Day D – Packing typhoon
My deal with Rune, who was flying with me to Grand Prix, was that I meet him at 4am and we go together to the airport and fly at 6:25am. Easy task…
Phone ringing at 4am: “Jiri where are you?” Oh shit!! I was still at my friend’s apartment warming-up party. My plan was going from the party directly, but when there is alcohol involved plans often change J So we, with Jan and Jana quickly took a cab home, I grabbed my badly packed bag, briefly thought about what I need more, said good bye and left.
When leaving the plane in Bangkok I realized only my fashion sandals, no rain jacket, nothing warmer than pair of t-shirts, no mobile phone charger and basically no information about Thailand, what I will do here and how!! Maybe just that Thailand is cheap, which turned out to be more harmful than beneficial!!
Day 1 – Calm before the typhoon
This cheap problem I face since I got my first salary in Dubai. Somebody tells me a price…”Hmm that’s quite cheap” because higher UAE salaries give you feeling that a lot of things are quite cheap. Especially in foreign countries. But this is completely wrong principle, because you shouldn’t be buying anything overprized, no matter how much you gain!! Unfortunately it’s very easy to slip and it annoys me when I do it L
Directly after landing we faced for the first time the “cheap” information. “Taxi…taxi” we heard from all sides. “1200 bath” was the first offer. 50m further “1100 bath” was another from different guy, but same company. “450 bath” told us in the info center. At the end we ended up in public taxi for 250 and went to Radisson hotel where Rune, Imke and Trevor was staying, to decide what to do with the rest of the evening. I also had a hostel reservation for 5USD somewhere in the city, which I needed to get my visa, but I don’t really wanted to go there, because I had only rough idea where it is, no map, only rough address and I wasn’t sure if the taxi can find it.
So I really welcomed an idea to see the famous Khao San road, where all the life and party was going on and where all budget travelers go. But I didn’t waste time with my bed even there and we hit the bars right away J At 1am closed almost all the bars, Rune and company went to Radisson and I want to find some cheap place to stay. Rune was paying 2000 so my goal was around 400. Luckily the first guesthouse I went to was for 250, so at 1:15am I was already sleeping. Much earlier than the others.
Day 2 – Play & party typhoon
At 8am I took a taxi to GP site in Bang Kapi mall, my “workplace”, because playing was my only “obligation” in Thailand.
How to say…Nobody from UAE qualified to second day, but I got kicked out with my head up, because my last loss I had against Tomoharu Saitou, one of the top top players right now. The game with Saitou showed me that there is definitely a lot to learn even after 10 years and how Magic should be played!! From next edition I’ll focus on it and I will retake the position of the highest ranked UAE player again ;)
So we hit the bars in Khao San road again. The last day we swore that if we don’t qualify for the second day, we would party whole night. We started your quest in one of many Khao San bars. One beer tower later a Canadian guy joined our table. After another two American girls took place at our table. After another tower we joined two Mexican girls at the next table. One more tower later we took a Tuk-tuk, a typical Thai three wheel open taxi, and with words “Take us to Patpong” we were driving fast on the left side of the road through night Bangkok streets, not knowing where we were going, but shouting and shaking hands with the guys in the other Tuk-tuk in the next lane!!
Patpong is Bangkok red light district. The place where the driver took us was not exactly what we wanted to see but anyway…We saw some Thai strip, some vaginal magic and some live sex…boring J And then we became tourists on the stick. Seeking I already don’t remember what we were riding Tuk-tuks from place to place dependent on the driver, because we had no idea and they always took us to a place where they got paid for bringing people. These places were always shit and only created more driving, confusion and lostness.
After a while, me and Rune, we found ourselves in a place where we’ve already been, but without Trevor and the rest, which we lost in the process. Sick of driving we just went in, had a drink and noodle soup and went for a full body massage next door.
Quite drunk, pissed off, cheated and desperate a bit, but overall happy, I split and went back to Khao San where I’ve booked the same hostel as before. As I always try to do, I bought one last beer and sat down deeply thinking in the bar where we had started and watched the sun rising over the street. Quest completed J
Day 3 – Tourist typhoon
At 1pm I had still with light headache and a weird feeling of a person whos body was treated well with Singha beer. First thing I did was that I bought “The real Red Bull”. Original Red Bull recipe was developed in Thailand and Austrians just stole it, added gas and made money! Thai one is without gas, thick, concentrated and should help me to focus and survive in the city full of tourist traps.
“Need a taxi…Where do you go my friend?” I heard while standing at the end of Khao San trying to figure out which one it is, where is north and where do I actually want to go. I wanted to see some temples, some culture, but I didn’t read anything about what is here and what is good to see. Bad preparation = tourist on the stick. Get information = go to information center. But when you are tourist on the stick it’s hard to get what you want, as I learned last night!! So that guy took me only to Travel & Tour agency. There for a last time I recalled some basic rules of budget traveling and walked away without even asking what & how much.
I sat down under the tree and wrote to Rune “Take care, enjoy and see you home…I go to Krabi”. Goal set. I looked into my free airport map with more advertisement than roads, guessed where I could be, because I saw a bridge and temple, whose pictures were in the map and started walking.
“Hello my friend…Where are you from?” stopped me an older Thai man.”Where are you going…You lucky…Today holiday…all tuk-tuk for 20 bath…only yellow plate tuk-tuk…Must see Buddha…” and he started to draw into my map where I should go. He also stopped a tuk-tuk, told the driver where to go and that it will be only 20. Best guide ever!!
And with getting in I forgot what I’ve learned while traveling and became like a brainless typhoon!! First temple was very nice. Peaceful place with giant golden Buddha. At the second I met a Singaporean guy who was basically only talking about that today is a last day of a government promotion when you can buy sapphire jewelry without tax and sell it outside the country for double. My “tourist guide” told me the same, but I only didn’t pay attention. At the third temple I met another Singaporean guy and when I asked him jokingly “Have you also bought some jewelry?” he immediately replied “Of course…I come every year for this…200% tax you don’t pay today…You are nuts if you don’t do it!!” He gave me also the shop name and his business card. He worked as a bartender in Reading. What would you do? J
Before my personal tuk-tuk took me the last item in the list, to Golden Mount, he asked me if he could take me to Thai fashion factory, where he would get free food and gasoline. I said “Why not”…I wanted to buy some t-shirts anyway. Half an hour later I came out with a bill for three custom made shirts from a questionable thin Egyptian cotton for a double price than in Pakistani shop in Dubai!!
Golden Mount was also really nice peaceful place and I tried to calm down, focus and think, which resulted only in not buying a small bag of fried worms, frogs, cockroaches and grasshoppers for 20, because in Khao San I saw it for 10 and not buying noodle soup for 40 for same reason. Silly!! So without actually eating anything whole day I walked towards the river. By chance I ended up at a nice monument, where I felt that there was enough stupidities today and that it would be better to leave and I took a taxi to the bus station. I got lucky and in 30 minutes I was in the night bus to Krabi having 5 seat rear bench for me for next 12 hours.
Day 4 – Taming the typhoon
“Sir, take your bag” told me the driver. “What?...” I replied still sleeping, exhausted and still kind of brainless. “Yes, yes…Krabi bus station”.
“Good morning my friend…where do you go?” I heard the familiar sentence. “I don’t know…” was my smartest answer. And then he took the stick on which I was still skewered and sold me two nights in a “cheapest” bungalows, “very close” to the climbing area and the bus there goes “soon”. “At the climbing beach is too expensive, because you can go there only by boat” he added. I wanted to check the time, but I realized that at the Golden Mount I was trying to calm down that badly, that I lost my mobile phone!! But fortunately I met a Canadian and English couple of budget travelers going climbing also, who opened my eyes and I finally was on the right vibe and focus. So I hopped in the taxi with them and went directly to the port and by boat to the beach.
Railay beach is just an amazing place with towering rocks reaching out of the green jungle, cozy bungalows under palm trees, cool rasta bars on the beach, long-tail boats and plenty of climbing and climbers. But it all could have been like a bad joke, because I almost broke my arm when I slipped and fell on the back on a slippery pavement in the sea right when I arrived!!
The Canadians had Lonely planet so I easily found a nice bungalow for 200 and had to get over the loss of 400 gave to the agent. Until now I don’t understand why I did that!! J
I didn’t find anybody to go climbing with me in Dubai so I had to find somebody here. “Shouldn’t be a problem” I thought when packing shoes and harness at home. The climbing areas are all over the village, so I just picked one and went there looking for somebody who came with his own rope and who is not climbing with paid Thai rasta guide as most of the people in Railay. “
“Hey guys…Are you climbing alone or with a guide?” I asked three promising climbers after 3 minutes of standing under the wall. “No guide…We are on our own” they replied. “And do you think you could belay me for a one route?” I tried. “Yeah sure mate, let’s go”. Later turned out that Javi from Spain needs climbing buddy, because Parvis from England was leaving the next day and his friend Rafa wasn’t into climbing that much. Just perfect. They even were same level as me and by chance I spoke Spanish, because they didn’t speak English that much!! So finally I could make a thick line after those a bit messed up days and start to enjoy thing I came here for J
Whole day of exotic climbing finished by a live concert of the most famous Thai reggae band in cool jungle rasta bar dancing, drinking strong Chang beer and smoking joints. Just perfect!!
Day 5 – Hangover typhoon
I had an agreement with Javi that I meet them at 12am at their cabins and we go to Tonsai beach just next to Railay, where is cheaper living and more climbing. But because I didn’t have my mobile to wake me up and I went to bed around 6am, I woke up at 3pm!!
But I somehow wasn’t worried. “This place is so small, that I’ll find them even if they already left” I thought. And that was exactly what happened. They were gone. I walked to the places where we were the last day, but I found only Niki from the party. She is also a lonely traveler from California, she was there with a guide climbing and leaving the next day to some other place.
And such a people you meet all the time. Couples, lonely ones. Lots of them are traveling for months. You just need to quit the job and go. And especially on that concert, in this village, when sitting at the terrace of the bungalow and drinking beer, I realized that this is what I want to/have to/will do one day. Like Merce, one Spanish girl I met there. Civil engineer with a good job, she was even contracting Envac for a project in Madrid J, but she just wanted to do something else, so she quit and now is more than a year on the way!!
Anyway…I didn’t find Javi in Railay, so I took a short jungle trail to Tonsai. I almost didn’t wonder when I saw Javi there on the beach talking to climbers Petit and Anna from Barcelona, he just met there. He and Rafa were still tired from the party so we agreed to meet at 9am next day and they went to sleep. I took a luxurious bamboo cabin for 100 and went for a beer and Pud-Thai noodles.
When sitting on the beach and watching sunset over stone towers I wished I could stay longer in this peaceful, cool place with same minded people around and far from trouble of crowded touristic destinations.
Day 6 – Climbing typhoon
If you look into climbing guide of Thailand, 90% of all routes are in Krabi area, 70% of them are in Tonsai and 90% of those are grade 6c and higher. So when I saw it, I was a bit worried what I would do here, but only until I led one 6b+ in one go. Then I realized that I haven’t been trying anything harder than 6b, so I didn’t know J So at the end of the day I put couple of 6c and 6c+ to my record and because it was getting dark already I didn’t try one 7a+, which looked doable.
These rocks in Tonsai are simply amazing. Almost all routes are more or less overhanging, but with plenty of good pockets so the grade is made by steepness and length. There are also a lot of stalactites with some funny “stalactite jump” routes. And if it rains, you just hide under a gigantic natural roof and keep climbing!! I really wanted to stay longer to train and climb some 7a+, but my week was getting short and I knew that when I felt asleep under the influence of that green stuff and easy chillout flowing from my bar.
The rest of the days – No more typhoons
I had one and half day left in Tonsai. I spent it climbing, eating nice Thai food, drinking beer in beach bars with different people we met there. Like one Czech girl Martina. She recognized that I was Czech because of climbing pants and backpack brand. And after some talking recognized in her a girl from a village next to mine back in Czech Republic, which I knew when we did orienteering run 10 years ago J Such a coincidence!! But typical. She was almost a year traveling with her boyfriend back home from New Zealand where they were working half a year.
On Friday midday I tried one beautiful 7a+, which I unfortunately didn’t finish, wished nice climbing to all my Spanish friends and followed the beach to Railay to catch a boat to mainland and a night bus to Bangkok. We arrived 7am Saturday to Khao San, I quickly took a cab to the airport and 9:25 I was already flying back to Dubai. I only had to get over the loss of those shirts I paid and didn’t have time to pick up, because I preferred to stay one day longer in Tonsai!! Whatever…it’s just money…experience is more important and I’ll at least learn from this for next time J
And how was it? It was great!! Thailand has definitely a lot of potential for budget backpacker traveling style I like, if you don’t act like an idiot J, and not only in Krabi, but everywhere. And also the other countries of SE Asia like Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia…are equally beautiful places worth to explore. One thing I learned for sure…I will once do as a lot of people did…just pack up and go to travel…and see where it leads me…only that now I feel that it’s not a right time to do that J But there is time…”Everything with moderation, even moderation”
