Khrabi Town, Railey and Tonsai Beaches
November 2, 2004 |
| To get to Tonsai beach from Khrabi Town get in a white rickshaw ( soengteo ) from in front of the old pier(20BHT). Take this to Ao Nang. From there get a long tail boat to Tonsai or Railey Beaches(50BHT). Avoid the gang of young men at the old pier offering boat rides straight to Railey. They are usually scamming you. At Tonsai Beach the prices are more reasonable than Railey Beach and the people are much cooler. Try to stay at the Andaman Resort. They have nice bungalows for 250BHT (cheaper for long stays). |
If you ever go to southern Thailand let me give you some advice.
Don?t miss Tonsai Beach and Railey Beach.
They are a must see for anyone interested in rock climbing, diving, island trips and stunning, mind blowing beauty of nature.
There is a strong, open, community of athletic, motivated and awesome people there.
People who respect the earth and like to have lots of fun.
My days there were pure bliss.
On a typical day I would meet up with my friends, Susan and Doris and Danny from Canada.
We would meet at the restaurant in the morning and wait by the cliff for Doder, our crazier friend to jump off the top.
Base-jumping is the craziest, most intense, and probably stupidest sport ever invented.
Its one of those sports that has a difficult learning curve.
It seams the only way to learn what not to do is by dying.
People fling themselves to their death all the time.
The others learn from their mistakes.
Just 3 weeks before I arrived in Tonsai Beach someone had died base-jumping there.
It is a rush just to watch these guys hurl themselves off a 300-foot cliff, do a Flying Jesus, throw out the chute and then descend down to us to catch a beer from one of our extended arms.
Check out these links to see what else these lunatics do: www.doder300.com , www.cookiecomposites.com , www.basejump.org
After the jump we would often go climbing for a few hours.
This place has some of the best climbing in the whole world, no joke. 
People come from everywhere to climb these walls.
When you conquer one and turn around you are rewarded with the magnificent few of tropical paradise- jungles with lime stone cliffs and stalactites dripping down like gnarled alligator teeth.
Islands spread off into the sea of turquoise greens and blues.
After climbing we would go have dinner and watch our friends base jump again at sunset.
When dusk turned to dark we would chill out on hammocks and listen to music and pass the pipe.
Then in late evening we would head out to the party.
Each night a different bar hosts a party.
This guarantees that most everyone ends up in the same bar mingling and meeting, some getting delirious with buckets of whiskey and Redbull.
Cobra Show
One night there was a Cobra Show.
The Cobra Show consists of 3 Thai guys tormenting 3 King Cobras into attacking them.
Then they would tire them out and hypnotize them so they could deliver a kiss right on its lips.
One of these cobras was at least 20 feet long.
But that wasn?t the scariest of the serpents.
The deadliest seemed to be the medium size one which was fast as lightning.
I swear to god it bit one of the Snake Guys at one point.
Unfortunately I couldn?t stay there for very long.
I had to go do the movie thing just for the experience.
Then after that I was straight off on the 15-hour night bus ride to Bangkok where I was picking up my sister Astara.
She arrived on the 6 th of November and we started a new chapter in our lives.
Being a travel partner with your own blood can be difficult sometimes and amazing others.
One things for sure, it changes you forever.
More Pictures:
Elephant eye
Elephant ass.
Gas station on Ko
Lanta
Pete and I at the
Hotsprings near Khrabi.
Limestone formations
at Pranang Beach near Railey.
Big spider at the
waterfall. Its about 4 inches across.
Sunset from Full
Moon Bay 2 Resort on Ko Lanta
Me in my hammock
on Susan and Doris' porch at the Andaman on Tonsai Beach.
Young men sporting
American flags 4 days before the US election.