Trekking Barris

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Jan. 11, Hat Tonsai, Krabi Province - the beach














Jeff's in heaven watching these amazing climbers glide up glass overhangs rated 5-11 and 5-12 for a quick warmup! This one Japanese guy a 5-12 climb without even using his feet - so as if there was litterally zero foot holds and only finger pockets.

Needless to say we were unable to change our tickets to leave earlier and Jan. 24th, our ticketed day, is the first day out. Jan. 9th after checking out of the upscale Royal Benja (thanks Richard!) we went to Bugaloo and then caught the evening 7:10 PM first class bus to Krabi.

The buses here truly are amazing. This one had a foot rest that came out from the bottom making the seats into lazyboys. Plus with the backward reclining action they were almost like beds. We even got snacks, soda, and pillows and blankets. It was a comfy ride. Although, the bus system is odd. Even though you are ticketed for a bus at 7:10 that really means it doesn't show up until 7:20 and leave untili 7:50. The locals think it's quite odd if we seem panicked at 7:15 and constantly ask them if the next bus is ours. They literally have the same exact 1st class bus leaving to Krabi every 10-15 minutes that it would be quite easy to miss it or it could end up being parked elsewhere.

We arrived Jan. 10th at 6:30 AM and caught a truck-taxi to Ao Nang the beach about 22 km outside of Krabi. From there we caught a slow boat - 15 minute ride - to Tonsai which is the famous climber hangout near Railay Beach. While the beach here is a bit muddy, the night life, number of cheap bungalows, and climbing make up for it. We were really happy and lucky to find a 200 baht bungalow. Most everywhere else was either booked or 600 to start.

Yesterday we watched the climbers for hours. Swam in the water a little though it is colder than Goa. While it's warm down here it's not too much hotter than Bangkok and it's been a little overcast with short 5-10 minute cool-off showers.

We slept well in our little thatched hut last night and were happy to have a 1st class bug net. This thing is bullet proof and we did hear interesting different buggy noises last night! This morning Liz was psyched to go for a little run. After a few pots of coffee - here we are shaking and internetting.

It has been quite hard to find an internet place. That earthquake that happened the day John and Mary flew out in Taiwan has royally messed up the connection and overloads most working systems. Thus it's been hard and slow to upload photos. Here they say there are other sattellites down. Jeff jokes that it's all the bombs in "Bang"-kok. Ha! :-) So, we might not be able to internet again until we return to Bangkok. The plan is to take the overnight bus back the 22nd at the latest, and then we fly out the evening of the 24th.

That's it for now. Love Liz and Jeff - complete beach bums!

1 Comments:

At 9:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a good time!! Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip Jeff H

 

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