Daniel Holz - Reader Blog 5

Tonsai Beach, Thailand

Ahh, Tonsai. While I would love to offer you some groundbreaking news on one of the world’s most beloved crags, I’ve got nothin’. Seriously, what more can be said about this place that hasn’t already been put out there and fed to the masses? While it’s true that there are few places in this world where your belayer can pull rope from a beach side bar. And even fewer places where a local known only as the ‘Chicken Mama’ serves up a plate of mango sticky rice that will bring you to your knees.

It is in Tonsai where turquoise waters, magical sunsets and sprawling limestone walls call to us all. And that is why we always return; ready and willing to sacrifice our shiny draws to the tarnishing sea air and our 60 meter lines to the abrasive sands of Dum’s Kitchen. But instead of rambling on about pulling down on spectacular tufa, sketch-tastic stemming out to impossibly far stalactites, rotting slings that no one in their right mind would clip at their hometown crag and tales of cobras slipping into bungalows at night, I’m going to share Tonsai the best way I know how – through my lens.