04 Dec Oh, Tonsai…

Oh, Tonsai… How do I love thee, let me count the ways!

I had to look at my journal posts to figure out how long I have been here. Apparently, it has been 9 days. This oasis is such a paradise that all my days have run together and it feels like I always have and always will be in magical Tonsai.

Despite the massive mosquitos and the warnings of ‘Tonsai Tummy’, this already feels like a second home. (But wait, where is first home?)

Getting There

I had not rushed out of Khao Sok because the lady running the hostel said that the bus ran every two hours. Great, no problem! But when I asked at 10am when the next bus would arrive she made some calls and announced that the next bus would be there at 3pm.

Well, shit.

I had already booked a hostel in Tonsai. It was the cheapest I could find online and didn’t want to have to search for a room at the end of the day. I knew there was some climbing there and in neighboring Railay. What I hadn’t known was that you can only get to Railay and Tonsai by boat… And they rarely have enough passengers to run after dark. That put a bit of a kink in my plans.

Regardless, I needed out, so I took the bus to Krabi for 350 baht. I met another American named Cara and she was heading to Ao Nang from Krabi after this ride, which it turns out is where I would need to grab a boat. We arrived in Krabi around 7, and the buses had already shut down. We hemmed and hawed for a long time but in the end our only option was to take a taxi at 400B per car 😔.

In Ao Nang I was strongly considering just sleeping at the dock while waiting for a boat, but it is a bit of a party town and there are many stories of theft and such. So I grabbed a room at the Backpacker Hostel for 150B and met Cara at Slumber Party across the street for a beer.

We had one hell of a night partying with these people who were traveling primarily to beach hop and get really drunk all of the time. It was hilarious. People were playing beer pong and breakdancing, and at 10pm they all left for a bar crawl. Think drunken tattoos and waking up with your head on the bar. Jeebus.

Tonsai

In the morning I said farewell to my new friend and caught a long tail boat for 100B to Tonsai Beach. It was a bit of a wait to get enough people to send the boat, but so it goes. It’s not that it’s an island, it’s just enclosed by mountains and jungle making it secluded and difficult to reach. It was a beautiful ride, and these boatmen really know how to work their rig!

I hopped into the water and waded onto a beach strung with coral pieces, seashells and polished stones. Already I could see climbers along the beach, climbing up epic overhung routes on the unbelievably beautiful karst walls.

I started walking up the only paved road I could see, following maps.me to my hostel. Signs said ‘guests of the Tonsai Bay Resort only’, but I didn’t see any other way to go. There was an enormous concrete wall on my left up the hill, and when I turned I ran into a large, very impassable-looking gate. Luckily, it was unlocked, which I have since realized does not happen very often.

On this side of the gate the wall was heavily graffitied. There were dirt roads heading up the hill on my right and a majority of the buildings were open, gazebo style, and made of driftwood and scraps. There were hand painted signs in many colors on old, thin boards, and the buildings were decorated with whatever someone could find, or make, or had been gifted. There were signs for mushroom shakes and marijuana. I immediately thought, ‘this is Never Never Land. Not Peter Pan and Wendy’s world, but where the lost boys lived in all of their rowdy, fun-loving, easy-going glory.

Hostels

I have now stayed in two places since arriving. I was pointed towards Chill Out Hostel and checked in to my bungalow/dorm. This is an awesome place to meet people and I’m glad I had booked here.

Chill Out is a Rastafarian style hostel with an outdoor bar and lounge area. It’s lined by a mini mart, a restaurant, cafe, and smoothie shop. It is similar to the lost boys style described above in decoration, but with Bob Marley flags everywhere. They are one of many places that play music and have a fire show in the evenings, but it’s a great chill spot. The restaurant next door has pretty quality food as well.

Hostel-wise it’s a bit pricey for the accommodations. Three beds lay on the floor covered in tented mosquito nets. There is a distinct smell of mold in the one locking cabinet. Power was turned on from 6pm to 6am, and WiFi also had limited hours which were not always accurate. But it has WiFi, which is great. Connectivity is rather limited on this ‘island’, which contributes to its timelessness and eccentricity.

After a few days I moved to Tiew Khao bungalows. Not that 250B is outrageous, but a hundred baht adds up over time. I was also having difficulty sleeping with bass pumping, sometimes until one in the morning.

Tiew Khao is…rustic. I have a bungalow to myself with a queen sized bed, but mine in particular is exactly 100 steps above the road. It’s a steep hike, especially with a pack or after a few drinks. The bungalows are also a bit off the beaten path. It’s relatively quiet (besides the generator, which you can hear throughout), but power is from 6pm to 2am and no WiFi.

Extra bonus: I’ll have buns of steel by the end of my stay.

Activity

A week is a lot to review, so I’ll try to keep things concise. Day one and two were probably the most relaxing days of my life. I had a paradise beach comprised mostly of rock climbers and hippies, with no crowds or high season manic. I walked around, watched monkeys outside my bungalow play while reading on the porch. Watched as locals hacked the tops off coconuts or clucked and cooed over grandchildren. People from all over the world were slack lining and drinking beer and planning what wall to hit next.

As I said… paradise.

It is said that you can just walk around here and find a climbing partner. In my attempt to suck it up and try to meet people, I saw the amazing Graham and Sam team with a pair of climbing shoes and reached out. They invited me to boulder with them at the beach, and we screwed around until the sun went down, then grabbed a couple of beers and became friends. Mission accomplished. Note: bouldering at night really does make bat-hangs easier. Embrace the bat!

Rainbow (who is also from Boulder, Colorado) arrived a few days later. He happened to be training guides up in Chiang Mai and was planning on coming to Tonsai to close out his trip. Through Rainbow I met Pete and Carissa, who are also from the Boulder area here on honeymoon. Then there is Kris, who also knows Rainbow (he just knows everybody), but whom I met online in a group for rock climbers in Thailand. There is also Leo, Kadin, Jameson, Karina, Kelwin, Hannah, and more…and those are just other travelers. I also met a few locals; Jay, Beat, Lucky…

Most days I climbed. And when they say there is world class climbing here, it was no joke. These walls are incredible! Three dimensional with tufas and caves and pockets, insanely high and featured, made from limestone. It’s like some alien universe, the sandy beaches, jungle environment, perfect rock, and beautiful islands in the distance.

It seems I accidentally ended up on the right side, too. Railay is a much more touristy and publicly traveled beach. There are more resources, but it doesn’t have the same environment. You can reach it by boat, or one of two jungle paths – one of which is only passable at low tide.

Besides climbing, there has been ice cream, drinking, treats at Sweet Monkey, lots of eating at Mama’s Chicken, made up games of pool, real jungle juice, and dj-ing at Sabai, Sabai bar.

Events of Note

Wildlife

Pete saved my life one morning. It was a rainy day and we were supposed to go deep water soloing, but had pushed it back to the next day. We sat eating breakfast and Pete suddenly stops and says very slowly and evenly,

‘Mallory, there is a scorpion on your jacket’.

Unsure if he was joking or not I froze. He said something like ‘don’t move’, or maybe ‘it’s moving’. I’m unsure with all the excitement that ensued. Apparently it came out of nowhere and was crawling up to my rain coat’s collar. By the time Pete had batted it off it was very close to my neck and still moving.

What made it even more terrifying was the response from the locals. Mom and Pop came to see what was going on and Pop smacked the scorpion about 10 times with his sandal just to make sure it was dead, then still didn’t touch it as he scooped it out the door. Mama was trying to describe to us what would have happened if I would have been stung. Balloon head, hurt, Ao Nang Hospital, and happy room was what we could get from her broken English.

Lesson learned: Be aware of local insects and shake out all your clothes before putting them on!

Deep Water Soloing

Apparently deep water soloing is now illegal. This is a relatively recent change. Apparently someone high up in the government food chain suddenly decided that rock climbing was dangerous and didn’t want to support it. There is only one business continuing the service (which I won’t name, just come here to find out), and locations are now very limited. But it was still a blast and totally worth the 1500B!

We met at the shop and headed to the dock. Six people to a boat, we had me, Rainbow, Kelwin, Pete, Carissa, and Jameson. Our two guides took us to the first spot and pointed out some climbing routes and tips for soloing. Kelwin was on it like white on rice. While the others were warming up and testing the waters on the low traverse, he immediately started the 6a climb up to about 15-20 meters, and jumped off! The others followed suit, but Carissa and I stayed low. It’s funny how jumping is still scary, even when you’re just landing in water.

The second area wasn’t quite as cool, but Kelwin still made an impression by doing a cannon ball this time…bad idea. He came up spluttering, ‘my butt-hole!’ But he’s lucky he didn’t hit anything else 😆. The guys begged to go back to the previous area to work on a bouldering problem, where Rainbow ran a first ascent up some overhanging tufas. I did some snorkeling (without the mouthpiece…they didn’t look quite clean 😬) and saw some wicked coral and fish.

After this we met the other boat and we all had lunch on our own private beach. There were a few bouldering problems above the sand and a cool cave to explore. By the time we hit the mainland we were all wiped.

To move on, or not to move on?

I love how meeting some people feels so natural. As if you have always known each other, you just hadn’t met yet. I’ve found the community here to be the most welcoming, loving, and accepting I’ve ever encountered. However, most of the community I’ve made is now moving on to further travels, or heading back home.

I have yet to decide what to do with myself. I know I can meet more people, but the moving on makes me restless.

Cost So Far

Since Bangkok, these are my expenses at 16 total days into my trip:

Transport: 750B ($22.85)

Lodging: 3,170B ($96.56)

Food: 3,335B ($101.59)

Alcohol: 1,540B ($46.91)

Activities: 2,100B ($63.97)

Massage: 300B ($9.14)

Laundry: 160B ($4.87)

Misc: 300B ($9.14)

=11,655B + 4,881B (Bangkok)

= 16536B or $503.69

The beaches are definitely pricier than northern Thailand, but I’m not doing too bad so far!

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