Climbing in South East Asia

Useful Tips for Climbing and Travelling in South East Asia

TheCragJournal12 Comments

South East Asia is a fantastic region to visit as a travelling climber. The rock is amazing quality, there are areas to suit everyones taste, there is a never-ending amount of culture to learn about & experience and the food is delicious! We decided to write this article to help give climbers an idea of what to expect and how to make the most of their trip. The planning stage of a trip to South East Asia can be quite time consuming. Hopefully the many hours we spent planning before our trip, as well as our experiences on the trip, will yield some useful information and tips for other climbers.

Climber deep water soloing, hanging from only their arms on a steep overhanging roof section of limestone high above the turquoise blue sea.
Fantastic deep water soloing at Koh Poda, Thailand

Below is a map of all the different crags we visited during our 6 months in South East Asia. If you would like to read more about specific areas, please visit our individual posts on Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and The Philippines.

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Climbing in Indonesia: A Journey through South East Asia

TheCragJournal19 Comments

Indonesia is a prodigious country, with an extraordinary amount of records to its name. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country, the world’s largest archipelagic state and is home to over 700 languages. Choosing where to go in somewhere so vast is tricky, but we settled on Java as it has by far the most documented climbing areas. We spent a month on Java and it flew by, trying to visit anywhere else on top of that would have spread us too thin. Java is the world’s most populous island with over 145 million people, bigger than the population of the UK and France put together! It is an exceptional place, the people are great, the culture is captivating and the geography is fantastic.

Climber on a slightly overhanging wall looking for the next move. The rock is pocketed pink and grey andesite. Below are the flat green rice fields and small villages. Behind these are more jungle covered mountains in the haze.
Beautiful scenery and rock at Bongkok, on ‘Letjen of the Fall’, 6b
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Climbing in The Philippines: A Journey through South East Asia

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The Philippines was the dark horse of our time in South East Asia, many climbers we spoke to before we went had no idea there was any climbing there at all! In fact, we would often be asked if we were going there just for sight seeing. What makes this so surprising is that the climbing in The Philippines is excellent and there is loads of it, all over the country! Aside from climbing, we really loved The Philippines as a country, it is a truly beautiful place and the people are genuinely some of the friendliest we have ever met. During the 3½ weeks we spent in The Philippines, we barely scratched the surface of what’s on offer and we were sad to leave, we could easily have spent over double that amount of time and still not had long enough.

Climber trying hard on a thin section of vertical white limestone. In the background are mountains and jungle.
Absorbing moves on ‘Firefly’, 6c+
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Climbing in Vietnam: A Journey through South East Asia

TheCragJournal8 Comments

Vietnam was a major stop on our trip in South East Asia and somewhere we had looked forward to visiting for a long time. It certainly didn’t disappoint, we loved the country and Hữu Lũng is a very strong contender for our favourite climbing area of the entire trip. We began our time in Vietnam by crossing the border from Cambodia at Mộc Bài and made the long and interesting journey all the way up to the north with the excellent train line, enjoying a few stops along the way. Whilst we didn’t climb in the south, we really enjoyed experiencing the different culture and landscape on our way north, Vietnam is a country of great contrast. During our month in Vietnam we had a genuinely great time, not only was the climbing superb, the places, people and history were equally good and it was a definite highlight in every sense.

Large limestone mogotes, covered in white limestone cliffs and green vegetation rising up steeply from the flat flooded rice fields. There are many of them rising up in the distance. They are also in the reflection of the rectangular flooded rice fields.
Surreal beauty in Hữu Lũng
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Climbing in Cambodia: A Journey through South East Asia

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Cambodia is not the place that usually springs to mind for climbers in South East Asia and it is often thought of as a totally flat country. It is true that Cambodia has the one of lowest elevations in the region, at an average of 126 meters above sea level, which is significantly less than in neighbouring countries. However it would be false to represent Cambodia as mountainless. Its highest peak, Phnom Aural, is actually 1,813 meters and Phnom means mountain or hill in Khmer. That being said, mountains and crags are more scarce in Cambodia than other parts of the region. It is true that the climbing in Cambodia is lower in both quality and quantity than in bordering countries. We knew we wanted to include Cambodia as part of our trip, and it fit well with our route, entering from the Laos border and crossing into southern Vietnam to begin the long journey northwards up the coast. There are a handful of climbing areas to choose from in Cambodia and there are less climbers here than anywhere else we visited on our trip. We were glad we visited, Cambodia was a really nice country with a distinctive culture and a long captivating history.

Limestone cliffs with vegetation on top of them rising out from the green rice fields with blue but cloudy skies
The beautiful Kampong Trach mountains
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Climbing in Laos: A Journey through South East Asia

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Laos is one of the least visited countries in South East Asia, receiving around one tenth of the visitors Thailand does and significantly less than the majority of other countries in the region. The reason for this seems mostly down to the fact many travellers believe there is ‘nothing to do’ in Laos, which is of course false. There are still plenty of tourists visiting Laos, but it is much easier to escape the crowds and finding authentic local places is very straightforward.

Climber making the clip on the steep limestone cave roof with featured pockets.
Making a strenuous clip on the amazing ‘Jungle King’, 7b

The even better news is that Laos has some of the best climbing in the whole of South East Asia, in terms of quality and quantity. Climbing in Laos only got started in the last few decades, so the areas still feel relatively new and unspoilt. Around 70% of Laos is mountainous and a similar percentage is forested. There are endless stunning mountains, crags and rivers in Laos and the landscape really lends itself to climbing. 

We started our journey in Laos by crossing the border with Thailand near Huay Xai and made our way southwards through Laos before crossing into Cambodia near Nakasong. The crags will be described in the order we visited them and by coincidence this correlates to their quality, saving the best till last!

Wide and slow moving river with forested mogotes in the background on the right side of the river and jungle on the left. In the foreground on the river edge there are bamboo huts
A stunning view on the way to Pha Tang
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Climbing in Thailand: A Journey through South East Asia

TheCragJournal9 Comments

Thailand has been well known to climbers for many years thanks to its stunning rock and tropical paradise locations. There are lots of wonderful climbing areas spread throughout the country, and there is definitely a lot more to Thai climbing than Tonsai and Railay alone. Climbing aside, Thailand is very popular with travellers and holidaymakers, being the most visited country in South East Asia. While some places can get overcrowded, what shines through is the warmth and kindness of the Thai people, who remain incredibly welcoming. We made our way into Thailand overland from Malaysia, and traveled up through the country before crossing the border into Laos. The climbing areas below will be discussed in the order we visited them, of course there are many other areas in Thailand we didn’t visit. We chose the areas we did based on the quality, quantity and location of the routes and we thought all of the areas we visited were really good.

Masses of limestone cliffs erupting out of the sea
Stunning rock and location near Koh Ya Wa Sam
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Climbing in Malaysia: A Journey through South East Asia

TheCragJournal6 Comments

Malaysia sits in a beautiful part of the world, with the country split between two areas, one on the Malay peninsula and the other on the island of Borneo. Malaysia is well known for its delicious cuisine and being one of the most culturally diverse countries in South East Asia. Rock climbing in Malaysia has been established for some time, with historical routes going back several decades. We chose Malaysia as the starting point for our trip to South East Asia, the country has a lot going for it and the climbing is high quality. As the next leg of our journey would take us northwards to Thailand, we spent all of our time in Peninsular Malaysia. Malaysian Borneo is famous for its mountains and is home to Mount Kinabalu, the countries highest mountain at 4,095 meters. However, the peninsular contains the greatest density of sport routes as well as many mountains of its own, with several over 2,000 meters.

Looking out of limestone cliff with tufas dripping from the steep roof. Looking out over the rice paddies with some jungle covered mountains in the background.
Amazing rock at Bukit Keteri
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