hanging on in Krabi

5-2: Took a boat from Phi Phi to Krabi town then a bus to ao nong, then a longtail to Rai Leh, which is actually a peninsula with 4 beaches (rai leh west, rai leh east, phrangna, and tonsai) but feels like an island b/c it's completely cut off from the mainland and only accessible by boat. This place would end up being the most expensive place I visited in all of thailand, but one of the more gorgeous. Rai Leh west was quite stunning with it's blond beach and huge karst cliffs on either side. I had paid a little extra that day to take a less direct route to get to rai leh which left at 9am rather than the direct one which left at 4pm. I am very glad I did this b/c it allowed me to explore the area on the only true clear day while I was there, and clear days make a world of difference when it comes to white sand and emerald water. That day I climbed up to a rather stunning viewpoint overlooking rai leh west and tonsai. The huge cliffs are everywhere here and they are riddled with caves. I explored a few of them, but I wished my brother had been there so we could have done so more serious spelunking and rapelling into some of the bigger ones. Coming down from the viewpoint I was just following the cliffs and not the trail so I stumbled across a tennis court. Scaled the fence and found myself inside a crazy fancy resort. It was so huge that it took me a while to get through it, but as far as I could tell I could have had the run of the place at the time. As I got near the exit, a security guide grabbed me and escorted me out. All along the 3 beaches it encompasses they have security guards to make sure beachgoers don't go into the resort, so they were miffed at how I got in. I later found out lots of celebrities stay here and that the highest price room is 3,500 USD per night and the lowest room is 1000USD per night. I ran into two americans randomly, cousins travelling together, and we explored one of the documented caves...by candlelight. Typically the cave is lit by lights inside, but there were none. I'll have to say a little candle does little to help you see inside a cave. Watched the sunset from rai leh west and then went out for a beer with willy and shelly (from tennessee) at this place that had a surprisingly could acoustic guitar player and they ordered us some marijuana spiked hookah.

5-3: Explored all around the peninsual today. It never rained, but it was kind of overcast and windy the whole day from the sw monsoon winds. Hiked to Tonsai beach, which I absolutely loved. If I hadn't been all settled in at rai leh and it wasn't a half hour hike over a small pass, I would have moved there. It was kind of like the thailand I had hoped to find. No one was tanning on the beach...the few people sitting on the beach were doing yoga or medidating and all along the cliffs on the beach people were climbing or bouldering. Everyone was either hippy or definitely outdoorsy, and it wasn't that fancy, european, tanning, boozing crazyness of the other beaches where lots of people pretended to be backpackers b/c they carried backpacks, but they had make-up, several nice shirts, cologne, etc all with them. This was like the true backpacking crowd. I just really liked the vibe. I'd love to come here again sometime with a buddy and hangout and climb and kayak around. After that I hiked to phrangna beach (had monkeys playing around the cave and beach there!) and explored the caves there on either side of the beach and then hiked up a very, very steep trail to another cool viewpoint and then down and even steeper trail where you needed to use ropes to keep from falling to make it down to a really cool hidden lagoon. On the way down with the cliffs and ravines and vegetation it felt like something from the jurassic area (or at least as portrayed by artists in my text books).

5-4: I hiked back to the 2nd viewpoint in the morning b/c it was a bit of a clearer day that day compared to the more dreary weather the day before. Then that afternoon I did a deep water solo climbing program. It's where you climb islands solo (no ropes or harnesses) and if you fall the only thing that stops you is the water. This makes the climbing quite intense b/c if you're 30 or 40 feet up and you fall trying to make a move and land on your back, it's not going to be pleasant. I mean just letting go in a controlled fall from 40 feet is scary enough. We had a late lunch on a cool little beach in the area in the rain and did some bouldering there under the protection of a cave while the two thai captains and leaders got really stoned (and climbed). I met a really nice american couple from phoenix on the trip and unfortnately they were leaving the next day or they would have taken me climbing. Being by myself meant I had to hire a guide to belay me instead of just renting the equipment and going with a partner.

5-5: Cinco de Mayo and swine flu, I suppose. So like I mentioned, I hired a guide and we went off for a day of climbing. We went to three walls (the last two being my favorite) and did 10 climbs, one that was incredibly long and high. The views from the top were always spectacular looking down at the beaches and water from way way up. One cool part was we went climbed up into a cave from phrangna beach walked to the otherside and then rapelled down the other side towards rai leh west to climb the thaiwand wall.