We departed Ko Phagnan on the 7AM boat. Sadly, the only pink dolphin we saw was this one:
We transferred to a bus to Surat Thani then a second bus to Krabi town, arriving around 4 in the afternoon. We played a bit of Ticket to Ride on the bus, read about Krabi and Bali, and generally relaxed.
Krabi town has a lot of tourists, but it still felt like real Thailand. By that, I mean there are industries and lives that don’t involve vacationers. Among other things, this means there is much better food. We immediately made our way to the day market, with its butchers, vegetable stands, food stands, and other merchants, ate some tasty street food, found a guest house, cleaned up, ran a few errands, ventured out to the night market for dessert, had a drink at a bar where a complete character –red-faced, red-haired Richard from Alabama, with a growly voice– invited us to play pool. He was as bad as us. We had a grand time. Then we noticed it was the type of bar where old white men sit with middling-young Thai women, and left.
The next day, the 30th, we woke up at 6AM to catch a 7AM bus to Ao Nang beach, then take a short boat ride to Ton Sai, just a few coves over, which is the gritty, backpacker beach next to Railay, which has some fancy resort beaches.
The notable feature of Krabi, Railay, and Ton Sai are karsts, dramatic limestone cliffs that jut into the sky. They are spectacularly beautiful, riddled with outcroppings, caves, and sheer faces of white, brown, cream, and grey stone. Their tops and some of their sides have trees and vines, giving contrast to the rock underneath. Some are inland, some rise out of the sea, and some are on the edge, surrounded by water at high tide and by sand or rocks at low tide. The Private Eye commented, as we approached Ton Sai on the longtail, that it might be the most beautiful place she has ever seen, vying with Yosemite.
And so what do you do in a place with these magnificent limestone cliffs rising from a clear and warm sea? You climb them, of course.
We climb a bit, but really only indoors, at a gym. The Private Eye has been climbing outdoors once, The Professor never. We know it’s a bit different (e.g., you have to set up the top rope at the top of a climb), and so figure we should take a class to learn. Basecamp was the one climbing place that answered the phone, we found out their classes start at 9. Hence the waking up for a 7AM bus to Ton Sai.
We pull in to the beach at Ton Sai, and there’s a map of the town. There are four roads, making a box shape. One of them is the beach. Basecamp is at the opposite corner of town, so we head in. There is no pavement here, just dirt, with lots of ruts. But it’s clean. Here’s a dive shop, there’s a bar, that’s a pancake place, over there is a minimart. Walking through the jungle, seeing lean backpackers on their way to the beach or to climb, and it feels like the backpacker utopia. Our excitement grows as we make the 3 minute walk across town, especially after the monkey drops onto the telephone wires a few feet from our heads.
We arrive at Basecamp at 8:40, excited. We leap up the stairs and ask if they have a class this morning. “Yeah, sure,” the very dark skinned Thai man with a beard and long hair says. “Great! Because we want to sign up! We want to climb with you!” The man smirks, looks at his watch, and says, “OK… But you want some coffee? Go get some coffee.” He points to the restaurant next door. Clearly we are working at too fast a speed here. We will climb, yeah, no worries.
We eat our obligatory pancakes and drink our coffee in the wooden open-air cushion-seating hippie restaurant with the shelves and shelves of comic books, and then return to the climbing shop, where we meet the mellow guy who told us to get coffee. His name is Meen. Meen is our guide, and we like him so much we turn a half day of climbing into a day and a half.
Our routes are graded on the French system rather than the American, and the furthest we get on either day is 6a or 6b, but that doesn’t matter. We have such a wonderful time, ascending routes for a sweet payoff of views of the karst castles on the water, and chatting up our fellow climbers.
Climbing outdoors is quite different. In a gym, there are only so many holds, and it’s pretty clear which ones to take. Here, there are holds everywhere. Move your hand three inches in a direction, and the rock can go from a two finger, jagged hold to a smooth and soft bucket for your entire hand. So finding the holds is as important as using them. Being in a stable and easy position is important so you can search if you need to. And the rocks can be sharp – The Professor has scrapes on both knees, a tear on his left pinky, and generally sore hands.
While waiting her turn, the Private Eye drinks strong coffee from another climbing shop/cafe, conveniently located next to the Diamond Cave rock face. For lunch, we eat with the climbing guides. We have noodles in spicy broth with vegetables and meat prepared by Muslim women; we notice that there are a lot more Muslims here than in the Gulf of Thailand islands. We move to a new cliff face after lunch, the 1-2-3 wall on the east side of the Railay peninsula. The views at the top here are even more astounding. We climb until twilight comes, just catching the last sliver of the pink sun setting into the Andaman Sea as we return to the western shore. Meen pushes us at the end, giving us a 6b. He seems happy that we were the last to leave.
We book a cheap bungalow and eat a quick dinner, and retire to the Rasta-Thai styled Sunset Bar, where we chat with other climbers and with Ip, another climbing guide. Then Ip leaves us to play guitar with the startlingly good Bob Marley cover band. “Where did Ip go?” asks The Private Eye, and The Professor points at the stage.
The Professor lounges in a hammock in the bar. The Private Eye takes a stroll along the beach, looking at the karst silhouetted against the stars. We go to bed very, very happy.
The following day the climbing is harder, because we are more tired, but it is still amazing. At 1:15 pm we bid Meen farewell and a very grateful thank-you. We take a longtail boat to the Ao Nang Princess inter-island ferry, for a 1.5 hour boat ride to Phuket. Tonight we are in grungy but pleasant Phuket Town, readying for our flight to Denpasar via Kuala Lumpur.
– The Professor and the Private Eye, tag team.
The Professor and the Private Eye: Adventures Abroad 
