Krabi, Thailand

This was a response to someone else about tips for going to Tonsai. I was in Tonsai for two months (start of Jan to start of March) and these are my recommendations for going there:

Accomodation

Stay in Tonsai, not Railey. Railey is for rich tourists and it’s kind of depressing to walk around.

If you’re not fussed about sharing a room, Chillout is a great place to stay. I prefer my own room so I tried a few places before I settled on Green Valley (not Dream Valley). It ended up being a great choice, it has actual beds and walls which some places do not! It was 4000 baht for 10 days, which is pricier than other places but it made up for it by its proximity to the restaurants and bars (it’s right next to Chillout which is the main hangout place after sunset).

If you want your own room and really, absolutely do not give a fuck about the quality at all, Cafe Andaman do rooms for 1750 baht for a week, which is 250 baht a day, which is literally nothing. A beer is 80 baht. However the rooms are total skank.

Don’t bother trying to book ahead, almost all of hostels (“resorts”) aren’t online. You can just rock up and get a room though, it’s super easy and I can almost guarantee none of them will be full. If you’re super paranoid about it (I was) then there are a couple of places you can book online, Chillout is one.

General advice

Getting there - nearest airport is Krabi, get a cab to Ao Nang and then a boat to Tonsai. You can get your own boat for a higher price (maybe 800 baht?) or you can wait for tourists to show up and split the cost with. Depending on what time you arrive it might be easier to do this in advance, Basecamp do a boat and cab service through their website. They’ll pick you up from the airport, super handy when you’ve been in transit for nearly 24 hours and you just want to crash.

Buy a sim! Almost nobody I met in Tonsai did this, but I did and it’s a lifesaver. You can get a 30 day tourist sim for 400 baht in Krabi. 4g on tap, almost wherever I went is really, really handy.

Tonsai is 99% cash, Railey 90%. The only ATMs are in Railey. There’s also no way to get post to either Tonsai or Railey, and there are no banks there, so if you lose your card it’s bad news.

Mozzie spray is useful but only if you’re going to the jungle crags in the afternoon, and if you do that you should fork out for the good shit. Check the spray when you buy it - some is only 15% deet!! Cheap but useless. I can name the crags where mozzie spray is necessary on one hand. Two months there and nobody I heard of got dengue.

Climbing! (What you came here for)

DO NOT CLIMB IN THE SUN. Most important advice although you learn it very quickly. If anyone suggests that you go to an afternoon crag (eg. Fire Wall) in the morning, they have clearly just arrived in Tonsai. You only make this mistake once. Most guidebooks will state the best time of day to visit each crag.

Speaking of guidebooks, buy the Thailand and Laos guidebook by Elke Schmitz. The others that cover Tonsai are copies. If you forget to buy one you can get it at Basecamp (run by Elke).

The guidebooks also say which climbs have titanium bolts and which don’t. Do not climb on non-titanium bolts, they get super rusty and might fail on you (not ideal).

Some climbs have threads instead of bolts. These are actually bomber. 10/10 would whip. Unless it’s falling apart in your hands (or core-shot or whatever), it’s safe. Use your common sense, and let Basecamp know if any are shitty, they do a lot of the thread replacement.

The top anchor will be a fat ring or pair of rings tied together and attached to bolts higher up. Ignore the bolts. Lower off the ring, put your quickdraws on it, it’s the everything ring. These will also be your anchors for multipitches.

If I have one regret, it’s not doing the multipitches while I was out there. The only advice I can offer is that Humanality gets into the sun around 1pm and is usually busy, so calculate your start time accordingly. I saw one group of three in the middle of rapping down around 4pm and they looked fucking miserable when they came down.

If you came without a partner, make friends! People in Tonsai are super friendly. If you can climb 6b and above, go to the beach and see if you can find a belay. There will be someone who will let you hop on. If you don’t, hang around Chillout in the morning with your gear until someone notices.

If you’re going for a while (more than a week), I would recommend you bring your own gear unless you have a very good reason not to. It makes you super independent. Otherwise you can rent gear (shoes, harnesses, rope, quickdraws, everything) from Max at Chillout. There are some other places but as far as I’m aware you can trust all his stuff.

If you don’t have a partner or gear and you really want to get climbing (and maybe aren’t too social), you can hire a guide! Max at Chillout is great, as are some of the guys from Basecamp. Maxi is amazing and also one of the best slackliners I have ever seen. The guides in Railey are completely insane and will probably take you to 123 wall which is guide hell. Most of the sketchiness you will ever hear about climbing in Tonsai is down to the guides.

Tonsai has more hard climbing (7a+ and up) than Railey, but there is easier stuff there. Eagle Wall is the best crag in Tonsai to climb easy stuff. The best place for hard stuff is probably the beach, but there’s only a handful of 6c’s and 7a’s there so you if you do go there you better be happy projecting or really comfortable at higher grades.

The best crag for my money is Wee’s Present Wall. Super varied mix of grades (5+ to 7a) and it’s in the shade all day.

Deep Water Soloing - Basecamp run a tour some mornings which is a good introduction. You could also rent some kayaks and just paddle around until you find something. There are some guidebooks for the area but unless you have your own boat it’s tough to get to them.

Other advice

Go to Freedom bar on the beach to watch the sunset. It will become your daily ritual and for good reason. It’s a million dollar view and it slightly makes me sad that I was never there when everything was on the beach.

Speaking of - there’s a huge resort being built on the beach, and an enormous wall that surrounds the area. When I was there it was under construction and had been for maybe five years. There’s a ladder that goes over the wall which is one of the easiest ways to get from the beach to the hostels.

Watch the fire show at Chillout, it’s on virtually every night there’s a crowd there, which is virtually every night.

Everyone leaves Chillout after the fire show, most people go to Sunset bar. Viking bar is also okay but Sunset is where it’s at. Say hi to Wat.

The best grilled chicken is at Chillout, the best fried chicken is from the chicken hut at Chillout. The best beef noodle soup is at Boatman, and the best portions for any food are at Legacy and Mama Chicken. The best shakes are at Legacy and Ting Tong bar. The food at Pyramid isn’t great. Everywhere else is okay.

Food in Railey is great but also considerably more expensive. It’s a nice treat after the crag though.

You can walk to Railey through over a small hike past the beach (8 mins), but at night if the tide is high you’ll need to walk through the jungle instead (40 mins and a bad path with no lighting).

Speaking of high - you can get weed from almost any bar in Tonsai. Some people diss the weed there but I really like it, it doesn’t make me paranoid like weed at home. Wat at Sunset. has a great bong but if you aren’t careful it will send you straight into orbit. If you have a low tolerance it is best avoided. I never tried the mushrooms while I was there, but I heard a lot of places do them. Look around.

Get good at slacklining! The best beginner one is at Chillout, Viking bar has two that are higher and tighter that the really sick slackliners use. Some of the best slackliners I have ever seen were in Tonsai. There is occasionally a highline or rodeo line set up but it depends who’s there at the time.

If you have a rest day, try the yoga or sneak in to use the pool at Dream Valley. It’s a proper resort, and although you’re not supposed to use the pool if you don’t stay there, I did for a month and it’s the best thing ever. Just don’t draw attention to yourself or act like a dick or they will ask you to leave (and try to fine you for using it).

Lastly, Tonsai Tummy

A lot of people get Tonsai Tummy - basically food poisoning. You will almost certainly get some form of stomach problems while you’re there. I stopped eating in the morning, didn’t have super oily food, and stopped having coffee, and I was okay after that. I also never got the full Tonsai Tummy experience but my friend did and she couldn’t climb for nearly a full week (or maybe longer).

That should be everything. Go have fun, meet new people, try new things!!

TL;DR: I’m on lockdown and wrote this instead of training because I have very little to do.