Climbing in Krabi.... A Real Adventure

     Hello and welcome back. These days I'm writing you from a small hotel in the north of Bangkok. We're in a residential area outside of the main city area. The reason I'm here is I'm getting certified to teach English abroad. The course is going well and I'll be here for another couple of weeks but that's not what I'm here to write about today.

     I left off leaving Phuket which was not quite what we were looking for. Krabi, a smaller city, almost townish, located a couple hours further South offered us just what we were looking for. Beautiful beaches, adventure (a little more than we were hoping for at times) great food, cultural experiences and a genuine taste of Thailand.

Routes around the bend

Now that's a climb...

A look from the other side

     When we first came into Krabi, we arrived at a little Japanese travel agency where we were introduced to a nice couple from Japan, Dai and Machiku (Machi for short). I actually brought my climbing shoes on this trip in hopes that I might get lucky enough to use them and indeed I did. As it turns out, if you're looking for sport climbing in Thailand, Krabi is one of the key places to visit. We made our way to the rocks on our first full day there.

Headin on up

     After visiting the morning market to pick up some fruit and other treats to hold us through our day, we met Dai and Machi at 7 to head to the rocks. From there we took a taxi to the beach, then a boat ride to a more remote beach, followed by a 15 min walk around the bend, and there we found ourselves at the first rock. The wall had routes between 35 and 60 feet tall and was made out solid limestone. The rock was overall perfect. There were a great range of routes, this particular wall had about 20-30 posted. I'm told that the area has approximately 50 walls, including some pillars rising straight out of the water and many, much taller ones, overlooking the beach. On the day, we ran about 5 routes ranging from a 5.6 to a 5.10b. I was certainly out of practice and shape but no complaints with climbing like that. There are actually some hostels and guests houses very near that first wall. I would love to stay out there for several months just exploring the rock. Needless to say, I would highly recommend visiting this little area if you have any interest in climbing, beautiful jungle scenery, or outstanding beaches.

Leaders of the pack

     While the climb brought us adventure on the personal level, overcoming the route and our pushing past personal doubts, the decent more than topped off our adventure tanks for a while. We were just coming to the beachhead where all the taxi boats hang out, walking past the little restaurants and what not when we noticed the urgency of several of the shop keepers. They were shutting down a bit early and a guy from the States who runs a little climbing shop informed us of the cause. There had been an earthquake of magnitude 8.6 off the coast of Indonesia and there was a tsunami warning for the coast where we were. You know, that term never felt so significant before, but all of a sudden it had taken on a whole new meaning.

Machi knockin out a 10.b

     There were only about a third of the taxi boats left on the beach. Many were heading back to the main shore. Dai called his travel agency, it was about 4 in the afternoon and we were told that if there was going to be anything, it wouldn't be until after 6:30 at the earliest. If we didn't leave now, we were going to get stranded there overnight, possibly without a place to stay, so we jumped on one of the last boats and headed back.

I'll give it a go

     The trip was a tense 20 min sprint through rough water on a long "banana" boat, back to the main wharf where they were to park the boat. We were all a bit nervous with one eye on the horizon as we rode along. Trying not to stew too much on the situation, we all road in relative silence back to shore. We got there to greet a relative empty beach. There were several truck like taxis, trucks that have bench seats and a shade covering in the bed of their truck, but they wouldn't pick us up, apparently waiting for some travelers attending their hotel to come back. Later we saw them pass us with no one in the back.

     Luckily, we saw a truck heading out slowly. We ran up and asked if they could give us a ride. It was an amazingly generous Muslim couple. They told us to jump in the bed, we did graciously and we took off. There were many cars on the way out, creating a mini traffic jam. Krabi town, where we were residing, was a ways off. We took a notable turn in a direction we were unfamiliar with. Five minutes later, we pulled into a very secluded area, surrounded by palms and two little buildings. The couple had brought us to there house. The man, Ae, told us we would be safe there and that after the warning, he would take us wherever we needed to go. His English was broken but understandable. We could see his family at the other building, then his extended family started showing up. We met a couple of his cousins, nieces, nephews, sons, daughters and brother. Seeing everyone else taking refuge there took the edge off a bit. Then we waited.

     Two more times Ae went out to look for another family he knew was on the beach somewhere. His kindness was pretty incredible and personally inspiring. As we waited, he offered us coffee and tea. About this time, a storm rolled to audibly express what was on everyone's mind. The lightning was bright and tangible, the thunder was loud and frequent, the rain hard. An all out attack from Mother Nature, with a potential water assault from both sides. For me it was an all too real reminder of how small and fragile we really are in the big picture.

     That evening, Ae approached us again and said, "You must be hungry." This was after locating the family he had been looking for. They gave him a call once they found a save place with a phone. His wife and his or her sister began preparing food for us. I almost couldn't believe the generosity of this family. They had done more than enough up to this point, but to top it all off, the meal that they prepared was hands down the best food I've had in Thailand. He invited us to take a seat at the dinner mat. I say mat because it was litterally an ornate woven mat where he placed pillows for seats. Shortly after sitting, six different types of food were placed before us. For each type of food, there were two or three plates of it. Curry, fish, vegetables, soups, and two more stir fry dishes, each with its own unique sauce. Everyone received a plate with a scoop of rice, while three more large plates of rice sat waiting had we the need for more. The meal proved to be more than the nine of us could handle (that nine being those who went climbing with us and the other family). Apparently Ae's family ate either later, earlier, or somewhere else. Given the choice I would eat there every night... As it was placed before us, Ae took the seat next to me, and I had to fight back tears as I took it all in. We all ate to our hearts, and stomachs, content. Dinner was followed by a dessert that we got to participate in preparing (cain sugar cubes, covered in sticky rice powder, rolled into balls and boiled till ready).

     Over all it was just an absolutely incredible experience, and one that I can never forget. After taking us home, we offered him some money, he tried not to accept but we insisted. I just told him that someday I would pay it forward. I don't know when or where but its certainly a promise I intend to honor.

    This was our first day out, and there was more to come. Fortunately it was a bit LESS adventurous. That, however, I'll write about in the days to come. Thank you so much for joining me again. I hope everything is lovely wherever you are. Hopefully, I can share some of this sun your way, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Ae and his family - Thank you for everything!

Sun in the South, Phuket

      Sawadi kap, thank you for joining me here. Much has happened since the last time I was able to make it to the keyboard. So much, in fact, that I'll have to add it segments, starting here with our trip to the south of Thailand. It seems these posts are destined to engage in a game of catch up. My last post I wrote from our hostel in Phuket, and now I'll recap what actually happened there.

     For visa reasons, Ryoko and needed to enter Thailand on the 17th of April. We originally arrived on the 2nd of April so we "had to" make a trip to a neighboring country. We decided on Malaysia which lays directly south of Thailand. Along the way we made stops in several beach cities, making sure to take in the sun along the way. With our new friend Kanami, our first stop was the ever popular Phuket, a tourist trap if there ever was one. Also, the launching destination for anyone trying to get to Phi Phi island (the very island featured in the movie "The Beach" with Mr. Dicaprio)

Ryoko and Kanami on our ride to the beach

     Each morning I woke up a bit before my travel-mates. I would walk across the way and enjoy a relaxing read and some breakfast before they arose from their slumber. One morning, Ryoko caught me mid meal...

  
     I've read that nearly half of the travelers to Thailand are single men. To me, this first stop seemed to be a sort of sin city for the traveling European man.  The general motif was restaurant, followed by pub with pool tables and a constant stream of European football, souvenir shop, bar with dancing polls, beach lined with chairs and umbrellas (over priced), another general Thai souvenir shop, 7/11, over priced jet ski and banana boat rides, endless hawkers pacing the beach, 7/11, other bar with dancing polls, night club, travel agency, Western style shopping mall, over priced seafood restaurant, DQ and McDonalds, other bar with pool tables, and a giant buddha statue on the hill, facing away from the beach, and many Thai women very done up, hiding behind a strained smile and a bit too much make up...

     Despite the general excess presented by the city, we managed to find some peace of mind and more than our fair share of rays on the beach. Our first outing took us to the main strip of beach. After passing the first 30 chair hawkers, we found a small bit of shade on the back of the beach where we could lay out our blankets. We spent just a few hours in sun, but that's all that was required for Senior Sun to take its toll on my shoulders. The water was nice and inviting, but it felt good to make it back to our air-conditioned room until the sun set.

     Like everywhere I've been in Thailand thus far, the food did not disappoint. Everything is quite tasty usually very spicy. For that reason, we've learned to respond "nip noi" (little) when they inquire about the spice of our food. Often, nip noi tends to be a few degrees hotter than we were anticipating, but our guts are getting stronger everyday. The freshly blended fruit juices are always a favorite. Only now can I speak of a country that has mangoes to rival those of Paraguay. Not to mention the watermelon is always sweet and seedy, at least this time of year.

 
     After spending the next day or so hiding from the sun, we took another day trip to a beach 20 minutes up the road and around the bend from the main strip. While this beach also had a similar chair situation, we found the vendors to be less aggressive and the food just as tasty and cheaper. After working out a deal, we took up three seats under the protection of an umbrella and waited for the sun set.

     I took a walk up the beach with the camera, leaving my shirt and hat on for protection this time. On my walk, I came across a beautiful statue of a dragon overlooking the water, decorated with different prayer flags, scarfs and small figurines.

    Kanami took to the sky via a para-sail just as the sun began to rest itself on the water. While it seemed a bit pricey to me, I got the impression that she didn't regret it for a second. Her expression upon decent said it all.

     The sunset was especially beautiful here. It was easy to see why so many travelers take up Phuket as a destination. On one hand there's so much natural beauty and everything one looks for on a beach adventure. On the other hand, there's vendors of every vice imaginable and a general disregard for this location that lent us its' serene setting. Consequently, I couldn't help but feel a bit dirty taking part in it all. Overall, Phuket presents a living picture of how a lack of awareness and caring paired with self indulgence can blemish even the purest of people and places.

         After about 2.5 days, we decided we had gotten our fill of this particular site and it was time to move on. Krabi, our next destination a mere two hours down the road, proved to be what we were really looking for on this particular journey. So that's where I'll pick up the adventure on my following entry. Thank you for joining me here, I hope to hear from you all soon.

Back to Bangkok

     Hello hello, Ryoko and I made it back to the big city last week and it's as crazy as ever. Where to start with a place such as Bangkok. When reading about it, everyone always seems to be a loss as to where to start. Only now do realize the depth of their dilemma.

     Well, after the 22 hour trip, I was happy to meet up with Ryoko in a really nice hostel right in the thick of the city. Bangkok is quite large and lacks a defined "downtown." Instead, there are multiple downtowns spread throughout. Our hostel, however, was not so far from one of the more central areas of the city. For those of you who don't know, Ryoko and I will be teaching here for the next couple years, and the area that we landed in is likely the area we will be residing in once we get to work.

     Due to a total lack of city planning while the city was being brought into its current stage, transportation can be insane. Some say Bangkok has the worst traffic of all cities of comparable size. While I cannot vouch for that, I can attest that traffic can be pretty horrible. There is, however, a great sky train system and we will be living only a brief walk from that. The sky train is referred to as the BTS for short.

     In our first week in the city, we spent most of our time running errands. Our first full day in the city, we visited AYC (the company for whom I work), and filled out the last of the paper work. AYC is placing more than 200 teachers this year in a myriad of schools located throughout this huge city. A major concern of ours was that the school where I'm to be placed wouldn't be close enough to Ryoko's school for us to live together. Fortunately we were able to address that problem on our first outing. If there are any preferences for teaching locations, it's determined by a first come first serve basis. Since I contraced with them so early, August of last year, I'm high on that list. My school shouldn't be more than a few stops away on the BTS, making my commute to work quite manageable, maybe less than it was in Seattle.

     Our time difference here is 14 hours ahead of those of you residing in the Seattle area. To all my friends in other time zones, I'll let you do the math. That being said, I previously attributed "jet lag" to simply being tired from a long day of travel. With confidence I can say that it's a little more profound than that. The first three mornings, I found myself annoyingly awake around 2:30-4:00 AM. On the flip side, 4 PM weighed on my eyelids like a pair of anvils. I think the word "immobile" sums up my overall disposition during those first afternoons. Now, however, I'm feeling properly adjusted, back to my usual waking schedule.

     The first week was primarily occupied with checking out different apartments and food. The food here is both awesome and affordable. While it can get a bit spicy at times, there is no shortage in variety and flavor. It does take a few meals to get accustomed to anything spicy. Here, that word takes on a new meaning. Even when we ask for dishes that are only "nip noi" spicy (little), we still find ourselves pacing the meal as if it  each bite was a cooling ember. To aid in our digestion, we've largely stuck to meals that are relatively mild, but we're working on building up our tolerance so we can enjoy the full range of culinary concoctions available. At the end of my last stay here, I could handle dishes that were much more intense than those I've currently been able to stomach so I have confidence that things will improve over time.

     Currently, I'm writing you from Phuket, a beach city in the south of Thailand on the Malay Peninsula. We arrived here yesterday with a friend, Kanami, who we met at that first hostel. Kanami is from Japan. She is taking classes in Thai massage over the next few months. We're working our way to Paneng, Malaysia, where we have to be before the 17th of this month. In the near future I will add pictures to accompany these posts, along with an album or two via the facebook. Thank you for joining me. Perhaps I'll be able to entice a few of you over here to join us in the not so distant future. Until then, Sawadikap!