Rock Climbing in Paradise: Krabi, Thailand

I'm actually not hanging loose but belayed to a cliff.

Picture celebrating New Year's Eve on a Thai beach: a few revelers on a remote beach lighting lanterns and watching them fly into the dark night. That's what we wanted, so we went out to Krabi, one of the less touristy Thai islands. Like all the Thai islands, it's a gorgeous backdrop with white sand beaches and is a very doable boat ride to other islands for exploration. Plus, it's known for tremendous rock climbing for all skill levels, and we had some friends who highly recommended it. Plus, as another friend mentioned, when you're out there, they all kind of look the same, so it doesn't matter where you spend most of your time - it will still be breathtaking.

We spent 5.5 days in Krabi, including New Year's Eve, and hopped to other islands like Ko Phi Phi. Krabi is the capital of southern Thailand's Krabi province. Total resort town, just not as developed as Phuket and Ko Phi Phi. Here's the Krabi, pronounced "kruh-bee" not "crabby," breakdown:

West Railay Beach with long-tail boats ready for action. 

Railay Beach to the east. The difference between low tide and high tide is significant.

Sunset.

Near Railay Beach, there are really only two streets. Bird's eye view of some restaurants from a 2nd-story bar.

We did family style at every local Thai restaurant we ate at so that we could maximize our dishes. Fresh seafood off the grill. It was good, but looked better. Mangrove Restaurant was our favorite, Everything was cheap, but be prepared to wait. Thai island time is on another level of slow.

Can't sleep because of jet lag and wake up early, you get the beach to yourself. In the afternoon, this would be all under water. Notice how far from shore the long-tail boats are anchored.

In honor of the late king, no lanterns were allowed to be lit or flown on the island (assuming the country, as well), so we ended up at our hotel, the Sand Sea Resort's New Year celebration, which included an impressive all-you-can-eat feast of world cuisine. The show was pretty touristy, but that said - they had the most impressive fire dancers I've ever seen. One of the guys had to be no older than 13, but they were manipulating fire like that one lame X-Men character that can manipulate fire. Except these guys weren't lame.

Fire party

We hopped on stage for the party. There was a light steady rain that added to the island atmosphere. However, because of the rain and too many people jumping on stage, the stage started to sink into the beach and everyone was told to get off.

In an effort to find lanterns, we walked the island but there were none out of reverence for the late king. The 2017 NYE squad.

Switched to a less expensive hotel, the Avatar Railay, which depending on the time you choose to travel, is as low as $52/night. I'd recommend as a cheap hotel option.

The Avatar Railay still. It's less than a 5-minute walk from the main strip on Railay Beach.

Rock climbing is a must in Krabi. Climbers of all skill-sets can do this. You'll end up using muscles you never realized you had. There are several outfitters and we went with the appropriately-titled Krabi Rock Climbing. We went on an all-day tour that took us on 4 climbs, a hike and rappel, and lunch was included. If  4 climbs doesn't sound like its enough, don't worry - it's plenty. This climb was near Pranang Cave, which is famous for having a cave full of penises. I took some GoPro footage but then lost the camera, so y'all can Google it. It's a shrine to fertility. I digress.

Mindy around 60% up the cliff. This was the warm-up.

On the 2nd jump, I posted up on a ledge to shoot video of Mindy and Pete climbing. Love this shot of my bae.

Let's just say Pete was relieved to make it to the top!

This was a smaller cliff that was all about form. This route can crush your forearms quickly.

On my final climb, which was about 90-feet, I stopped to take a peak at a rainbow off in the distance. The guides estimated the climb was a 5.9, but I think he was just trying to make us feel better. It was more like a 5.7 with areas that are 5.8.

We ate dinner at Ao Naang on Krabi, which is a 15-minute ferry ride away from Railay Beach. This is like the Waikiki of Krabi - open markets, shops, cars (there are no cars on Railay), lady boys... you know, Real Thailand! Ate dinner at a hole in the wall. We ordered around 8 dishes on a 7-item menu.

This was the noodle soup with fish ball at 50bht, which is less than $1.50!

Look at all those fresh made noodles. At this same stand we ordered a banana Nutella rotee, aka Thai pancake. I've neglected to mention we ate about a zillion of these things things because they're about $1.15.

Oh and we also got some coconut ice cream. Someone was happy about that. By "someone," I mean "everyone."

'Til next time, Krabi.

Next: Ko Phi Phi and the surrounding islands

Pura Vida: New Year's in Jaco, Costa Rica

Jaco, pronounced "Haco" - like "taco." Now you're an expert!

As has become tradition for me, I always like to start the New Year off properly with an international trip. Since I normally don't have that many vacation days - contrary to what all my friends would believe - I try to find places that don't take long to get to. This has led to a strong amount of Central America travel, and perhaps the most popular destination outside of Mexico in Central America, is Costa Rica. We were there from Dec. 30 - Jan 5, staying in Jaco, a surf town on the Pacific side, then drive to Turrialba to go whitewater rafting on the Pacuare River, which National Geographic rated among the Top 5 places for whitewater rafting, then finish at the hot springs and volcano in La Fortuna. If this sounds like a lot of driving - you're right! And it turned out this Pythagorean Theorem map route wasn't the wisest. 

First things first! My first ever First Class experience on a connection from Hartford to Miami. How many times can I type the word "first"? Sadly, I didn't even get a Bloody Mary and just slept the whole flight. #loser

It was early, y'all.

Our Airbnb in Jaco with our rental car, which is a hell of a machine! If you do an airbnb in Jaco, I strongly recommend going with a property that belongs to Kattia Jimenez. She owns several rental properties in the area is extremely helpful with any tips and suggestions for your trip.

Big fan of the graffiti art in Jaco. These surfer girl impressions were all over the place. Jaco is really about one thing. Not the skateboarding.

Sunset at Jaco.

Dinner at Wahoos. Not to be confused with Socal's fish taco joint. Although I think I ordered fish tacos. Solid bar/grill spot that also had karaoke. We did not bless the locals with any Backstreet Boys renditions. Needless to say, they were disappointed.

Grilled avocado with vinaigrette. 

The local beer. Imperial Lights are far better than Imperials, which has the taste equivalency of getting punched in the stomach. However, you have to drink the local beer when traveling - otherwise you're just an ugly American!

Breakfast at Taco Bar, which is super cheap (like $3), but not that good. The banana-mango-pineapple smoothie on the other hand was massive and delicious. This place is ideal for a post-surf morning breakfast. I find I love eating rice and beans in Central American countries, such more flavor than Hormel's canned beans I normally shove down my throat.

You might think this is a cool statue, but this poor surfer woman was actually frozen alive like Han Solo in "Empire Strikes Back." #SpoilerAlert!

For an intermediate (read: crappy) longboarder who likes waves from 4-6 feet, Jaco was perfect. There were a lot of spots for beginners, but what sets Jaco apart from other surf destinations I've been to is the ease and frequency of waves. Unlike many places, you don't have to spend much effort paddling past the break to get to the waves. It's a very easy paddle out, then depending on the tide (high tide was sunrise and sunset our entire time there), there were plenty of long rolling waves to catch. Instead of exerting all your joules paddling, you can actually spend the whole time surfing.

Did I mention the water was warm, too? Cuz it actually got warm with the rash guard. Pristine.

Pete crushing waves like he does the ladies!

Giving my girlfriend a quick tutorial on how to surf. This is described in ye' olden days as "the blind leading the blind."

Like a gentleman, I'm helping her hold the 7'10 board.

Success! Who needs to stand? 

I do! These waves weren't even during high or low tide. You have to be more patient, but a few sets would still consistently trickle in. 

One of our sunset sessions were solid. Another, not as much. The waves tended to crash far quicker at sunset for whatever reason, and Pete (behind me) and I were victims more than a couple times.

Playa Herradura. 5 minutes north of Jaco. Not worth a visit. This makes it look better than it is.

Manuel Antonio Beach. It's considered a tourism destination near Jaco but I still think it's worth going. It's around an hour south of Jaco, you have to pay to get in - I forget what admission is but there's a lot of bartering for parking and skipping lines. Just go, you bum! What else are you going to do?

Outbreak Monkey says hello from Manuel Antonio National Park! You now have Motaba! I actually Googled "Outbreak movie disease" to keep that joke accurate. Who says journalism is dead?! This monkey kept trying to grab my GoPro which was attached to a monopod. Ahem - monopod, not a selfie stick. Totally different!

In a less aggressive state.

Sloth butt!

Smiles! Joy! G'times! #Weeee

Hey Zac Brown, toes in the sand!

Shrimp pasta at Lemon Zest, a very gringo restaurant option in Jaco, but good enough. Very hearty. Like every restaurant in Central America, the service runs on Island Time (even though CR is not an island), which means "I'll bring you your food whenever I'm done finishing the Tico Times crossword puzzle of the day." I also think our waiter was tweaking out on Four Loko and cocaine, but that's another story.

New Years Eve revelers at midnight in the streets of Jaco. A lot of residents from San Jose (the capital of CR) drive down to Jaco to celebrate the new year. It's just a 2-hour drive. Getting service on Jan 1 and 2 takes forever, which is really saying something in Costa Rica.

Forget about the epic Asian lantern festivals to celebrate the lunar new year, we've got a CR version! Several locals were lighting up lanterns and sending them off their way. Evidently there's an art to it because I saw a lot of struggling. The fireworks behind us were a free for all. I don't know if there were any official fireworks being set off, it just seemed like we were surrounded by explosions set off by every 5-year-old in a 100-foot radius. Many locals drove onto the sand and just set up shop with picnics, drinks, etc. The celebration epitomized Costa Rica's attitude of Pura Vida. 

The locals can't get enough of Costa Rican Pete.

Hello 2016.

And scene.

Go Pro video.

Next: Exploring one of National Geographic's top 5 places to whitewater raft in the world.