Thaiwand wall is located at West Raileh Beach. We have to hike through the jungle and climb up the hills to get to Thaiwand wall.
Yes..you can climb the ladder.
Thank god for the natural path, otherwise we would be lost in the jungle. But it was sometimes confusing. There was once I ended at a place where someone took a shit. He/She left tissues on the ground. š
At Phranang beach @ Krabi, thereās a small temple which has hundreds of wooden phallus. Some are as tall as 5 feet, some are so thick that the only living thing would use it is a female elephant. Also, some are so small that you could just pocket them home for personal use. It is said to be offering to the sprit of Phranang who resides in the cave.
After a long journey, we slept like a pig. We wanted to have a budget trip hence we had biscuits and instant noodles for break fast. It was pure torture I tell you.
There are over 1000 Climbing routes in Rai Leh (natural walls). We started off at Dumās Kitchen @ Tonsai Beach. The routes are predominately 6As, 7s and 8s (grading system ā the lower the number, the easier it is). Imagine warming up on a 7A.
I started off with a 6B and ended with failure. I couldnāt finish the bloody route! Filled with frustration, I went to surf the net instead.
I continued climbing after surfing the net. This time round, on a 6A. Sounds easy, but I couldnāt even start the bloody route. I gave up after falling from the first move.
Water rising..
Tonsai Beach and West Railay beach is divided by a small hill. To get West Railay (and the rest of the beaches), we have 3 choices, take a boat, around the hill during low tide or hike through the hill.
No easy task man..
Since the tide has rise, we had to hike through the hill. It was not an easy task as the paths were narrow and steep.
We headed straight to Phranang beach. Throughout the journey, we had our first taste of topless girls. But after looking at couple of papayas, the excitement died down. But I was told that further down the beach, we might get to see some āabalonesā!
Phra-nang beach is filled with sun bathing Caucasians and topless girls. The beach doesnāt have many routes to climb. We have to venture further in to the caves to climb.
Spot the topless girl.
Instead of climbing, we swam. Phranang has crystal clear water and sandy beach. We spent the entire day there playing with sand and water.
We buried Potato Ben in the sand. Then we stepped on him.
Sun set!
It was a fun filled trip. 7 days of rock climbing, swimming, massage and Thai food!
Rai Leh is a peninsula surrounded by mountains and oceans, final access can only be by boat. It consists of 4 main beaches, Rai Leh East, Rai Leh West, Pranang Beach and Tonsai Beach. Itās a hot spot for rock climbers.
Rock Climbing @ Tonsai
We stayed in Tonsai, one of the beaches in Rai Leh. Tonsai is filled with climbers and Caucasian. The beach is beautiful but the water’s so-so. Girls with hot body and guys with 6 packs everywhere.
We stayed at Green Valley Resort Hotel. It was horrible. We had no luxuries at all, no hot water, no internet, no flush, no electricity after 830AM and no toilet paper! The only luxury we have is a noisy fan. But after a while we got used to the cold shower and bugs in the toilet. Thatās what you get for RM50 per night.
Road leading to our chalet
yea..the toilet, a bowl, a running pipe and a shower.
our room!
But the restaurant at Green Valley was excellent. Salad buffet was at 30 Baht and seafood was on an average of 40 baht per 100 grams. Imagine a huge piece of King Fisher for RM10 and 100 grams of mussels for RM3 š
The great staff of Green Valley!
Ping, Potato Ben and I had to share a bed. The first night was good except that the Ping snored loudly beside me. All I had to do is turn around, elbow him to wake him up. But it got worst when Potato Ben slept in the middle for the remaining nights. He took up most of the bed space, kicked Ping in his sleep and rolled on the bed unnecessarily. Sleeping with 2 guys is no fun at all.
Electricity in Tonsai turns off at 830AM. However, Internet is readily available throughout the day (until 11PM). It costs 3 Bath per minute.
Massage was cheap. It was about RM20 – RM30 for an hour massage. We tried their neck, shoulder and back massage, Thai massage and Oil massage. Loads of joints cracking and twisting. Their service was excellent as well. After massage, we were given fruits and drinks!
Yap massaging!
However, 7 days of Thai food didnāt treat my stomach well. I had diarrhea on two occasions. Thank god the charcoal pills helped a lot.
Alright, back to the toilet bowl! I’ll post more soon!
After 7 hours of bus ride, 2 hours of waiting at the immigration, 5 hours van ride and 45 minutes of boat ride, I’m now in Tonsai, Krabi!
The journey was no bed of roses. It was a torture.
The long wait at the immigration was due to loads of people jumping queue. My friend got so pissed till he went to screw one of the queue jumpers. However, the queue jumper turned around and ignored my friend. watadafak man.
We got conned at Krabi town as well. Our driver made us buy boat tickets from a middle man, who promised to bring us to Tonsai. However, our boat man was paid for the trip to East Rai-ley and he refused to bring us to Tonsai unless we pay extra.
We didn’t pay though. Our boatman did not bring us to Tonsai as the water was not safe to travel. We had to walk from East Railey to Tonsai.
Tonsai is filled with climbers and caucasian. The beach is beautiful but the water’s so-so.
My hotel is horrible though. We have no luxuries at all, no hot water, no internet, no flush, no electricty after 7am and no toilet paper! The only luxury we have is a noisy fan.
Ok. I’m off to climb again! Cya!
I’ll be off to Krabi, Thailand starting tomorrow until next Tuesday. 7 days of rock climbing, swimming and massage. RM50 per room a night, shared between 3 fellows..fuh. fuh fuhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Picture courtesy of Climbxmedia
But it comes with a heavy price, not monetary but in the physical sense. I have to endure 13 – 15 hours of bus ride!
Krabi pictures – http://www.railay.com/railay/climbing/gallery1.shtml
wahlao, looking at those climbing pictures…makes me wet..my palm wet!!!
I’ll blog there if i could! But in the meanwhile, I hope my guest bloggers would blog when I’m gone.
Cya guys in 7 days!
A month before Christmas, Christmas decorations were already up in Roppongi, Tokyo.
The trees in Roppongi Hill were decorated with blue and white Christmas lights. From afar, we could see the lighted up Tokyo Tower. It was beautiful.
View from Roppongi Hill
Love Xmas!
I visited Kyoto when I was in Japan few weeks back.
Kyoto is the ultimate tourist magnet in Japan. Itās well known for its Shrines and Geisha.
The Famous Kinkaku
Our first destination in Kyoto was Rokuon-Ji Temple, where the famous Kinkaku (Golder Pavilion) is housed.
Jane & I traveled around by bus using a One Day Bus ticket at the price of 500 Yen.
Kinkaku is a pavilion consisting of 3 floors. The 2nd and 3rd floor are covered with golf leaf on Japanese lacquer.
Top Floor
Unfortunately, the original Kinkakuji was burned down by a mad monk in the 1950s. It was rebuilt few years later.
Other than Kinkaku Jin, the garden of the temple is also worth looking at. At the end of the tour, we tried tea ceremony at one of its tea houses. They served us a bowl of green tea and a sweet to ease the bitterness of the green tea.
Jane said I look very Jap here. Jap Ojisan (uncle) I guess.
Such Japanese tourist attraction is not complete without Hello Kitty. God Damn Hello Kitty is everywhere. Even the āDrive Safely Charmā has a Hello Kitty version of it!
We hung around pigging on free food offered by souvenir shops. We tried some sort of Green Tea mochi. It tasted great!!! We kept on going back to the same stall to eat their free mochi. š
Another unique souvenir in Rokuon-Ji is the gold flakes water. Itās just water with gold flakes, I donāt know how does it improve our health. All I remember is that I got bloody gold flakes stuck on my throat!
Thereās a mini shrine just next to the souvenir shops. Itās damn āinternationalā.
Jane praying that she’ll strike lottery…
I once blogged about fortune teller vending machine at a temple. Now, itās fortune teller vending machine in THREE LANGUAGES!!
English, Korean & Japanese.
Continuation of Balcony presents āMax Factorā @ Miri, Sarawak
Barely 4 hours of sleep, Kian and Shan Mei picked us from the hotel. Mr. Ma wanted to treat us dim sum. Many thanks to Mr. Ma.
Thereafter, Kian and Shan Mei then brought us around Miri. We started off with the Crocodile farm. Yes, of all places, the crocodile farm.
It was like a mini zoo, other than crocodiles, they had sun bears, monkeys, snakes, bats, ostriches and turkeys.
Sun Bears
Weird…
Wild cat!
Monkeys
Crocodiles have this habit of opening their mouth. Iāve no idea what they were doing, but it sort of gave me an idea. I grabbed a piece of Clorets (mint candy) and threw it into the crocodileās mouth. I missed. DAMN!!
Unfortunately, to me, the animals were in pitiful stage. They were caged in small cages with concrete floors and seem to be very hungry. A monkey stole a girlās glasses and tried to eat it. The girl was screaming, āJANGAN!!! ITU BUKAN DUA RINGGIT PUNYA!!!ā. (NOOOOOO!! Itās not a RM2 glasses!!)
Amos made his debut on shuffling videos. He shuffled in front of some turkeys. The turkeys responded with a lot of clucking.
http://www.xes.cx/download/www.xes.cx-Amos-turkeyshuffle.zip
bWhAHAHaAAHAHAHhaA
After Crocodile Farm, we stopped by Miri Boat Club. Loads of expats around.
Next destination, Esplanade Beach. Miriās beaches arenāt exactly top quality. The waterās brown and the beaches are dirty. However, itās a nice place to relax. Kynan and Hansley dropped by to see us. Ryan was busy playing with crabs.
We adjourned to Canada Hill thereafter. Its a place where we can get a good view of Miri City. Based on observation, we could only see 4 tall buildings in Miri!
Thanks to Air Asia, our flight was delayed again. Initially it was scheduled at 940PM. Then delayed to 11PM and subsequently 1130PM. And just as we got into the pre departure hall, it was rescheduled to 1150PM!!
One last picture..
Air Asia..now everyone is late!
