Lately Joe and I have been reminiscing a lot about what we were doing last year at this time, and many of those memories have a lot to do with rock climbing. Although there weren’t many things to climb in Kansas City, there are basically none where we live now. Luckily Raialy in Krabi province, one of the premier climbing destinations in the world, is in Thailand and we saw this semester break as an opportunity to head on down south and warm up those long neglected muscles.
Krabi province and much of the south of Thailand (excluding the very far south) is famous for its beautiful and relaxing beaches with many of the activities that usually come with such scenery: scuba diving, kayaking, getting harassed by locals selling cheap jewelry. What makes the location we chose different are the giant limestone cliffs that separate the peninsula of Railay from the rest of the mainland province. Railay is not an island, but it might as well be since the cliffs make it impossible to reach any way but by boat. Other than rocks, beach, expensive yucky food, and accommodation, there’s literally nothing there, but what else does one really need for an excellent climbing vacation?
After almost 24 hours on a buss and a choppy long-tail early morning boat ride, we spent lots of time finding the perfect place to stay. In other words, we asked around everywhere and settled down in the cheapest shack we could find. Shack is not an exaggeration; the place stood on stilts and the floor was made of slabs of wood with about an inch of space in between them. On one hand we had a private bathroom, on the other it consisted of just a toilet and a triple-function hose (shower/sink/toilet flusher). The bed took up literally 2/3 of the room and there were no shelves, drawers, or any place to store our stuff other than a few nails in the wall. But for $3 a night, I can’t complain (any more than I already have).
To start the vacation off right, Joe and I decided to sign up for a few climbing classes with a local climbing school to ensure we would be safe and hopefully gain a few pointers. We chose Wee’s Rock Climbing School because they literally wrote the guidebook on the area and discovered many of the routs themselves. Since it was the off season, many of the regular guides were out of town so we were taught by the best, the owners Wee (a local Thai climber) and his partner Elke (a German climber whose climbed all over the world). They were excellent, but not kind. They chose extremely challenging climbs that basically kicked our butts. They were always encouraging, but had no problem berating us if we didn’t meet their expectations (and both of us frequently didn’t). At one point Wee had me doing pull-ups on the rock in-between climbs.
One class we took was to teach us how to lead/belay climbs safely. Since Joe and I have always climbed with more experienced climbers, we’ve never really had to do this together by ourselves. However, my objective for the course was only really to learn how to belay a leader. I didn’t really feel like I was ready to lead myself. Elke had a different idea. She made it clear in no uncertain terms that I was going to lead—and lead I did. Here is a picture of me standing next to my first lead climb!After the courses, Joe and I felt comfortable to set out on our own, and grateful that we could choose routs at our level instead of 3 or 4 grades higher. We don’t have very many pictures because it takes two people to climb; you need a third if you want pictures. One morning we did meet a girl who was volunteering in the area who wanted to climb, but didn’t have her own rope or a partner. We gratefully traded her photography skills for a few climbs.
As I said earlier, Krabi is famous for climbing, so we often had to compete with people from all over the world for space to climb. At times it was maddening, but it was also really cool to be in one place with so many different people who love doing the same thing. And nothing beats the satisfaction of getting to the top of a climb to be greeted by a gorgeous ocean view.What did we do other than climb? Not much. When we were too sore (post Wee and Elke) we would just lay on the beach and relax or watch others climb. At night we would often grab a beer and watch Premier League Football or a movie at an outdoor bar. Simple, but perfect before a hectic return to the second semester.
P.S. Sorry about the delay in posting, I haven’t had internet at home for the past week and I’m not sure when it’s coming back. For now I’ll just have to steal a few moments to write at work when I can.
