Thailand tips

Email that I sent to my nephew TJ who is contemplating a climbing trip to Thailand. Just thought it might be interesting for anyone else considering. Or (hopefully) interesting in general...

If you can swing it, fly into Chiang Mai (smaller airport, easier to get into town, less hectic intro to Thailand vs Bangkok). There was a guesthouse near ours that we really liked but didn't get to stay at as they were always full. We paid something like 500B to have use of their pool for a week. I think it's called SDK? There's actually two and the one we liked might be SDK II? Marrie probably remembers. It's within the square, NE corner. Speaking of pools, there's a public pool about 5k out of town that's a good find and good value. Chiang Mai Land road I think. 50B/day for pool. And delicious cheap eats (though if this is not a constant for anyone in Thailand, they're doing something wrong). And certainly get a big Chang (beer) and enjoy the presentation (mug with frozen water/ice in bottom half). Re: the climbing, crazy horse buttress has a plethora of great routes. Between my 2x in Chiang Mai, I've only climbed there 2 days...regret not climbing more there. And it will be a very different experience than ton sai/railey with no crowds to contend with. The climbing shop (CMRCA...Chiang Mai rock climbing adventures) offers a shuttle to the crag which is like 30-35k out of town to the east. Something like 250B, includes lunch. Better yet, rent a motorbike at the going rate and strike out on your own. A full-on adventure merely navigating around town and finding your way to the crag. If airfare precludes flying into Chiang Mai (ie cheaper to do RT to Bangkok), take overnight train. Once in Chiang Mai and ready to go south to Krabi, take advantage of the cheap domestic flights. We heard good things about Nok Air. And something like $50 to fly Chiang Mai to Krabi I think. Oh...re: money, we took a few hundred dollars cash and used ATM's. One called Aeon (may not be getting spelling right) which gives good exchange rate (better than changing US $ for baht at bank) and more importantly doesn't assess 150B fee. It's the only one that doesn't. They're a little harder to find but worth the effort. Chiang Mai, Krabi, and Bangkok all have them. There's a site we used that lists locations (usu in Tesco Lotus or Big C which are Thai equivalents to Wal-Mart).

Spending more time in krabi town itself this trip (mostly because I'm not on a climbing trip) and quite enjoying it. Staying near the pier for taking long tail boats to railey. Great location, walking distance to great outdoor, cheap eats by pier in evenings and a bigger market with shopping and food in another direction (called 'walking street' on map our guesthouse gave us. I'm guessing you'd stay in bungalow on ton sai (lower budget in general vs railey) which means taking longtail boat from ao nang better option (goes direct to ton sai). You can easily get to ao bang from krabi in white truck for 50B. And 100B for boat ride. Or 150B from Krabi to east railey...and then walk. Not a big deal if you're making a town run for day or two and traveling light, but not something you'd want to do with heavy packs. If you get tired of the masses and scene on ton sai/railey, steal away to koh yao noi...60B on big bus from Krabi (same place to catch white truck to ao nang). They may try to charge you higher 'farang'/foreigner rate of 100B (this is not uncommon)...just have Eugene memorize how to say 'I am Thai' in Thai (pen khon Thai). Anyway, take that to thalen (pronounced 'talin'...no th sound as in 'the' in Thai) pier where you take longtail ferry to koh yao noi for 120B. Always ask/declare where you want to go (this is rarely necessary as typically you are pounced on by any/everyone upon arrival to any new place in Thailand wanting to know 'where you go?'). But somehow despite being 6 weeks in-country, Marrie and I got on wrong boat (to koh yao yai vs koh yao noi) which wasn't a drastic error but one that required having to stop a smaller longtail boat in middle of the bay and step from one boat to the other, and something in the way of 300B as we ended up at different pier farther away from our bungalow (namtok, by the way. Denny and tik run the place. We had nice bungalow, 450B fan, cold water) and had to pay for ride. Anyway, there is climbing on koh yao noi and it's a very quiet, not over-developed like most other places and an increasingly rare find in Thailand these days. I recommend it.