Krabi (Perry)

After leaving Khao Sok, which I also thought was fantastic by the way, we decided to go a bit more south and head to Krabi. Krabi town was the first place that Jen and I had not booked a place in advance and at first, it appeared as if our plan would backfire. Based on the Lonely Planet “Bible”, the Chan Cha Lay was the place to be...clean and cheap bungalows . . . but alas the place was booked. So, we decided to walk the streets and after about 5 minutes (did I mention that I overpacked and my bag was killing me after 5 minutes) we settled on the Cha Guest House. In this situation, first impressions were deceiving as the place turned out to be quite a find. The same can be said for Krabi town.

In our plans, Krabi town was only going be a jumping ground to Railay Beach which we’d heard so many good things about. So, after the first night, we repacked and headed to the pier to take a taxi boat to Railay. Upon arrival at East Railay, we set out on finding accommodation. The first place we checked out was the Ya Ya, which was decent but did not warrant double in price of Cha Guest House in Krabi town. We still had hope and continued our search, but soon realized that the Ya Ya was the standard. Long story short, after about 2 hours, we headed back on the boat and checked back into Cha. Did we jump the gun? Were we to quick to judge Railay Beach? Just to give perspective, a very nice girl named Nicole that we met on the ride in joined us on the ride back.

(For those who love Railay, we later learned from our climbing guide that electricity had recently been run under the water to provide power to the many large and expensive resorts on West Railay. East Railay, which apparently was always not really suitable for swimming due to mangrove trees, etc. is now not suitable for swimming due to inadequate clean up from this project and many work trucks leaking oil into the water.)

Over the next couple of days, Jen and I began to really like Krabi town. The town had a charm to it and our accommodation turned out to be pretty good. Also, within a 5 minute walk was a night market which served amazing and cheap food. Did someone say cheap food!! We definitely ate well in Krabi town. The Thai desserts and fresh Chinese donuts with Thai tea were Jen's favorite. For me, it was the bone marrow spicy soup.

In addition, we decided to sign up for a 3 day mountain climbing course which would cover everything from top rope climbing to lead climbing. I can’t speak for Jen but I was pretty excited. While I’ve done some indoor, climbing was totally new to Jen and also, I’ve always wanted to learn to lead climb. In addition, the climbing course took place at Railay and Phra Nang beaches, which allowed us to enjoy the beautiful beaches around that area during the day, without having to stay in dirty East Railay, or pay top dollar to stay in West Railay either.

Over the course of the next 4 days (thankfully they gave us a day off in between the 2nd and third day so that we could regain feeling in our fingers), Jen and I scaled some pretty amazing routes and learned a pretty cool new hobby, thanks mostly to our great guide named Solay. If ever there was a sport that needed a calm and composed coach, this was it. Solay was both and more. Eventually, Jen and I both learned to lead climb with the help of a top rope for extra security, but on the third day, I completed three lead climbs all on my own!!! To say the least, I was stoked when they were done, but the way up was a combination of nerves and sweat...a lot of sweat.

In total, we spent about a week in Krabi and I definitely think that this and Khao Sok have been my favorite places so far. We’re now on our way to Khao Lak and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

For more photos, go to http://gallery.me.com/adamschen