Climbing and Big Waves

We woke up at seven in the morning to move to a cheaper room we found the day before. The new room wasn't bad and it only cost 150 bahts a night with a shared bathroom. What a deal! Krabi is one of the best rock climbing destinations in the world and there was no way I was going to miss the chance to climb some of the routes. As soon as we were done with moving I started up the engine of our loyal Yamaha scooter and headed for the shore, from where the long-tail boats take off. On the way we grabbed take away rice and chicken from a small street restaurant and ate them in the jungle.

Jungle picnic

Soon the blood-thirsty mosquitoes found our picnic spot and we had to take off fast. It was then when I realized we had a problem with the scooter. Everything was normal as long as I gave the scooter enough gas but whenever we stopped or even let the motor idle for just a while the engine would turn off. Driving with such a scooter is of course a bit troublesome but that wasn't what made me worried. I was only thinking about the contract I had once again signed, stating that I'm the one paying for everything that happens to the motorbike during the rental period.

But there was nothing we could have done about it then and we didn't let it spoil our day. We parked the moped next to the shore in a parking lot and quickly found a man offering boat trips to the parts of Krabi where it's good to climb. The rocks I climbed aren't on an island but still you basically have to go there by boat since there are no roads and the only way to get there otherwise is to rough it through dense jungle with a lot of climbing involved.

Long-tail boats waiting for passengers.

Taking a boat itself wasn't a problem for us since it wasn't extremely expensive (100 bahts one way). The schedule of the boats and the windy weather made it a lot more exciting though. We were told that the last boat leaves at around five o'clock in the evening and that we can't get back if we miss that one. Of course we wouldn't miss it but there was a catch: the boat wouldn't go at all if there weren't at least 6 passengers. Great. We wanted to take the risk anyway and soon we were being loaded to the surprisingly long boat. But don't let the length fool you! The boat was narrow with really low sides. It felt like water could flood in any second, and that was before we faced the waves.

I had planned to take photos of the beautiful rocks and islands on the way but it proved to be impossible since the waves threw their salty water at us almost all the time. We hid all the important stuff in the backpack and tried to cover it with our bodies. In about ten or fifteen minutes we were there.

The place we had arrived at was kind of shocking. On one side I saw these fancy five-star hotels with their guards and keep out-signs and on the other I was greeted with absolutely amazing rock formations with climbers on them. The contrast was huge. Shortly after arrival we found a 'Swedish' climbing shop which offered climbing tours on the rocks nearby. Although the shop claimed to be Swedish, I'm pretty sure that the climbing instructor there had never even seen Sweden ;). The tours they offered felt more like climbing courses and their schedule didn't really fit ours so we continued searching.

Krabi is popular destination among climbers.

Soon we saw a small group of people walking towards us carrying a lot of rock climbing gear and we asked them whose service they used. We got the answer and after searching for a while we found ourselves in front of King's climbing shop. The King is one of the Thai climbing pioneers in Krabi and it was his shop. It turned out that their tours were really flexible and even the timing was good for us so we made a deal. 800 bahts for four hours of climbing isn't exactly free but at least it included an insurance this time.

Just before we were supposed to start heading for the rock a storm surprised us. The wind bent the palm trees ruthlessly and for the first time in my life I realized that one could actually die of a falling coconut. Luckily the storm passed quickly and the rock wasn't too wet for climbing either. I climbed with the group we had met earlier: two guys and two girls from Denmark. It was their first time climbing and except for one of the girls they seemed to enjoy it. I had to wait for my turn for quite a while but it was well worth it.

Finally on the rock!

Climbing in Krabi was a blast. The rock on the walls I climbed was really smooth and easy on fingers, the weather was beautiful, sceneries stunning and the climbing instructor found just the perfect routes for me. I was able to climb all the routes I tried but it was far from easy for me. The routes didn't have super difficult cruxes but they were relatively long so I was pretty tired each time I reached the top. The grades were between 6a and 6b on the French grading system. I especially fancied the routes you had to start by jumping to a stalactite!

Krabi sceneries

Inna didn't want to try climbing there although she has tried some walls indoors in Finland. Many thanks to her for taking all the pictures and patiently waiting for me when I was having fun! It's not easy to take good pictures from the ground level when someone is climbing but Inna did an amazing job there in my opinion. After three hours of climbing we had to leave not to miss the last boat to safety. Three hours might not sound a lot but it was enough for me since I hadn't been climbing for quite a while before going to Krabi. I was pumped.

We met a Swiss couple we had met earlier waiting for the same boat and chatted with them before getting on the boat. This time the waves were even bigger and it felt like someone was pouring water on us with big buckets. Somehow we made it to the shore without damaging any electronic devices. We were totally wet and decided to swim as we knew it might be our last time in a while. It was very relaxing to swim and lie in the warm water after great climbing.

Unfortunately everything good comes to an end eventually and we had to drive back to return our scooter. The problem was still there but we didn't mention it upon returning and never heard anything about it later. I guess it was just trash in air intake or something. In the evening we visited the night market again and ate a tasty dinner of sea shells, squid, chicken, tofu and pancakes!