Backpacking with one person isn’t easy. Now when the trip adds one more dude… everything becomes really interesting. I went to Krabi in 2008 once and since then, I have loved the place, not only because of the serenity it brings, but because of its simple-minded people and great food it has.
I decided to make an overland trip down to Krabi in 2010 for two weeks for one reason, to climb the limestone walls of Thailand. So the overland route would be to bus to Kuala Lumpur and then continue to Hat Yai and then from there, get some buses to Krabi Town and there you are. The total time that you would take to travel there would be about 12 hours but plus waiting time and all, it would be about 1 day of waiting and traveling. Well, it’s a different form of travel and definitely the route less travelled.
Three dudes in the monorail in Kuala Lumpur. Syafiq on the left, myself and Hakim on the right. Doing some climbing in 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Camp 5. Before we started eating our chicken rice. After eating the chicken rice. Waiting to get our passport stamped...in the middle of the night. Arriving at Hat Yai, finding the bus to Krabi. On the local bus to Krabi Pad Thai Noodles. My Favorite. Thai Beef Ball Noodles. Never fails to disappoint. Hakim and me arriving at Railey West Beach by a long and bumpy Long Tailboat ride. Seen here with the equipments required for climbing.Located on the Sunrise side on Railay, Diamond Cave offers a range of rooms with or without Air Conditioning. The Bungalows are with natural styles and minutes away from the climbing scene. I think we got our room at 1000 baht per night for three people for 4 nights. Quite a good deal.Me on one of the climbs at 1,2,3 wall. This climb was not as easy as what I was expecting.Syafiq Climbing at diamond cave wall. Grade 5c-6a Diamond Cave Wall, just behind our guesthouse.. Offers 6as to 6c climbs. Me with syafiq belaying on a 6a Hat Ton Sai in the background After a hard day or climbing and belaying. Sun Set at Railey East Ready to Cave!!! Abseiling from a untrusted belay anchor Glad to be alive. Hakim and Syafiq (syafiq with a munter hitch to abseil) Dinner for the big-hearted??
This overland trip was my second time to Krabi Province and I love the life there. That was my first rock-climbing trip and it felt really great to be able to intro my friends to this type of travelling. My next blog would involve a Sri Lanka trip that I did in 2010 when I was serving the army. Stay tuned!!!
I'm an aspiring climber from the tiny island of Singapore looking constantly at different places of the world, looking for places to exploit and fill up my adventure gauge which is always hanging in the balance.
I graduated from Republic Polytechnic with a Diploma in Outdoor And Adventure Learning and I believe that I'm a true advocate of the outdoors.
The first trip that I did was to Mount Ophir, standing at 1276 metres in Johor Bahru. The feeling of being immersed within nature and actually climbing to the top was just rejuvenating. From then since, I've climbed a total of 41 mountains around the world, highest being Mount Everest South Summit at 8700m and two 7000m peaks called Lenin Peak and Peak Korzhenescaya.
Currently, I'm managing sales and marketing at a rock-climbing company and forming my own adventure company, JTrace, focusing on adventure trips consultation, training clients for their own Everest, corporate team building, inspirational speaking sessions and brand ambassadorship.
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