December 2005 I met up with Gabriel at LAX. From there we flew to Taipei, and then on to Bangkok where we met Michael. The three of us had spent a lot of our time at Dartmouth climbing together and pushing each other to improve, but we hadn't climbed together much since Mike and I left Hanover in 2003. We all spent a day in Bangkok enjoying the sights and experiencing the smells, and then flew to Krabi. From Krabi we took a small boat to Tonsai Bay where we met up with Morgan. Morgan was another friend from school and had spent several months in Thailand right after graduation. He speaks pretty good Thai and excellent Mandarin. It was great to have Morgan on the trip as translator, tour guide, and general stud muffin.
Tonsai Bay is located on the western side of the peninsular part of Thailand, the closest major town is Krabi. You can fly there on Thai Airways. From Krabi you can either take a longer boat ride to Railay East or you can take a local taxi to Ao Nang and catch a short boat ride to Tonsai Bay. Once you're there you're pretty much good to go. You've got 4 main areas to choose from: Tonsai Bay. This is the furthest north and west of all the beaches, closest to Ao Nang and the cheapest and least improved ($7 no AC or running water to $45 a night for AC, electricity a TV a fridge and a bathroom sleeps 2-3). We stayed in Tonsai, but we opted for the nicest option there: the Tonsai Bay Resort. They've got these really nice bungalows for not much money. We were only going to be there for a short while so we splurged on the $45 a night bungalow split 3 ways. By the way, their webpage has a nice map at the bottom. A couple hundred yards down the beach from Tonsai is Railay Bay West. This beach faces west and has pleasant swimming and lots of people. There's not much rock right there to climb, but it's within a very short walk. Here the accomodations are much nicer and more expensive, between $50-$100 a night. Just on the other side from West Railay Bay is East Railay Bay. In terms of resorts it all seemed to be the same to me. Wouldn't matter where you stayed since it's all close, but West is a nicer beach. At the end of the peninsula that forms Railay East and West is Pranang or "Princess" Bay. This place has really fine grained sand, the most nude bathers, and $300+ a night accomodations. I've heard you can even drink the water there. But, on the downside the beach is overrun with people selling things. Still, it's a nice place to walk over to on a rest day.
Climbing around there is plentiful. All of the beaches listed above have overhanging bolted limestone rising from the sand. Most of them have a few multi-pitch sport routes. The stuff near Pranang and Railay East tends to be easier, with many routes under 5.10. The routes near Tonsai are generally in the 5.12 and up range though there are a decent handful of great 11's, and a long 5-pitch 5.10 called Humanality. You can pick up a guidebook when you get there, or just ask people what they're getting on. The beta isn't hard to figure out and many of the cliffs require no approach at all.
Getting around while you're there is really easy. Railay East and West and Pranang are all connected by paved sidewalks. Tonsai has some paved sidewalks but mostly dirt or sand paths. You can walk from Tonsai to Railay West. At low tide you walk along some semi-slippery, very sharp rocks. At high tide you take a pretty steep little trail up and over a shoulder. Definitely want a head lamp for that. Of course, if you're real lazy you can take a longtail.
Longtails are these long boats good for coastal and river travel. They're propelled by a long shaft with a propeller at the end of it. Generally they're very color and pretty in photographs because you can't hear how goddamn loud they are. Plus, when their engines are off, the drivers are required to shout "Ao Nang! Ao NANG!" until enough people got on his boat and paid him to leave for Ao Nang. These boats are basically the only way to get to any of these bays. From Krabi you can take a longer boat ride to Railay East. Or you can get a taxi to Ao Nang and take a shorter boat ride to Tonsai. If you're real lazy or too drunk to make the walk you can get a longtail from Tonsai to Railay West.
There are a few things you should do while you're there. There's a cave you can walk through to get from Railay west to Pranang. At Pranang bay there's a cave full of penises (phallic offerings to a long dead virgin princess consumed by the sea near there). There's also a lagoon, and snorkeling, and bioluminescence, and deep water soloing.
Late December and January seemed like good months to be there. It was still hot as hell and humid, but it wasn't constantly raining. It rained probably every couple days, but it didn't really matter that much. The rock is used to shuttling a lot more water than that during the monsoon season.
There are more photos of the trip here on my flickr page: Thailand Photos on Flickr