Hat Ton Sai
Tuesday October 5th, 2004
This was a slow morning, and I was feeling out of sorts. I made it to the airport and had some difficulty finding the “Left Baggage” place with my climbing gear in it. I walked back and forth between terminals a couple times and asked a few people before I finally found it. After getting to the airport a couple hours early, I only made my flight by about 20 minutes. I slept most of the flight to Krabi, the easiest time I’ve ever had sleeping on a flight. I think I was asleep before takeoff and woke up on arrival.
From the airport I took taxi out to Ao Nang, a port town near Hat Ton Sai. You can’t drive to Hat Ton Sai or Railay so typically you go to Ao Nang and catch a long-tail boat. Here’s a picture I took while waiting for a boat to take me to Hat Ton Sai:
Long-tail boats at Ao Nang.
I caught a long-tail boat to Hat Ton Sai. The cliffs around Hat Ton Sai (and Railay, which looks at the same cliffs) are spectacular. The whole setting is amazing, between the beaches, the cliffs, the jungle, and the islands visible in the distance.
I checked out a couple places to stay, and ended up in a room at the place the Lonely Planet said was becoming a rock-climber’s hang-out, the Ton Sai Bungalows. The proprietor was friendly, and the bungalow I got was brand new and nice. It was $25 per night. That’s expensive compared to the $4 per night shacks they have, but those shacks didn’t look very appealing.
My bungalow at Ton Sai Bungalows.
Cliffs by Ton Sai.
A long-tail boat with islands in the distance.
The distant islands.
I napped until about 7, then went and had dinner at the Ton
Sai
Bungalows restaurant, where I met a guy named Andy from