When did we visit? : Mid October
Favourite Place: Railay Beach
Favourite Food: Sweet Corn Friiters
Most random thing that happened: accidentally getting caught up in a religious procession
We flew from Bangkok to Krabi airport, arriving at our guesthouse ‘Talardkao Balcony’ at around 9pm. We had planned to visit Krabi in advance because it is home to some of the best outdoor rock climbing in Thailand. Talardkao Balcony is in Krabi Old Town and so a little way out from the tourist bars and restaurants. This had both negatives and positives. To be able to get to the main town we had a few options; hire a moped, pay for a taxi or get the local public taxi/bus service a Song Thawe (which is essentially two benches in the back of a pick up truck with a tarpaulin over the top). Well neither of us know how to ride a moped and the traffic is so ridiculous we thought best not. We’ve met a lot of people who have fallen off mopeds, I know I sound boring but I don’t see the point in taking the risk.
Song Thawe it was then! But it took us until Day 3 to figure out how to hail one. We ended up having to go to the bus station because getting one to stop on the side of the road is difficult! But despite the distance from the main town, we really enjoyed staying at Talardkao Balcony. It was nice to be away from the intense tourism industry for a bit. There was a Vegetarian Food Festival happening whilst we were there, the street food was extra special because of it. The family who own Talardkao were extremely welcoming and happy to have us staying there. That really made our stay special.
We booked to go climbing with Krabi Rock Climbing. Where we were staying was a little bit far out of the way so we had to get a taxi to Ao Nam Mao pier. There, we were met by the owner of Krabi Rock Climbing who took us over to Railay Beach on one of the public boats. There we got kitted out and straight onto the rocks. We had a guide called Mon who was amazing. He was able to judge our climbing ability very quickly, and getting us to climb routes that would be fun and challenging but do-able.
We did a two day lead climbing course. On our first morning we did mostly top rope climbing (when the rope is attached to your harness and goes all the way up the route, through an anchor at the top and back down to your belayer). After lunch time we started to learn a bit more about how to lead climb. Lead climbing is when the rope is tied to your harness but it hangs below you, so there is no rope holding you from above. Your belayer who is on the ground, feeds rope to you because as you climb. Throughout the route there are bolts which are drilled into the wall. As you climb up, you clip the rope onto bolts using a piece of equipment called a quickdraw, which is a clippy device with two sections that clip on to things! You put one side of a quickdraw through a bolt and then the other, you clip your rope into it so that if you fall, your rope catches on the most recent quickdraw that you have placed on the wall. This probably isn’t the best explanation but if you put it into You Tube you’ll be able to find a video!
Mon taught us how to tie into an anchor/set up a top rope, this is when you reach the top of a lead route and pass the rope through so that it becomes a top rope route. This was all quite a lot to take in but Mon made sure that we knew what we were doing before he let us climb. I was really surprised by what I was able to climb and how I was actually able to make use of technical moves. Railay Beach was an amazing location to climb at. Beautiful clear water, amazing crags and monkeys hanging around too.
By the end of our second day of climbing my forearms were permanently pumped and my feet ruined. But we had a great time! After Krabi we decided to go and have a bit of rest and relaxation, so we booked to stay in Ao Nang for two nights.
We stayed at a hotel called Wake Up Ao Nang. Its sister hotel had a swimming pool that we could use so we just planned to chill by the pool and go to the beach. Which is exactly what we did. The only problem with the main part of Ao Nang was that it was EXTREMELY touristy. We just wanted to chill but honestly, walking along the sea front could have been any of your typical European seaside resort towns. For our purpose of just taking it easy for a few days it was absolutely fine and the beach was lovely but any longer than a few days would have been too many.
From Ao Nang we decided to go to Koh Lanta... I'll fill you in soon!
Em x
Favourite Place: Railay Beach
Favourite Food: Sweet Corn Friiters
Most random thing that happened: accidentally getting caught up in a religious procession
Railay Beach
Also Railay...
We flew from Bangkok to Krabi airport, arriving at our guesthouse ‘Talardkao Balcony’ at around 9pm. We had planned to visit Krabi in advance because it is home to some of the best outdoor rock climbing in Thailand. Talardkao Balcony is in Krabi Old Town and so a little way out from the tourist bars and restaurants. This had both negatives and positives. To be able to get to the main town we had a few options; hire a moped, pay for a taxi or get the local public taxi/bus service a Song Thawe (which is essentially two benches in the back of a pick up truck with a tarpaulin over the top). Well neither of us know how to ride a moped and the traffic is so ridiculous we thought best not. We’ve met a lot of people who have fallen off mopeds, I know I sound boring but I don’t see the point in taking the risk.
Song Thawe Swag
Song Thawe it was then! But it took us until Day 3 to figure out how to hail one. We ended up having to go to the bus station because getting one to stop on the side of the road is difficult! But despite the distance from the main town, we really enjoyed staying at Talardkao Balcony. It was nice to be away from the intense tourism industry for a bit. There was a Vegetarian Food Festival happening whilst we were there, the street food was extra special because of it. The family who own Talardkao were extremely welcoming and happy to have us staying there. That really made our stay special.
Vegetarian Food Stands in Krabi Old Town
Krabi Crabs
We booked to go climbing with Krabi Rock Climbing. Where we were staying was a little bit far out of the way so we had to get a taxi to Ao Nam Mao pier. There, we were met by the owner of Krabi Rock Climbing who took us over to Railay Beach on one of the public boats. There we got kitted out and straight onto the rocks. We had a guide called Mon who was amazing. He was able to judge our climbing ability very quickly, and getting us to climb routes that would be fun and challenging but do-able.
We want Mon to be our best friend
Mon taught us how to tie into an anchor/set up a top rope, this is when you reach the top of a lead route and pass the rope through so that it becomes a top rope route. This was all quite a lot to take in but Mon made sure that we knew what we were doing before he let us climb. I was really surprised by what I was able to climb and how I was actually able to make use of technical moves. Railay Beach was an amazing location to climb at. Beautiful clear water, amazing crags and monkeys hanging around too.
By the end of our second day of climbing my forearms were permanently pumped and my feet ruined. But we had a great time! After Krabi we decided to go and have a bit of rest and relaxation, so we booked to stay in Ao Nang for two nights.
We stayed at a hotel called Wake Up Ao Nang. Its sister hotel had a swimming pool that we could use so we just planned to chill by the pool and go to the beach. Which is exactly what we did. The only problem with the main part of Ao Nang was that it was EXTREMELY touristy. We just wanted to chill but honestly, walking along the sea front could have been any of your typical European seaside resort towns. For our purpose of just taking it easy for a few days it was absolutely fine and the beach was lovely but any longer than a few days would have been too many.
Just chilling...
Em x
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