First: Thailand Rules! Take a leave of absence today and go live on the beach for six months. You wont regret it.

Second: Climbing is most definately NOT being banned or discouraged in any way. There are now two climbing shops and three guide services operating at Railay beach, with everything you could possibly need including bolts and a drill.

Third: The bolts are good. Most of the old rusty ones have been replaced, and the others backed up. Regardless, the bolts are seldom more than six feet apart, so you wont have far to go before you hit another if one fails.

I'll spare everyone the trip report. If you're planning a trip & want more details, let me know.

The best time to go is November through February unless you want to get wet. I assume you're going to Railay Beach, so I wont bother with directions. Here's a link with all that sort of info.

http://home.pacific.net.sg/~jasonl/climb/krabi.html

I'd suggest staying at the bungalows on Ton Sai beach, which is about a quarter mile from the main tourist area at Railay & will save you a few bucks ($4-6/day vs. $8-12/day). Besides, that's where all the climber types hang out anyway.

The food's rad, and turbo cheap. I think a couple of places even serve american food, but that would label you as a tourist-weenie and I would lose all respect for you. Be sure to ask for a 'pot' of rice or they'l keep bringing you little platefuls. If you're going to be there more than a few weeks (and you should!), the guy at the Ton Sai bungalows can hook you up with some 10 gallon water jugs that will save you some baht.

Incidentally, you should realize that the plumbing in thailand does not handle toilet paper. Your options are to buy your own there and use the garbage cans placed there for tourists, or go native & designate a 'butt hand'. This should be your left hand and should not be used for eating or shaking. Option 3 is to use the public toilet at the Dusit Rayadavee (the nearby turbo-expensive resort), which has a hose, and is conveniently located near the thai boxing area.

The climbing is all sport on the softest, nicest limestone you've ever seem. The bolts seemed pretty solid when I was there, and they seem to replace them pretty often. a dozen draws and one rope will see you through. There are even biners on the anchor bolts so you dont need to bother with slings or a rappel device. There are a few long routes where a second rope is needed, but you should be able to scrounge one or hook up with somebody so dont bother with lugging the extra weight over there. Speaking of long routes, be sure to do Humanality (5.10, 6 pitches) at some point.

The routes are mostly 5.10 to 5.12 with some easy stuff and some hard stuff thrown in. It's plenty steep, with the aforementioned comfy holds and the occasional stalactite to stem off of. You will most likely throw moves on thailand limestone that you will never have opportunity to use again in your life (On Humanality, you have to leap 5 feet OUT from a vertical wall to the tip of a stalactite 200 feet off the deck).

In short, Thailand rules! Take six months off or quit your job entirely and move there. If you can think of anything I missed, let me know!