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 | Rock Climbing, Bouldering & Abseiling
Even scaling a short route inspires a real sense of satisfaction in having gone beyond your limitations and conquered your fears. Perhaps the most fun part of rock climbing is when you get to go abseiling down the cliff face, just like walking backwards down the side of a building. Thailand offers different climbing sceneries at different levels of difficulty. Among the highlights are:
Rai Le Beach and Ton Sai in Phra Nang Bay, Krabi: spectacular coastal cliffs with 700 routes varying in difficulty from 5a (easy) to 8c (extremely challenging)
Ko Tao, Surat Thani: different experience with incredible 350 granite boulders on the island
Khao Sok National Park, Surat Thani: magnificent rainforest expedition combining with jungle trekking, trips to waterfalls, and kayaking
San Khamphaeng, Chiang Mai: a formation resembling a horse – “Crazy Horse” –leads to a cave
Tan Rattana Waterfall, Nakhon Nayok: an extreme adventure of abseiling down rocky cliff faces and waterfalls
White Water Rafting
With water adventure sports, you can go raft from one rolling river through to many others. Travel into the very heart of unspoiled wilderness, excite yourself with twists and turns, enjoy the natural beauty, pitch a tent out in the jungle, and dine beside a bonfire. June through October is the perfect time for white water rafting, when the rivers swell with floodwater after the rain. Recommended rafting sites are:
Nam Wa, Nan: one of the best adventures for white-knuckle rafting, with 3-5 rating on a difficulty scale and swollen streams during rainy season
Pai River, Mae Hong Son: an all-time favorite
Mae Chaem and Mae Tang, Chiang Mai: great excitement and challenges ranging from 2+ to 4+, including mountain biking, elephant riding, trekking, and an overnight stay in a hilltribe village
Kaeng Hin Phoeng, Nakhon Nayok: a challenge closer to Bangkok, rates 3-5 on a difficulty scale, reverse eddies, spiral waves, and much more Mountain biking
Mountain biking is a relatively new sport in Thailand and still growing. Biking routes are mainly in national parks, but more new routes are being opened up by specialists. Among the highlights are:
Khao Yai National Park, Nakhon Ratchasima: has one of the best mountain biking routes in the country
Chiang Mai & Mae Hong Son’s Pai District: ideal destinations to bike back-country trails for up to a week Scuba Diving
Thailand boasts some of the most beautiful dive sites in the world. Its color-saturated coral reef – known as the “rain forests of the sea” – is populated by exotic marine creatures, like lionfish, shark whale, and manta ray with five-meter wingspans. Thailand’s reef and all marine population truly offer a different dimension to underwater odysseys. Popular diving spots include:
Andaman Sea: Shark Point, Red Rock, Ko Yao, Ko Yai, the twin islands of Ko Racha, extending to Similan and Surin Islands to the west, Krabi and Trang to the east
Gulf of Thailand: Ko Samui, Ko Pha-ngan, Ko Tao, Ko Nang Yuan, Mu Ko Ang Thong Marine National Park, Ko Chang, and Pattaya’s offshore islands.
For more informtion, see Diving page. |
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