So check out the first photo on this page:

http://www.megagrip.co.uk/Thailand/Thai7.htm

That is the route that I'm working on at the moment. The photo doesn't do justice to how ridiculously steep this piece of rock is. There is a 20
foot section where you gain 3 feet of elevation! Completely unlike anything I've been on. It's all sorts of fun, and plenty hard as well. I've put three days into it so far, and only just this morning finally got to see the top. That doesn't mean I'm done by any means. Now I get to spend the next few days linking together moves and trying to get the whole thing in one go.

Anyway, things go well. Plenty to climb, plenty of time relaxing on the beach, even some diving in the cards. See ya!

written by  Jason Kester on December 9, 2000 from Ban Ao Nang, Thailand
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia, 2000-2001
tagged Climbing and Railay
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Our first dive of the day was on this passenger ferry that sank a few years back. The main deck is like 24m down and it's upright and in good condition. It's fun and a bit spooky cruising around inside the thing, as all the divers stir up the water & visibility is reduced to just a few meters. Being a boat, it has plenty of narrow doors and confined spaces to swim through. Definitely a cool experience!

And for those of you keeping score, I've put in a total of six days on the route now. Only a couple burns a day recently, since I have all the moves wired now, and I'm just trying to put together a clean ascent. I can get it with one rest along the way now. Now I'm just moving that rest spot gradually downward until I can cast off straight from the sand.

The route will have to wait a bit though, as I'm off to the islands tomorrow, followed by a dash for the malaysian border so that I can get a fresh
30 day visa.

written by  Jason Kester on December 14, 2000 from Ban Ao Nang, Thailand
from the travel blog: Southeast Asia, 2000-2001
tagged Climbing, Diving and Railay
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So, our planned five days of "hard" climbing turned into six days of "hard" climbing. We actually did climb pretty hard considering neither of us have been climbing much over the last 5 years. We visited 7 walls in six days, climbing approximately 26 5.10s and 5.11s. It was a great time. I don't feel as strong as I once did, but I am inspired to start climbing more again.

Given that climbing was our focus, we also managed to do a few other activities during our off-days, including beach reading (yeah, we both devoured the newly released Harry Potter 7 while in Railay--bought it at the Bangkok airport), kayaking to an island that was probably 1 mile away from our beach (it was a beautiful day with brilliant green water and amazing clouds in the sky), soaking in amazing sunsets (by far the best of the trip) and eating (we ate almost every meal at Mom's Kitchen, a cheap place with great food and an entertaining 50-something, free-spirited Thai women to talk to).

For sure, Railay is a great place to climb/hang out and a great place worth spending 3 weeks.

Sunset in Railay Beach

View from Tyrolean Wall in Railay

Joc climbing A Man Can Tell 100 Lies (6a), Wee's Present Wall

Carl climbing The Sit Spins (6b+) , Dum's Kitchen Wall

View from top of Wee's Present Wall

Amazing sunset in Railay

I decided when I had got home (narrowly avoiding heat stroke) that I would go to Ao Phra Nang the next day and decide between the two where to stay. It was raining the next day though, so I just maxed by the pool in the afternoon and set myself for a big night out. Unfortunately it turned out to be a big, big night, which ruled me out for Ao Phra Nang (ruled me out of doing anything really). The fact that I had entered into a limbo competition and twisted my knee didn't help either. I decided with a little over a week left of my holiday to return to Ao Nang, do a tour and then set off to Langkawi. I really quite like Ao Nang. Prices are good (my room is priced for two people and is $8 Australian a night, with a bottle of water a day plus free Wifi - heaven!) and there is access to pretty much anything you could want to do. Rock climbing, kayaking, Island tours, elephant safaris, snorkelling etc, etc.

I'm booked for a kayaking tour and elephant safari tomorrow. I'm pretty excited, I figure it will be a good way to say goodbye to Thailand. The next day will see me off bright and early (0630-yuck!) on my way to Langkawi!

written by  10bastards on October 20, 2009 from Tonsai, Thailand
from the travel blog: Thailand and Malaysia
tagged Railay, Tonsai and AoNang
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