Flippin’ Tonsai

Sorry for our blog hiatus! It’s been a tricky time getting it sorted, first with the spotty WiFi in Tonsai, me getting food poisoning and then travelling to Australia! So without further delay, here’s a round up of our trip to Tonsai.

So... Tonsai, really awkward to get to, super hot, no power from 10-5, all the mosquitos, a recent dengue fever outbreak and a reputation for people getting food poisoning. Good climbing though!?

We spent most of a day travelling to Tonsai, via bus and 3 boats. On arrival we eventually found our way to our resort where the air con was off as it was only 3 o’clock and the power hadn’t been turned back on. They did have a pool, so that would have to do on the melting prevention front. Once the sun went down we had a pleasant evening on our balcony, drinking beer and playing board games on the iPad (Sophie is currently beating be at about a rate of 2-1 for anyone interested). This was to become a regular feature of our nights in Tonsai as the lavender mosquito coils filled the air with smoke and kept the insects at bay.

- Deserted Railay West beach at 6am.

The next morning we’d pledged to ourselves to get up at 6am to beat the rush at the crag. We walked across two near deserted beaches to our desired spot and set up shop. We had climbed 4 routes before lunch and had the run of the place. It was a great way to start the day and we treated ourselves with an afternoon by the pool. Unfortunately as we sat on the balcony in the evening the rain came on, this giving us an excuse to give the next days early start a miss.

We eventually set out for the crags after lunch and after some faff found our desired spot, it was busy but we climbed a tricky route after some messing around with the difficult start. Then the fun began as we tried to go to the next crag down, thinking it would be just around the corner, alas, we were wrong. After a steep scramble up a slope in the jungle we reached a wall, but it was the wrong one, turning back around we tried to find the correct one and ended up getting more lost and now we were at a dead end and there were swarms of mosquitos around our legs. We eventually got out of the jungle and back to Tonsai, but we had dozens of bites and were rather agitated after all our scrambling around. This was supposed to be fun! Retreated to the pool with only a single attempted route under our belts for the day.

-A climb with a view! Taken from the top of our one climb of the day before the mosquitoes destroyed us.

The next day we endeavoured to regain our early form and get up at dawn with a plan. We aimed for a classic Tonsai route, ‘groove tube’ as it was always busy during the day. It was a beautiful route (Sophie’s favourite all trip) and we had climbed it before the sun had peaked over the cliffs on the other side of the bay.

- Going through the 'tube' in Groove tube.

- Top of Groove tube.

-Looking down

- Where's Wally?! Ten points if you can spot Sophie.

We then headed to a crag about a 40 minute walk away along 4 separate beaches. The other beaches host resorts that come at a more premium price tag than any of the ones in Tonsai. The contrast in peoples holiday styles was amusing as some lounged about in their swimwear while others trekked through them with bags of climbing gear.

- Pra Nang beach

After our climbing we went to the same restaurant where we’d eaten every meal, as once you’ve found somewhere that doesn’t give you ‘Tonsai Tummy’ you stick to it. We had the same meal we’d had on previous occasions, yet this time whenever we’d finished our games for the night I proceeded to be violently ill for the whole night! As everyone knows the best thing for sickness is a day spent travelling, so fortunately the next morning we headed back to Kuala Lumpur via a boat, pick up truck, plane and bus. Delightful! Also, AirAsia suddenly decided that ropes could not be hand luggage, so made us pay to check it on separately. Anyhow, our last night in Thailand had been spent the same way as our first, with one of us throwing up all night! We were glad for the familiarity of Kuala Lumpur after 6 weeks away!

Climbing Log

Day 1

Roi-Et (6a)

Sophie - onsight

Matthew - flash

A man can tell a 1000 lies (6a)

Matthew - onsight

Sophie - flash

I don’t know (6a)

Sophie - redpoint

Matthew - flash

Hello Christine (6a+)

Matthew - onsight

Sophie - did moves on top rope

Day 2

Caroline’s last day (6a)

We both fell on the bottom section, we both got to the top but never in a continuous attempt from the bottom.

Day 3

Groove tube (6a)

Sophie - onsight

Matthew - flash

Scorpion (6a+)

Matthew - flash

Sophie - tops rope

Goodbye Salvador (6a+)

Both had a nightmare and eventually after a lot of hard work by Sophie on belay I eventually cheated my way to the top so we could recover our gear!