Browsing Posts tagged Lao Liang
When you first step off the boat and set food on Lao Liang, you are greeted by Lawrence and his big smile. He’s British, born in little town called Penrith, but his accent doesn’t really call out Northern England. Then again, it’s been 4 years since he has been home, spending that time climbing in Thailand. It was a young woman that he was in love with back in high school who was a climber so he took up the sport. He didn’t get the girl, but he’s been climbing for 14 years since, eventually finding his way to Thailand.
After leaving England, Lawrence arrived in Krabi, Ao Nang and then Tonsai where he spent 8 months for a bit of work, but mostly play. During his time in Ton Sai he met Mike Weitzman, the allusive face of Lao Liang. Mike does a lot of the bookings, responding to emails and the answering the phone of Lao Liang so when people arrive they assume Lawrence is Mike.
This year is Lawrence’s second season at Lao Liang, last season as manager and this year as Dog’s Body 
He has 4 bosses, but he doesn’t pay them much attention. Lao Liang is open for the high season which is November to May. After that, the waves and weather get too rough and inconvenient to get to the island. Lao Liang has been open as a resort for 7 years, mostly run by a Bangkok company called X-Site. They organize groups of wealthy Thai to make the trip for some R and R. But that trend has changed in the past year. Bookings of Thai people are down. Last year the resort was 60% Thai and only 40% Westerners while this year less than 20% of the bookings are Thai. Well, until April when it’s the Thai New year and it’s all Thai coming to Lao Liang to celebrate.
Lawrence has some pretty stressful responsibilities at Lao Liang. They include: waking at 10am and dealing with any checkouts and paperwork for new arrivals. He makes up the bills, collects money and when new guests arrive, he briefs them on the island. And in the evenings you can find Lawrence behind the bar. Most importantly, if anyone needs a climbing partner, Lawrence is your guy. He does enjoy spending time with (and answering questions of) the guests, but more so if he is climbing with them. After all, that’s what brought him to Thailand many moons ago. Unfortunately this season he hasn’t climbed very much due to 2 pulled tendons in his wrist but he’s getting back on the rock soon. He’s a 7c climber, aiming for that 8a….so close, yet for now it remains just out of reach. But he’s confident he will get it this year. Clearly he has time to practice.
He has many talents, one of which is speaking Thai fluently, a feat not many foreigners have mastered. It began when Lawrence landed as a tourist in Bangkok and didn’t know how to say thank you. While in Ton Sai, he ran a bar and was trying to learn Thai but that proved difficult because everyone else wanted to practice their English with him. He could order from the menu, order some beers, but that was where it ended. His language break thru happened when he went to a resort island called Koh Phi Thong (Golden Buddha) to serve as the Bartender and the Activities Guide. He was the only westerner and so his hand was forced to learn the language. Words, phrases and sentences started to come much quicker, curse words included. (Turns out its an insult in Thai to call people animals.) He got paid to snorkel, get his dive license and love life. Total immersion with no escape. Somehow he managed to learn Thai in between all the fun he was having.
When he’s not working at Lao Liang, he’s with Mike bolting new routes in and around Na Thai (Face of Thai), just outside Ao Nang. Na Thai is a small Muslim village with many hidden crags and lots of new routes being put up by Mike, Lawrence and others. The rock is clean and beautiful but it takes some blood sweat and tears to make it climbable. Mike and Lawrence are specifically bolting Spirit Mountain, a monstrous rock with 4 sides; 3 are clean of jungle brush and the 4th side is overhang with super futuristic routes.
Freedom from bureaucracy is what Lawrence likes most about working at Lao Liang. There really isn’t much paperwork, a stark contrast to his life back home. Studying as a civil engineer he realized that sitting behind a desk and a chalkboard wasn’t his game so he took off for something else; which he literally did in the middle of an exam. Sitting there, looking around at the other academics, he realized he didn’t even want to be in University, so he turned in his exam, called a friend and went climbing; Hasn’t looked back since that moment. For a brief moment, he went back to his home town, working on infrastructure and maintenance of gas stations. Not a glamorous job as he was breathing in fumes all day long, but it bought him a one way ticket to Bangkok and he hasn’t gone home since…(well maybe just for the holidays once or twice.)
While Lawrence gets to spend half a year at Lao Liang, James and I just had 4 nights there…”just!” As they say, all good things come to an end (even though James and I don’t quite believe that) so we bid adios to Lawrence earlier today, promising to keep in touch. Our experience at Lao Liang was amazing and we appreciate the work that Lawrence and his team did behind the scenes. We look forward to seeing Lawrence again, somewhere, at some point down the road.
