Muay Thai Wall

PROTECTED STATUS :

After my compulsory dose of caffeine (THB20 for each can of Birdy robusta coffee), we made our way towards the pathway that takes one to Phra Nang beach but turned left at the end instead to the climbing walls of 'Muay Thai' and '123'. It was high tide at the time however which meant that the '123' wall was not accessible, so we instead walked up the short incline to 'Muay Thai' instead. We found the area to be fairly crowded at first but the crowds slowly moved down to '123' once the tide started to go down.

Getting There

Location of Muay Thai Wall

Cass began the climbing session by leading a simple route, appropriately named 'Take It Easy', 5 with Jamie seconding the route right after. A route had also been set up by Leng, a local Thai climbing instructor that kept us entertained with his goofy antics. Leng threaded the rope through the anchor when lowering his own which then allowed me to climb the route, called 'Alone', 6b+. I found it fairly easy at first and actually wondered why I hadn't just attempted to lead it from the beginning until I came to the cave with the crux of the route located right above it. I managed to pass this section however but only once I had located a nice undercling located inside the cave out of sight. Cass then proceeded to top rope the route.

I then went on to lead climb 'Hello Christine', 6a. The difficulty I faced at the crux for the previous route had left me a little uncertain and more so since it had been a year or so since I had done any form of lead climbing. It turned out to be much easier that I had anticipated but I spent some time rigging the system just to be sure. As the old (and very wise) adage goes “It is better to be safe than sorry”.

By 14:00, the Austrian group that we had been climbing alongside left to '123' as the tide had gone down leaving us to ourselves. As Jamie and Cass top-roped the route however, rain clouds began to loom above so we decided to call it a day before it began to rain. Before heading back, we made our way to '123' to have a look. There was a climber climbing a route that began with a boost start that was quite high above the ground, maybe 2.5m to the first hold – just enough to jump to, on a bulbous stalactite. The route was called 'We Sad' and was graded 6a+. I had to give the guy a boost to help him up before we left for lunch. The climbing instructor with a head full of dreds who was belaying the climber said “no pain, no gain, no food, no power” as we departed.

We decided to walk around to see if we could find some other places to eat and actually ended up walking all the way to Yaya Bar near Diamond Cave, passing by the tsunami evacuation point that we had been evacuated to last year. There didn't seem to be much available however so we instead made our way back to Rapala for some Omelette Chicken Rice that cost THB90 with rice. We passed the new location for the climbing shop Hot Rock on the way back but since there was still no sign of Saralisa, Luang, Liam, or Tuva, we just carried along on our way.

That night we went for a long overdue massage at the Viewpoint Resort massage parlour where an hours-worth of full-body oil massage only cost a measly THB250. I considered getting a Thai massage instead until I realised that it had been a while since I had indulged myself. The massage turned out to be much needed as the masseuse smoothed out all the knots she found in my neck and back. Right after that we went out for dinner but this time to Yam Yam instead where the price of the food was slightly higher (THB100) than Rapala but they made up for it with the free wifi.

We then went to Bamboo bar where we met up with Michael before digging in to the THB180 worth of meat balls that I had bought for the group that was rather nicely accompanied by some 12-years old Chivas Regal. We were graced with Michael's girlfriend, Emilie's presence shortly after. Emilie had been in Thailand for 3 months and was due to head back to Montreal in two days. But in hindsight, I can wonder if my irreverent criticism of the supernatural and the belief in pseudoscience had made her wish that she had left sooner!

Next : Krabi Day 03 & 04 - Muay Thai Wall & Songkran (Part 2)