Thailand is no secret. It was clear from
our short time in the famous mecca of South-East Asia that the unparalleled
beauty and friendly, welcoming nationals has lead to widespread development to
accommodate for the ever growing influx of foreign travellers and touring Thai’s
a like.
Tonsai Beach in Railay is one of the few
places that has been left relatively untouched by this rapid change. Situated
on the mainland, separated by the incredibly dramatic and beautiful limestone
craggs and karst making Railay one of those dream like destinations.
Unreachable by wheels, it was a long tail
boat that poots the tourists over to the beach, inevitably as and when they
want to sail (a full boat, be prepared to wait). It’s only really the motorway
of diesel powered long tails that detracts from this paradise. There are times
of day when the noise does get a little too much.
The small crescent beach decorated by
shacks and bars, with little concrete in sight, with a road set back that runs
parallel is all there is to Tonsai. Electricity is temperamental powered by generators hidden in the jungle.
The accommodation is far from cheap by South East Asian standards, but
affordable in Thailand. Josie flexed her haggling skills to bag us a nice
enough fan room with a mozzy net at 500 baht a night.
It’s one of those places that casts a spell
on you, everyone is working at half pace, life slows down, the world seems to
just relax on Tonsai and put a smile on everyone’s face.
The wood shack bars, advertise special
shakes, happy smokes, and it quickly became clear that Tonsai really is the
kind of secluded stoner beach resort many dream of when they think of Thailand.
Slack lines, hammocks, crystal sands, epic scenery, turquoise water, no cars,
no haggling, no worries. From the other world bar to the food mecca of ‘Mama’s
Chicken’ shack, the best and cheapest sticky rice and BBQ chicken cooked up by
Mama a rotund Thai lady with a smile on her face all day every day.
We spent a day in our canoe paddling out to
the Karst peaks that emerge from the water across the sea, finding secluded
empty beaches, framed by the cliffs. We also explored the West and East beaches
that make up Railay bay. The other beaches are clearly more up-market and still
look relatively un spoilt with no high rise blocks and still a conservative
attitude to concrete. It was one of those perfect days travelling, when your
swept away by your surroundings, spending a day in pristine calm sea and Thai
sunshine.
Railay’s epic cliffs are also globally
famous as a rock climbing mecca. Whilst neither myself nor Josie had ever
climbed anything except for a tree we thought it would be worth trying our hand
at the day excursion to ‘Deep Water Solo’. After heading out in a long-tail
boat to some massive over hanging cliffs it was time to swim over and try our
hand at climbing for the first time, without ropes, with wet hands, soggy
chalk, lots of people and only the water below as security. To say it was
difficult is an understatement. The rocks got wet and slippy very quickly and
your arms and hands got tired very quickly. It wasn’t ideal, still though
trying to hold on for dear life then falling back in to beautiful blue water is
still fun. After lunch at another secluded beach it was time to try another
huge ‘roof’ cliff. This time an epic and intimidating stalactite. It was
actually a little easier than the previous wall and I managed to get up to the
top and jump over 15 metres down in to the sea, nerve wracking but incredibly rewarding.
The hardest part was the rope ladder to get up to the rock as Josie found out. It
was a fun way of trying our hand at climbing and even if we weren’t up to the
standards of some incredible agile climbers on the trip it was worth a go (it
was a little expensive for what you got though in the end).
We met some nice English gap
year travellers and a couple of Californians, including the hilarious youtube rapper 'Stankin Rankin' who we spent the evening with at
some of the beaches choice shacks blasting out reggae till the early hours,
taking a walk through the pitch black jungle on the way.
It was hard to leave somewhere as idyllic
and chilled as Railay, but the time had come after 3 amazing days to move on to
Koh Lanta.
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