#55 - Railay, Sport Climbing and Time Travels

Dear Dubrovnik,

It's exciting to say waking up early here, and simultaneously getting ten hours of sleep isn't difficult, and wow, after a few nights I already feel so much more energized. The heat is something else, and the direct sun mid-day is intense, but we've been climbing in the shade which has been really ideal temps.

When I left you last we were on our way to Ganzhou Airport in China, and wow, what a long flight it was. Nate was blessed with the luxury of having a late booking which landed him a seat, not in first class, but that strange middle ground where you sit next to one person and get to lay back and have slippers and all the fancy things without the price tag. Though this was perhaps for the best as he's never left the landlocked USA before, so what a good first impression of an international fifteen-hour flight! Hah! I was in the back of the plane between two people who passed out for the whole fifteen hours and by the blessings of my earplugs and headphones, I too could zonk out from the shrill, high decibel screeches of two babies who surely should look into careers with ambulance services for their ability to sustain such an alarming, hairraising tone.

Photo of a rating button in the airport bathroom... won't catch me voting!

After that flight, we were able to relax for a bit and debate the best way to talk about killing time, or passing time, or waiting, or what have you before our final flight to Phuket which landed us at 1:50am. We realized upon arrival this meant that we had no-where to be for at least four or more hour, so naturally, we went to the only open restaurant, Burger King to re-write all of my flashcards for class, and gossip for a few hours.

At 5:50am we flagged a cab to the ferry docks on Souther Phuket, about an hours' journey, and ferried two and half hours across the ocean to Railay where we jumped off our ferry to the deck of a longtail boat which drove us nearby shore where we hopped into the crashing waves just in time for our boat to roar off into the surf. Longtail boats are the super trucks of the ocean. They are big open boats with bench seating that can fit 10-15 folks, and they're run with a horrific longtail motor, which as it sounds, is mounted to a pole, with a ten or so foot pole jutting off the back to the propeller and in some cases, (but less than ideal,) the exhaust pipe which helps muffle the horrendous roaring.

Our ferry to Railay

And just like that, we had landed on the shore of a paradise. We walked up the beach (which I can only describe like confectioners sugar texture, just deep brown in color) and arced our gaze towards all the Avatar-esque mountains (blue people, not water bending movie reference.) We then pressed onwards towards one of a few thin bricked paths that traversed the narrowest point of the peninsula towards Railay East where our hotel resided. Aptly named, The Avatar where we stayed our first two nights was just as amazing as the natural forms around it, especially at the price point.

Arrived at last!

Our hotel pool!

Breakfast...!

We had a painless check-in where we could handover our items and go for a dip in the pool while we waited. It was by a great miracle that after said swim and a quick rain shower to reduce the humidity, we stopped back by the front desk to learn we could check-in a couple hours early. Our room was awesome with a great view of the pool, though we agree the only strange part was the bathroom situation. I don't find bathrooms where the toilet, shower, sink etc being separate is that odd, but the doors only being comprised of tinted glass leaves little to the imagination...!

I asked Nate to go sit in the bathroom to see how visible one might be haha

That aside, our included breakfast was phenomenal and the staff was literally only positive and cheerful. The first evening we snagged dinner at a nearby rooftop restaurant and returned back to our place just in time for me to unpack my bag and turn around to Nate passed out cold on his bed and when I checked in to see if he wanted to walk around a bit he bolted out of bed, stood for a moment in place then crawled back into the same position. Turned out the jetlag got him pretty good...! I took off for a walk around the island back to Railay West to watch the sunset and there was at least every single person there taking a sunset selfie. Though I can't blame anyone as the weather and sunset were on point.

Passed out

Railay West

Railay East, low tide

Railay West

I then walked around to check out the beach for a bit before heading back for a good night sleep before two solid days of learning, but more importantly, CLIMBING!

Early the next morning we met our guide along with a fellow traveler from Italy/ Germany, (of course I tried to speak Italian with him,) got our gear and headed off to the crag. It wasn't a matter of minutes before we dove in head first. Along with twenty to thirty other climbers, some with guides, some with friends, others just dirtbags who've been climbing around the region for months. We started with top roping and quickly swapped out for sport climbing tacking on anchor building, and rappelling to our repertoire of skills before the day was through.

View from the beach where we climbed day one

Little dragon we found

Over the course of the next two days, we indeed came to love our little guide as he was quite different than the other climbing guides we encountered on our trip. He was quite soft-spoken, focused on safety, but also very good at reading skill and testing our limits. Many of the others hollered commands to their climbers, lips tightly pinched around a hand-rolled cigarette, or simply hoisted their climbers up the climbs when they grew impatient. Sarang was quite different and was the only guide to be noted with belay glasses and an undivided attention which were a great protection as we three traded off climbing and belaying.

The rock in this region is so uniquely soft, slick and porous it makes for a very favorable climbing climate as your hands don't get torn to shreds like in Vermont. The hand and foot holds are wildly huge in many cases and it takes little effort to grab hold tight with one hand to attach yourself. The only downside is occasionally little critters call those holds home and you find them only when you stick your hand through their living room...!

I only have a couple of photos though there are more photos between the three of us which I'll be sure to add on here, unfortunately, none of me in this round but I swear I was up there too! haha

Now for the drum role moments for us proud climbers! We started out the morning with a TR 5.9 Shadow Show, and proceeded to start sport climbing and send our first ever 5.10b Nuat Hin outdoors, onsite! Later we climbed King Cobra, 5.8, Long Live the Herm 5.9 working on building anchors and sport climbing up and rappelling down. It was a feeling of great accomplishment to learn so much and put it to the test at once.

Nate crushing the first sport climb!

During our lunch break on the first day, the three of us took fifteen minutes to scoot over to another beach tucked under some giant cliffs and it didn't fail to impress. Though due to our schedule and the tides we only made a trip there that one time! Looking forward to a return trip to check it out again someday. We encountered some spectacle monkeys named for the dark rings around their eyes that make them appear to be wearing glasses. They are supposedly the more friendly of the varieties on the island, but can still be quite 'naughty' as the locals say. The other breed which can be much more aggressive had a rather large arrest a few years back, (I can only picture them all in tiny handcuffs and a tiny police cruiser,) when they got out of hand with tourists and were relocated to the jungle.

That night we had dinner at our hotel, again, phenomenal, and got to sleep early for another early day of climbing. The second day we headed off to a separate area up in the mountains and wow, it wasn't even ten in the morning and it was so hot on the wall we had to tuck away into the shade when we could. Luckily when we were resting from a climb some monkeys decided to scamper down and the climbers on the wall didn't know what to do so they started rappelling and jumping around as these were the 'naughty' monkeys. I don't know the route names here, but we did our longest climb of the trip thus far here, and had a good twenty feet unaided (free-soloing) which was pretty exhilarating!

Monkeys on belay!

Ruben crushing our first big climb!

Fish flops!

EMS scooters

The ambulance of Railay

We had lunch with another climber working with our hired group and he was from Ireland, and wow, I can't spell his name because it's got letters we don't use in it. But he was a brave, thin lad who decided to set out on his own from his studies in Taiwan for a solo trip and he tried climbing for the first time ever on a whim, pretty neat!

After lunch we continued on to climb back at Railay East 1,2,3 wall, and knocked off

Giggering for Climbing 5.9, Short and Savage 5.10c, Massage Secrets 5.10b which was over 60m, and Make a way, 5.10c which kicked our buns so hard we all probably lost 5 pounds on the way up.

Ruben

Ruben on the tallest climb of the day, wayyy up there!

Nate up a huge climb!

Our little ragtag team!

Once we climbed down and pack up Nate and I packed up our belongings and hopped another boat to Ao Nang in the rain where we settled in for a couple days or tourist time! This place reminds me of more of an Old Orchard Beach feel just with really nice beaches and walking paths and art!

Looking forward to sharing more about Ao Nang and the elephants soon! We had a rather unexpected bunkmate situation in our new place and its thrown my writing off a bit! Happy Thanksgiving Eve all!

CaitlinDNovember 19, 20182018, Thailand, adventures, bangkok, climbing, elephants, food, friends, fun, krabi, learning, memories, photo, photography, phuket, rock climbing, sun, sunsets, sunshine, travel