Tiger Tales

1 Man, 2 Days, 5 Adventures

With beaches, forests and cliff-faces, Krabi is one of Thailand’s natural wonderlands. We set Luke Clark on a mission to explore it all.

Photography by Rory Daniel

Off in the distance, Railay’s cliffs rise before me, a staggering sight to behold. Despite salt spray that can’t quite offset the humidity, the air is laced with promise. My boat is positioned at the tradesmen’s entrance to this narrow peninsula, zoned for boats travelling in and out. We don’t rumble into shore with reckless abandon, as James Bond might do. Instead, the boat halts tantalisingly far from shore, and I climb on a decidedly unplayboy-like beach tractor, which rumbles in gradually. It’s as if the boat captain was in awe of the mighty sleeping giant on approach, and feared to awaken him.

An hour later, I stand on Railay Beach, a languorous arc of white sand framed on either side by impossibly steep limestone cliffs. Each is bathed in natural dyes of orange, white and black, and rises out of the water like a primeval art installation. It’s official – the giant is well and truly awake.

Krabi’s scenery is nothing short of epic. Here, you find the grand-scale surroundings and ancient limestone karsts that inspired Alex Garland’s bestseller The Beach, which traces a quest in the area for the mythical perfect beach. Even seven years after my first visit, the magic of Railay is refreshingly untarnished by the ravages of time and travel. There is more development, but nothing to undercut that initial sense of awe.

It’s a landscape at once humbling and surreal. What has changed, and what prompts a feeling of unease even as I stand again on this heartbreakingly gorgeous beach, is what I’m expected to do here. For while this story already has its epic location sewn up, I remain unsure whether its leading actor is up to the challenge. I have five adventures, over two days, to find out.

1 UP AND AWAY

An omelet with the works, a jug of coffee and a 30m vertical climb. Surely this is the breakfast of champions. As I finish off the last crumbs, a haunting Australian accent revisits my brain – the voice of the photographer I’d met the day before, who greeted me with a gleam in his eye and the warning, “Man, am I going to make you work!”

Hearing an ominous shuffling of camera bags behind me, I steady my mind. Think of a song, I tell myself. On cue, David Bowie is strumming what I hope will be the soundtrack to my trip. “We can be heroes – just for one day.” Two days, to be exact.

A nature walk to a lookout point had sounded innocent enough. Yet, in clambering over rocks and tree roots, I find that it begins to take on the character of an Indiana Jones saga. Gasping for air, my view is limited to the sea of red, mineral-rich mud bathing my feet and hands. Gradually I get the hang of things. While steep, the climb has good foot-and hand-holds, with ropes to steady ourselves when things get dicey.

I’m grateful for my walking shoes, and for the cold water our guide has brought along. At the moment, he looks far more presentable than me with my sweat-soaked frame. At last, he gestures to the lookout point. We’re now directly above my breakfast spot. As my gaze takes in the coconut palms of the hotels along the beach before sweeping out to sea, I feel far removed from that long-ago morning meal. And while I’m already starting to feel a connection to the epic scenery, the hardest battles are still to come.

2 ROCK MY WORLD

While Railay is one of Thailand’s best places to learn rock climbing, I’m the type who would rather have my fingernails yanked out than try an ascent. Mine is a body made for yielding to gravity rather than defying it – and while I’d love to say that the nice people from Hot Rock Climbing School unleashed my inner rock climber, that would be a stretch.

While I watch a few climbers glide up sheer rock faces like Spider-Man, my climbing guide Toto and his assistant have to help me scale a modest 6m wall. Then, as my tormentor with the camera gets going behind me, my muscles start to stiffen, and my grip slackens even further. This show is not going too much higher.

Talking to Toto later, as I observe more people float up the porous, contoured stone, I’m convinced my lack of ability is due to my height. I ask, what makes a good climber? “It’s in the mind,” he says. Curses. “If your mind pushes you, you can do it. With positive thinking, you just keep going.”

Having spent 13 years at it, climbing is now a form of meditation for him. “When you’re climbing, you concentrate on your breathing, and on those tiny holes,” he says. “Everything’s dark, it’s just the hand-holds. Then you just go.”

Happy to meditate at ground level, I’m willing to take his word for it.

3 SETTING SAIL

My final adventure on day one looks destined to be more sedate. Or so I think. Fitting this scenic playground like a glove, our red-sailed Siamese junk, the Pla Luang, is a converted working vessel now used for kayaking and snorkelling trips.

As we leave the bay, I feel enlivened by the spirit of my surroundings – until my camera-wielding friend suggests that I climb the mast. Suddenly my calm seas are looking stormier. Stepping onto the rail with nothing but sea behind me is okay – but venturing higher, with the boat rocking one way, and the flimsy ladder moving another, makes things increasingly interesting. Here I was, expecting a pleasure cruise.

We venture into the channel, on course for Chicken Island, named for a distinctive rock formation resembling a bird’s neck that rises into the sky. The boat typically drops its passengers on the powder-white sands of Poda Island, too, but since we’re burning daylight, we kit up for snorkelling and plunge into the water.

The reef below is in good shape and soon I’m surrounded by fish feeding on the bread thrown overboard. Spotting clown fish, sergeant major fish and distinctive Moorish idols, I swoop down on the hard corals below, lolloping happily in the fading light as the sun sinks below the horizon.

Heading home, my guide tells me that aside from giant moray eels and banded sea-snakes, leopard sharks and black-tipped reef sharks – sometimes 3–4m long – are also frequently seen in the area we’ve just left. While all are generally harmless, I’m pleased he didn’t tell me an hour ago.

4 WET AND WILD

There are few more perfect wake-up tonics than a clear Krabi morning and the sound of a 500hp jetboat engine. A speedboat ride on the glassy, aquamarine bay is one I suspect that Agent 007 would heartily approve of.

In suitably Bond-esque fashion, we’ve set our course for a love hotel – for reef fish. I delight in the fact that my kayak buddy’s Thai nickname is Pla, or fish. Since this is her first kayaking trip, she’s a fish out of water in more ways than one.

Setting off in open kayaks through the cool mangroves of Ta Lane Nature Reserve, I’m neither shaken nor stirred by the lack of steering from Pla. I resign myself to close encounters with trees and rocky banks – until we’re told about frequent sightings of 3m pythons. Magically, our steering improves.

Suddenly there’s a commotion above us. Striking my best snake-wrestling pose, I prepare for the worst. Instead, I’m greeted by a crab-eating macaque, which hitches a ride for 30m while showing a keen interest in photography.

Our route changes again, and we’re paddling along vast waterways, feeling like ants as we navigate the narrow canyons. I’m humbled by the scale of these ancient rock walls. Keen for a blast, we set out fast from the pack, then float peacefully in a serenely rounded lagoon. If this is not the life, it’s very close to it.

5 JUNGLE BOOK

My muscles aching agreeably, I make use of the creature comforts for one last morning – enjoying a refreshing back-and-shoulders treatment at my hotel’s spa. As I bid farewell to my host, Khun Panida of Rayavadee Hotel, I ask her why she thinks Railay, tucked into Nopparat National Park, has remained unspoiled.

“Most of those working here are from Krabi. They love the place. The local population keeps the environment clean, so the place has not changed.” Eyeing the recycling boat as it leaves at breakfast, I pray that it stays this way. Leaving Railay in the rearview, we head for the site of our final adventure before departing these shores.

Once at our destination, I find myself thinking of home, even as our host is thinking only of her stomach. Of course, when you require 220kg of food a day, snacking can be forgiven.

We are at Nosey Parker’s Elephant Camp, getting cosy with one of the 10 female Asian elephants that transport guests around the 7km rubber plantation. Well used to elephant rides, I settle in for a relaxing walk – right up until my mahout (elephant driver) cheekily asks if I’d like to trade places.

I have jumped out of a plane, but I’ve never played mahout along a forest trail. The elephant reaches for more food as I tuck my legs around her massive head. It feels warm, dry and sand-papery, with coarse black hairs prickling my skin.

Knowing that elephants typically only allow their mahout to ride like this, I take heart from the whistles and cries behind me. As we head steeply down into the river, I wonder briefly whether she might not just give me the flick here and be done with it. Fortunately, we stay together a bit longer – and I duly reward our valiant hosts with a small snack of four pineapples each.

Later at the airport, as we taxi for takeoff, I resign myself to leaving Krabi behind again.

Whether I’ve been the epic adventurer my surroundings called for is highly debateable, but I’m left with a pleasant natural high that uplifts me moments before the plane does the same. Again, I stare fixedly at the islands in the distance. Closing my eyes, I can still make out the afterimage of the sleeping giant, resting once more.

FIND IT:

The nature walk, Siamese junk sailing trip, jetboat ride and kayak trip can all be booked through Rayavadee, 214 Moo 2, Tambon Ao Nang, Amphur Muang, tel: +66 (0)75 620 740~3, www.rayavadee.com. For rock climbing, visit the Hot Rock Climbing School, Bobo Plaza, Railay, tel: +66 (0)75 621 771.

For elephant rides, visit Nosey Parker’s, 21/1 Krabi Rd, Paknam, Muang, tel: +66 (0)75 621 157.