Sun, Sand, Sea, Sickness and some Climbing

Trip Report by Tim Cooper

6am at Heathrow is never a good time unless you’re off on a climbing holiday. So Amanda, Jenny, Keven, Steve, Julian (SAK) and I all arrived and set off for Thailand and 16 hours travel time and one day later we arrived into the furnace of Krabi on Saturday morning. After a short taxi and then long tail boat ride we arrived at Railay beach and explored and rested for the remainder of the day.

Then the fun began with climbing at the 123 area along with loads of guided groups, in the afternoon we decided to try more climbing and that is when things started to go wrong (see sick register below).

In betweeen bouts of sickness great climbing was had at the following locations Muay Thai, One Two Three, Pra-Nang Beach, Escher Wall, Thaiwand Wall, Wee’s Present, Diamond Cave and with little other chose we were all cranking out 6a, 6a+ and the odd 6b lead and where possible 5 (the grades were fare so no sandbagging).  We even climbed before breakfast on Sunday to try and beat the heat.

Some of the best routes where As Far as Siam 6a+, Lord of the Thais 6a+ (first pitch), Monkey Love 6b, Keep the Jam Man6a (first pitch).

With the temperature in the high twenties and very high humidity the climbing was certainly damp and even belaying brought you out in a sweat.

I managed to lose all my climbing hardware after leaving it behind one day after climbing and as always you are not covered on your insurance for that sort of thing, but I’m looking forward to buying new stuff and so is Amanda.

The hotel was cheap and OK but not the best and there was loads of places to eat out some better than others as the sick report justifies. After 7 days of exploring we settled on a few better eating establishments and all seemed to recover. As there is no road access we left Sunday evening in order to ensure we got our early flight and stayed at the back of a golf driving range.

On arriving home we all had to let our stomachs readjust to different food but with no reported sickness.

Thailand Sick Register January 2018

Name		Amanda	Jenny	Julian	Steve	Kevin	Tim
Saturday	am	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest
	pm	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest
Sunday	am	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing
	pm	Climbing	Sick	Sick	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing
Monday	am	Climbing	Sick	Sick	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing
	pm	Climbing	Sick	Sick	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing
Tuesday	am	Climbing	Sick	Climbing	Climbing	Sick	Climbing
	pm	Climbing	Sick	Climbing	Climbing	Sick	Climbing
Wednesday	am	Sick	Climbing	Climbing	Sick	Climbing	Climbing
	pm	Sick	Climbing	Climbing	Sick	Climbing	Climbing
Thursday	am	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Sick	Sick	Climbing
	pm	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Sick	Sick	Climbing
Friday	am	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing
	pm	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing
Saturday	am	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing
	pm	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing
Sunday	am	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing
	pm	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing	Climbing