Rockclimbing in Rai Leh

We are currently cycling in Cambodia but changes of plan are afoot……

In the next couple of days I shall post about the last week on the bikes but in the meantime here are some photos from earlier on. We travelled from Saparua, Indonesia to Si Sa Ket, Thailand (our starting point for the bike trip) and stopped off on the way at Rai Leh (Andaman coast, Thailand) and Bangkok.

Rai Leh is a beach resort which is on the Thai mainland but enclosed by dramatic limestone cliffs. The only access is by longtail boat but that doesn’t stop hoards of tourists making it here.

It is world renowned as a rock climbing destination and we had a go too.

The view from the top if you were bold enough to turn round and look:

One afternoon we followed a signpost pointing the way to a lagoon, expecting a leisurely post-lunch stroll, but the path soon became rather steep. Here is Chris following it Through the rock:

There was rock and there was jungle. Little Chris found Big Tree:

And eventually we got to the lagoon.

We stayed in an exorbitantly expensive (well, compared to Indonesia anyway) little bungalow which was cute but had mosquito-inviting holes in the walls and no mosquito net. This is a photo taken on the only sunny day we saw in Rai Leh, the day we were leaving:

In our neighbourhood there was a typical reggae backpacker bar (loud and annoying) and quite a few of these little fellas who were much more considerate neighbours:

Having been driven out of Rai Leh by the double-our-budget prices we retreated to Bangkok to do some long-neglected jobs (a haircut, finally!) and get the bikes ready for their trip. Chris wishes though that he could have treated himself to a night to remember in this Bangkok neighbourhood:

That’s all for now folks. Look out for a bike blog soon……