Life in Tonsai

Tonsai Beach is an interesting place to visit with its eccentric, earthy, barefoot, bohemian, hippie vibe. The only two sources of income for the Thai people living here seem to be tourism and construction for tourism. It makes you wonder what this area was like before it became a place catering to rock climbers, most of whom are young and white Europeans, Australians, or North Americans. 

Railay Beach also caters to tourists, but much more high end. There are expensive resorts (expensive for Thailand) with electricity all day, nicer restaurants, families, and more expensive tours. It has a much more cultured, tropical holiday feel. 

Map of Tonsai, Railay, and Phra Nang Beaches

There are a few people on holiday in Tonsai, but most people are permanent world travelers. They travel til the money runs out and then find a job to make enough money to travel again. Some people have been here for months. They usually don’t have set plans, but just float around. To Brandon and I who dislike too much change and appreciate some structure, this life sounds like a constant nightmare. 

Catering to this gypsy, hippie lifestyle are several businesses. As aforementioned, rock climbing is a major source of revenue here. You can rent equipment, buy climbing book and gear, pay for a guided group climbing tour, hire a private climbing guide, purchase a deep water solo trip, and more. There are experiences for those who have never climbed and those who have been climbing for years. 

For rest days from climbing there are other options. You can do all types of yoga by donation in the rafters of a bar or on the beach (Brandon and I tried this!). We’ve seen at least two different massage places that people who aren’t too sunburned spring for. At low tide people trek over to the much nicer Railay or Phra Nang beaches for an afternoon. There are several hikes in the area. Kayaks are popular to rent on nice days. 

Enjoying a rest in the shade on Pranang Beach. At low tide you can walk to the island in the right of the picture and behind the boats

There are food longboats at Phra Nang Beach

The sidewalk goes thru a cave on the way to Phra Nang Beach

Thick, coiling vines around the cave

In part of the cave

Phra Nang Beach at low tide on a cloudier day. The cliff at the beach is popular for guided climbing groups. 

And, of course there is the nightlife. Tonsai’s four major bars colorfully light up at night. At least two of them have slack lines for balance practice and some people have pretty impressive skills. One bar is distinctly reggae in its atmosphere with reggae music blaring, Bob Marley displayed prominently, and free bongs all around. We've had a chance to try Singha and Chang, classic Thai beers. 

Viking Bar complete with a slack line between those blue columns

Restaurants are a big source of income here, because travelers do not have cooking facilities at their disposal. If we did have a kitchen, it would probably still be cheaper to eat out than to buy supplies and cook ourselves. Thai pancakes, fruit shakes, curry soups, and noodle and rice dishes are common. Many places have more Westernized dishes, like fried chicken sandwiches and burgers, but they’re still not quite Western. Thus far we have not gotten sick, but we usually order really hot food that has been boiling or meat that has been visibly cooking. The only thing we do on our own is breakfast which consists of apples, peanut butter, and Nutella that we brought with us from Australia. We also picked up some delicious coconut crackers/cookies and bulk water from the mini-marts in town.

Wherever you go, if you want to enter a business, you take your shoes off first, wipe your feet on a rug, and walk around barefoot inside. We noticed this in Phuket as well. Some climbers walk around everywhere without shoes. Crazy given the state of sanitation here. 

Eating at the restaurants is a great way to meet fellow travelers. Everyone swaps climbing stories, which was really helpful in building our confidence to climb and find good rock walls. Camaraderie is high, though it is hard to climb with other groups of climbers. People seem to form their climbing group clique early on. We would like to climb with some climbers better than us, but they already have their groups. People also compare restaurants and their accommodation, which was of course invaluable to us with our ant experience. 

Speaking of ants, there are all sorts of critters here. Mosquitoes are particularly bad at dawn and dusk; the climbing shop even closes for two hours at dusk to flee from mosquitoes. Monkeys are more plentiful in some areas than others. Kittens are everywhere around the restaurants; some of them are missing their tails (not sure why?). We’ve amusingly seen a kitten and monkey playing together. Thankfully we haven’t seen a snake yet, and I hope we don’t ever see one. An American couple we met has seen a cobra and even something similar to a komodo dragon! 

Brandon enjoying food and cat company at a restaurant

Brandon and I would consider ourselves long term travelers, but compared to travelers here we are not. We also do not have the same hippie, anything goes philosophy. Admittedly, I have had trouble adjusting to this place and Thailand in general. We just came off such a great experience in Melbourne, which probably makes it harder as well. Not that we haven’t had fun here. Deep water solo and rock climbing have been incredibly awesome; there have just been a lot of lows too. I wouldn’t normally consider myself high maintenance, but the climate, new atmosphere, continual decision-making, sanitation, and critters take a toll. When you’re hot, sweaty, itchy, dirty, and worn, you just want to be home.