Tonsai - just what we were after!
Trip Start
Feb 04, 2008
1
34
105
Trip End
Jan 19, 2009
Tonsai,
Thailand
Monday, April 21, 2008
As the boat left Ao Nang and ventured around the HUGE rock we'd be staring at for the past day or so, we passed a couple of private beaches, each with their own private resort, then round another rock into a bay completely surrounded by huge rocks. This was Tonsai and from first appearances, it certainly was secluded!
The boat dropped us off on the beach and were directed towards a dirt track by the friendly boat owners lazing around on the shore
Company for dinner
. We walked up the track and found a bungalow at a place called the Dream Resort. Despite it's fancy name it was only 400 BHT a night and just what we were after. After we'd dumped our bags we set off to explore this hidden gem of a place. The beach is completely enclosed by rocks and it feels like you are in another world! The electricity was only on for a few hours a night and powered by a generator, everyone seemed to know everyone else and there were only a handful of small restaurants and bars to choose from. This seemed right up our alley!
We wandered along the beach looking at all the other islands out to sea (on a clear day you can make out Koh Phi Phi, otherwise you can see Bamboo Island, Chicken Island, a couple of other rocks that I don't think have names and round to the sandy bay of Rai Leh beach).
We glanced back and spotted this couple sitting in a bar of a guesthouse. I was thinking that there was something very familiar about them then Will says that's Rich and Kate - the couple we shared a taxi to Siem Reap with back in Cambodia over 10 weeks ago! How crazy is that?! They looked quite different with their tans and Rich with his man-stubble! We ended up having dinner with them and chatted for ages exchanging stories on where we'd been since we last saw each other. We must have almost passed each other in various countries so many times - our routes were fairly similar
Girl Power
! What a small world!The next day we hired a kayak and set off to explore some of the closer islands. We found a gorgeous secluded beach and hung out there for a while, swimming and lounging around, then set off again to circle some of the huge rocks - Will managed to convince me to kayak through a cave in the rock and luckily there wasn't a bat to be seen!
We headed back to Tonsai in the afternoon, showered and aftersunned our rather red shoulders and met Rich and Kate again for dinner. They'd been climbing that day (as they had the day before) and were really enjoying it. We thought about it but (a) it was quite expensive and (b) I had managed to crush one of my toes on a bus journey and was worried that the teeny tiny climbing shoes they make you wear wouldn't do me any good. In the end we stuck with kayaking and learning poi, thanks to a lovely Thai guy called Book who owned a bar along the beach.
Book had a sign outside his bar advertising free poi lessons and we headed down to try it out. The tide had gone out (it was actually very hard to imagine that this was the same beach as the tide had gone out SO far - the beach was covered in rocks and looked totally different) and there was a football game on the beach. Probably the most organised sport we've seen since being away, local teams play every afternoon, they were wearing kits, had a ref, real goalposts and had even measured out the pitch
Firestarter Jnr
! We watched the match which was wicked - apparently the final is in a day or two - then headed over to Books for our first lesson. We ended up staying on Tonsai for 5 or 6 days - the time went so quickly and we felt really at home there. Book gave us daily poi lessons and as the season was starting to quieten down, he didn't have many customers in his bar so, when Kate and Rich left for Koh Phi Phi after a couple of days, we spent each evening with Book in our own private bar playing music from our ipod on his speakers, playing pool and chatting to him for hour upon hour. His English was really good and I think he enjoyed practicing it on us! It was interesting making a Thai friend and asking questions about the culture, education, religion etc. I felt like we really got to learn a lot from chatting to him!
On our last weekend, there was an annual Rock Climbing and Fire Festival that we got to watch some of on the Friday before we left. We spent Friday clambering over to the next beach along at low tide (Rai Leh beach) then coming back to watch some of the highly skilled and, rather crazy!, guys climbing upsidedown up these huge rock faces - it was incredible to watch, they made it look so effortless. People travel from all over the world to enter the competition so they were really good.
That night there was a fire show and competition where people did fire stick and fire poi - Book did fire poi and was awesome
Book's turn
. Will and I definitely have a lot to learn! The show went on for hours but it really was amazing - there were guys using fire sticks and poi at the same time, a girl with this hula hula ring thing on fire that she whirled around herself in crazy positions, another girl who had these strange finger poi (one on each finger!). We did end up stinking of meths by the end of the night as they got pretty close to the crowd. It was all a bit precarious really - about halfway through the night the whole stage that the commentators were on collapsed! They just laughed and assured everyone that all was ok and continued the night from a rather wonky stage!!!! Only in Thailand! Really don't want to leave Tonsai - everyone is so friendly and we really feel at home here - getting used to eating and drinking at the same places and making new friends. We will definitely always have good memories here.
Comments
Wish I Was There..........
Idylic Beaches, Chilled Out Days, Sunshine & POI!! Just Sounds Perfect.
Guys, You Really Sound Like That You Have Found The Piece Of The Puzzle That You Were Looking For In Thailand. I Think There Will Be Many More Times Like It For You Both.
Miss You Both LOADS,
Take Care,
Love,
Nick
xx
Sounds like the place to be
(No machine-gun toting drug barons, then?)
kayaking
that sounds like an awesome place, i'd love a friend called book. i've literally just seen all the pics ...couldn't find them before...may take me some time!
Safety First William!
Hey kids,
sounds like you're having a cracking time. We just wanted to check in and make sure you're ok in the wake of the 'weather'. Hope you're both ok, and that this doesn't impact your travel plans. Give us a shout when you can.
Jess and the TM mastive
xx