I picked Krabi, Thailand for my vacation because of the
world famous rock climbing on the nearby island of Railay. It was perfect, I could spend 2 days
luxuriating at the spa resort, listening to my new favorite thing in the world:
Serial, and one day climbing limestone cliffs.
I woke up at 7:30 and took a car to the dock. My driver, Ali, told me his story. In 2004, when the Tsunami hit Thailand, Ali
was out on his boat. He saw the wave
coming. The first wave he rode on his
boat but the second pulled him and the boat into the middle of the sea. It took him 2 days in a leaky boat to make it
back to shore.
Whether or not he was telling the truth was irrelevant. Although the city was mostly built back up,
the wave was still present in everyone’s eyes.
Signs warned that you are in a tsunami zone and to please seek higher
ground. If I die in a tsunami, I’ll be
furious.
I boarded the wooden boat and sat between a girl with a
Hello Kitty cat headband and a Thai man with dreadlocks and tattoos of
Buddha. The plank from boat to beach was
made of old water jugs strung together.
I joined a small ground and guide and we walked through a few beaches
before stopping at our rock. A sky high
limestone face that jutted in to little caves and out into arching
overhangs.
When it was my turn to hook in, I ran up an easy wall,
stretching out my muscles and warming up my hands. Some of my holds were literally
stalactites. I summited in a cave at the
top and gave myself a second to look down at the blue green water and the
inselbergs that looked like a tectonic plate collide had just made them. I repelled down making sure not to swing into
a cave.
A crowd had formed where we were climbing and I felt like a
rock (climbing) star. I climbed until
the sun made the rocks hot to touch and I was told I had time for one more
climb. This one had a cave right a the
beginning. You had to hoist yourself
onto a platform above your head with very few footholds before. No way could I do that: essentially a pull up
then push up mid air. I squirmed and
wriggled, then blanked my mind, breathed deep and did it. Unbelievable adrenaline rush. And this is why I do this.
The rest of the climb I had to chimney up this cave crack
which was fun. I looked down at my guide
belayer and saw he didn’t have his hands on the rope and was deep in
conversation with the friend next to him.
Comforting.
 |
| No hands. |
After the climb I found this blonde Adonis of a shirtless
German man and watched him climb to “learn his techniques”. What?!?!
But I was getting hungry (Food > Man) so I packed up my hormones and
looked for a place for lunch. Along the
way I saw a sign : This Way to the Viewpoint and Lagoon. “Oh cool, I have time for this.”
The path started easily enough, slippery but relatively flat
except for a few boulders you had to climb over. Then the trail was like “Sucker! Climb this!”
and I had to climb a high vertical, grabbing onto ropes to not slip down. I reached the view point out of breath,
looked around for a sec, took a picture, and saw another sign “Shortcut to
Lagoon”. Cool, might as well, I got this
far. The trail slopes down and now I am
holding the ropes to walk down over steep rocks. I keep passing people on the way.
“Am I close?”
“Not really.”
Then the trail took a turn for impossible and I was now
climbing down vertical, slippery rocks with just a rope and a few unreliable
grips. I did this down many cliffs, one
of which I had to climb through hole in a cave.
Flip flops from failed tourists littered the ground like forgotten
dreams. I saw a few hikers climbing back
up.
“It’s worth it, you can do it, keep going!”
“Thanks! …fuckyou.”
An hour, so many bruises, I reached the lagoon. It was very silent except for birds echoing
between the walls of the valley and up into the blue circle of sky above. I was the only one there. I lay in the water on my back and looked up
serenely until I crashed my leg into a rock and cut it open. Which, of course.
 |
| The Viewpoint |
 |
| Ropes down to the Lagoon |
 |
| The Lagoon |
I climbed back out of the lagoon and literally pulled myself
back up the walls. When I rain into a
couple in flip flops who asked how much longer,
“You’ll be fine, you can do it!”
Covered in mud, I drank two coconuts and made it back just
in time for the last boat.
