Ton Sai, Thailand

After drinking two generous rum & cokes given to me by a chatty local called "Oh" I board the train at 6pm Hua Lamphong feeling a little merry. I'm shown to a big spacious 3rd class carriage and a big seat next to an open window. This was supposed to be a sleeper carriage but I couldn't quite see the sleeping arrangement. I noticed there was a human-sized cupboard above me and assumed that would be my bed for the night. There was another seat opposite me; where would this person go? 6:30pm and the train pulls out of the station rumbling closely past the same shack housing I saw on my journey to Kwai. No-one occupies the seat opposite. I love train journeys and I've been looking forward to this one. The line goes all the way through Thailand, then Malaysia then into Singapore down the thin strip of peninsula. My journey would only take me to Trang in the southern-most part of Thailand. At about 9pm a guard with a tool magically appeared and ushered me out of the seat. He set to work clanking and moving things, converting my seat and the seat opposite into an inviting bed. He put sheets on, added a pillow and blanket, smiled and magically disappeared as quick as he'd arrived.

My bed... the morning after

The cupboard above me was also a bed. I only know this as I was woken by a drunk English girl trying to clamber into it at about 3am. The same guard magically appeared and had a broken English conversation with her about how she would need to pay to sleep here. She complained a little but stumped up. I have no idea where she had come from.

Trains are the best way to sleep-travel. When you wake, that second or two when you you don't know where you are. You sit up, open the metal shutter and there's a bright green and blue painting massaging your sleepy eyes. There so much fast moving fresh morning air you almost can't breathe and the clickety-clack is deafening when you take out your earplugs. We're now deep into southern Thailand at about 7am. 12 hours gone and 4 hours to go. Most of the other passengers had already departed; the tourists for the Thai mega-resorts. By 8am I had to switch to the now empty other side of the train as the sun was already too hot on the east.

At 11am we arrived at Trang. I then had to get a two hour bus to Krabi on the coast. From Krabi bus station I jumped on the back of a motorcycle taxi to the marina. I needed to get a long-tail boat to Riley beach.  It's not an island but there's no roads so a boat is the only option. A driver said he would take me alone for 1500 Baht (£30). I choked on my water and said I would wait for more people to share the cost. Does wage, fuel and maintenance really cost 1500 Baht for the 45 minutes to Riley? I think not. An hour passed and a German couple turned up. The driver said we should now go, at 500 Baht each. Still sounding extortionate we decided to wait longer, much to the annoyance of the drivers. By 5pm no-one else had turned up and the drivers says 400 Baht each. A mini-conference later we decide to head down the coast by bus, to another pier, where there could be other people in the same boat (pun intended). The drivers were all around us, being incredibly pushy and in one case blatantly rude. As we're going to walk off one driver begrudgingly says he would take us for 200 Baht (£4) each. We accept the offer and get on the boat.

Long-tails

On the boat we were treated to the joyous, classic image of Thailand: overhanging limestone cliffs topped with dense jungle hair; pulling into Riley east however didn't fill me with joy. A muddy beach leading to a concrete walkway containing posh resorts, bars, souvenir shops and lots of package holiday people. My journey to Ton Sai wasn't over yet though. A ten minute walk and Riley west revealed a much nicer beach, but still fringed with posh resorts. To get to Ton Sai in the next bay you have three options;

 - At low tide you can walk around the headland
 - At any tide you can clamber across underneath the huge limestone cliff.
 - You can take a 45 minute walk through a mosquito infested jungle

Only realising the 1st of these options I clambered around the coast to be greeted by one of  the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. An amphitheatre of enormous vertical limestone cliffs surrounded the blue waters gently lapping into dense jungle. An eerily quiet dirt road leads around to the various cheap resorts. I chose the Paasook and had my own bungalow, with en-suite and balcony, for a killer 150 Baht (£3) a night! The bungalow was dim (verging on dark) inside in the day and night; the mosquitoes loved it. Dripping with sweat and realising I'd spent 24 hours travelling I threw my stuff on the bed and went to find a freezing beer.

The only use for cars

Complex map

It was over this beer that I met Steve "Austin" (The bionic man). From a single handshake and a smile we were almost inseparable. This most modest man casually mentioned (at some point) that he'd been to Everest summit and snowboarded down a section - his snowboard is hanging in Sam's bar in Kathmandu. We would meet at 8am for boiled eggs, toast and a pot of coffee each. We'd then grab a banana, pineapple, lime and peanut butter power-shake ready for climbing, kayaking, snorkelling and walking. In the afternoon you could find us outside the mini-mart with some Chang. In the evening we ate grilled chicken and papaya salad at Mama's shack. Don't ever accuse us of habitual behaviour!

Chang at the mart

Climbing is why people come to Ton Sai. It's listed as one of the top ten climbing spots in the world. I went in low (rainy) season, and it didn't rain once; we were incredibly lucky. In the high season the place entertains around 2000+ people, with my bungalow then costing 800 Baht per night and people queueing to get on the climbs. I met some great people, offering to take me and Steve out on their ropes, pointing out holds and egging you on when you think you can't quite make that reach! I've heard before that girls are naturally better climbers than men (they use their legs more) - I can confirm that this is definitely true. I witnessed some power yoga moves and aerobics on some harder sections, making them look ridiculously easy, where we failed!

 

        

Undecided on the best first-footing

Resting after a days climbing

 If you ever get a chance to do a deep-water solo then DO IT! It's rock-climbing with no ropes over water. There's climbs for everyone from 5's to 8's (mostly 6's). A quick swim or kayak from the boat gets you to a small ladder up to the first steps. I would recommend the Ton Sai base camp tour over anything from Riley beach, although finding enough people to go on the Ton Sai trip could be an issue (we were lucky). The day is punctuated with a tasty lunch on a deserted island beach. In this photo you can just about make me out (top-left third) - traversing my way across the ridge to the top of the middle stalactite, ready for a 22 metre (70 foot) jump into the jellyfish-dotted sea!

 

I was sad to leave Ton Sai. On the last night we had a blow out at the infamous "free chicken incident" bar and I felt remarkably good the next morning after 4 hours sleep. This was it for Thailand. Next stop Malaysia.