ChelSea to Sea: Rock Climbing in Railay

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.