stopping at every single place (and there were a lot, mostly barebones thatch bungalows in the trees) and following tips from helpful fellow travellers (all who wished us an unconvincing “good luck“), we had nothing. “Sorry, full!” became the refrain of the night, and they weren’t joking! One bar owner offered us hammocks on his deck if we couldn’t find anything, and we were just about to resort to that when we came across one last place. We approached and asked about a room, almost cringing to hear the answer. Strangely, we heard “yes, have room!” Our faces lit up, then fell when the price was quoted: 1300B. The kid must have seen our desperation, because he relented and told us that we could stay in a tent on the deck for 300B. By that point I would’ve taken anything, and a tent sounded great! They set it up, swept it out, gave us fresh sheets for the mattress and pointed us towards the restaurant bathrooms, complete with a shower. Exhausted, we threw our things down and trudged back up the hill for the first of many, many expensive dinners.
The next morning dawned in a brighter light. Gabe was able to meet up with some Europeans to go climb (literally every person on Tonsai is there to climb, and climb only – I haven’t seen so many fit people in once place since my last college race!) while I took charge of finding a proper room. After making the rounds twice and still hearing that awful “Sorry, full!” over and over, I was thrilled to see two girls checking out of TiewKhao bungalows and raced over to grab their spot. The room was basic as basic gets (the tent was more luxurious), but at least we had a base! Vacation could begin.
Railay is like a giant, unbelievably beautiful playground, a mecca for rockclimbing, sea kayaking, diving, snorkelling and all sorts of other things. Tonsai was its own little world; it took effort to get there and most people were staying for at least a month, if not more, strictly to climb then rest then climb again. I stayed off the rocks and stuck to long, hard morning runs, but could be entertained all day by these incredible shows of strength, from all over the world. It was bizarre to cross back over to Railay East or West and suddenly find yourself amongst the big, soft resort-typers (remember the TWTs?) lounging at their pools. We certainly preferred the Tonsai side, and after just a couple of days you would suddenly realize that you were running into all sorts of people you knew – it was a true little community!
The drawback of a place like Railay is the price of everything and the lack of Thai food. Understandably, all supplies must be brought in by boat, and of course the prices are then nudged ever higher by the fact that there are no Thai people living here; it is strictly for tourists. On average, everything (from basic goods to meals) was 2-3 times pricier than normal. Sunblock was an ungodly $16 per bottle (we rationed ours and wore hats), and a scoop of icecream could ruin your day. It was impossible to find a restaurant that would serve Thai food for breakfast (hello omlettes and muesli!), and when you did find Thai food it was so farangified (ie no spice, no fish sauce, no taste) that it made the high price that much more painful. A sunset beer could kill your days budget, and internet was astronomically expensive, hence my recent absence!
Despite these things, Railay is a bit of a tropical paradise and we truly settled in for the week, spending each evening watching the pro climbers perform and the unfortunate late-comers search for a place to stay. Gabe got to do some great climbing with really neat people from different parts of the world, and we fit in plenty of other things around that as well. The climbing highlight for Gabe was going out on a boat for a deep water solo trip to nearby limestone towers, which involves climbing over water without any sort of protection (ie. rope, carabiners, harness). This is one of the purest forms of climbing as there is no gear to get in the way, only you and the rock wall in front. You climb up until you arms give out and plunge into the water below, rest on the boat, and repeat!
We spent one day taking a tour to Koh Phi Phi, home of the infamous beach in the movie, The Beach. While the location was stunning and we’re glad that we saw it, the beauty was detracted from by the thousands of tourists (yes, we were part of it), hoardes of speedboats, the smell of gasoline and the cattle-herding method of the tour. Snorkelling was done amid a mass of idling boats, lunch was a bland buffet of fried rice, spaghetti and instant coffee and stops like “Monkey Bay” were disappointing, exploited zoos. We wouldn’t do it again.
We departed today, having discovered affordable-ish food (the chicken ladies!), having made some great new friends, enhanced our tans and having rediscovered some long-lost climbing and paddling muscles. We were partly sad to go, partly thrilled about the return to real Thailand, where not only can we interact with real live Thai people!, but can also afford to snack and use internet and have a beer if we please.
Tomorrow we go to Malaysia for the final “new frontier” of this trip. In one month we will return, again, to Thailand for some diving and goodbyes before heading back to the US for the culture shock of the year! There is a good chance that the next blog will concern food and food alone (Indian food is reportedly better and more plentiful in Malaysia than it is in India) so come hungry!
(Also….enjoy the latest photos!)
Tags: Beach, climbing, Railay, thailand, Tonsai, Travel
allisonrae
January 20th, 2009 at 8:42 am
[…] Original post by allisonrae […]