I’m not sure we’re even talking about the same Long Dong.
A single crag? Long Dong has over three dozen distinct, named crags along a kilometer of coastline. Most have at least a few really good climbs, others are worth skipping, and a couple would be classic even in Yosemite.
Significantly inferior to other regional areas? Clearly a matter of opinion. I agree that for sport climbing or party scene, nothing compares with Tonsai Beach… I’ve gone there eight times in the past decade and I love it. However, I’m personally more interested in trad climbing. Limestone/Karst as found in Thai and Vietnam is generally better suited for bolted sport climbing. As for the granite on Mt. Kinnabalu, it’s very high on my list and looks like an incredible adventure… but hardly qualifies as “cragging.”
Limited trad climbing? I’ve climbed over two hundred different trad routes at Long Dong, most with excellent protection.
Wires and RPs only? I wish. LD’s splitter vertical and horizontal cracks are perfect for cams; I usually leave wires on the ground, and years ago I sadly realized I must wait till I get to Arapiles to use my new set of RPs. Nowadays when I visit Tuolumne Meadows or Eldorado Canyon with its intricate gear placements, I am reminded how simple and user-friendly the pro placements are at Long Dong.
Part of the problem in the past was lack of documentation of the best trad climbs at Long Dong. The old book by YumYum focused more on sport climbs of the 1990’s than on the better trad climbs. This situation should be improved with the new guidebook. For any climber who likes easy protection, perfect stone, and a great variety of roofs, dihedrals, finger cracks, hands, fists, and offwidths, the place presents endless opportunities… unless you consider 200+ established trad routes and perhaps another hundred unclimbed lines to be “limited.”
For those more interested in sport climbs, there are also many (perhaps 100-200, I’m not sure) newly-developed routes with high-quality glue-in bolts. The place has really changed in the past couple years.
Of course, different people will have different experiences and different opinions about climbing areas, which is one of the interesting things about climbing. Personally if I wanted to slag off LD, I would point out the pollution that washes in from the ocean, or the dreary winter weather, or the lack of bigger multi-pitch routes. But the gear-placement characteristics of the stone and the variety of hundreds of different trad climbs on 40+ distinct crags with beautiful scenery are some examples of what makes Long Dong one of the nicest seaside trad cragging areas in Asia.
If you still have doubts, let’s go climbing and I’ll show you some quality trad lines and a good time. And if you can dispatch my offwidth roof crack project using only nuts and wires, I’ll eat my #5 Camalot.