Happy New Year!!

Well a small milestone today: I finished the Parapro 2 level! I am off my L plates and onto my P's. I'll have a break for a few days and head to Chitwan National Park and then back for another 5 day course to finish the Parapro 3 which would mean I have a pilot license and could fly without an instructor if I was in the UK. Today was some of the best flying we've had catching good thermals and getting some great unusually strong and consistent winds in the afternoon to practice more reverse takeoff's on the ground. I ran myself ragged doing a reverse mock takeoff's, ground flying/running for 20m or so then turning back around and kiting the wing back to the start and repeating over and over. Yesterday was kinda funny as two of the students ended up wet from landing in the lake!

It is hard to beleive it is new years eve. If I said it was because it was quiet I would be lying through my teeth - the new years festival started 4 days ago and has been going strong the whole time. The sound of motorbikes in a cage of death can be heard almost constantly during the day, even from around the lake where we land, and from dusk the concerts can be heard across the town. But in general I have been avoiding the party area of lakeside and just concentrating on flying and then chilling out afterwards. It just doesn't seem to have much appeal.

But I guess once I have a few drinks in me and people start yelling the countdown I'll probably get more interested. Happy new years!

Flying, Kiting, Moaists

Time seems to just slip away. Because the course builds slowly and solidly I'm surprised at how much I've progressed when I look back.

I'm a pilot! Of course I'm still a student with a lot to learn and all that but I've had 6 solo flights so far with many yet to come in the next 4 days. After I visit Chitwan National Park I think I'll probably find myself back here doing another 5 day SIV and Thermaling Course. Today in many ways is the first I've really felt like a pilot. Today was also fantasic and interesting in a few other ways.

The learning curve isn't really that steep but at times it feels like it. Essentially the first 4 days were ground handling training to nail the take off which is mere seconds. My first take off wasn't a big deal at all, just letting the training take over. In fact all 6 of my take off's so far I don't really remember, my body memory kicks in and it all just happens.

We've progressed this afternoon to the usual launch area, Sarangkot, instead of the easier Mandra Dhunga. It is smaller, busier, much more thermic, and usually has a cross wind and is much closer, saving half an hour of driving and another half hour of walking up a hill (and yes this is Nepal so we use porters!) so we can get an extra flight in each day now.

Flying is surreal. Sometimes in the mornings in the cool still air it's like sitting in an armchair and just so peaceful. And as a happy by product I've begun to love kiting the wing on the ground and I think at some stage I need to try kite surfing or kite boarding.

Yesterday on the way up the hill we had to stop to move some logs of the road. As I helped Maurice drag them off I mentioned that they seemed too purposefully place and he replied 'You have to remember that we're in a war zone'. The violence of past years may have passed but the Moaist still have a strong presence. The new embryonic government that I read about each days in the paper is still sorting out its new constituion and is still getting renewed tests from the Moaists every time the talking stalls or even if theyare just bored it seems. So today instead of the usual bustle of traffic this morning we were greated by dead streets as a Maoist traffic ban came into force. Tourist traffic is tolerated with a road tax, of course, if they stop us. It is generally non-violent but just a show of strength for political gain.

So in general I've found a great semi-routine, wake before dawn, breakfast at the usual, then flying all day, reading great books and hanging with a great crowd of people at the usual bars (often playing cards or pool by candle light when the power has failed). No wonder the days are slipping by! And then paradoxically even the joy I discovered at the little tricks I mastered at lunch today seem so long ago. Best of both worlds!

Gettin' air in time for Christmas

Since I arrived in Pokhara after the flight from Jomsom it has basically been pretty relaxing. Lots of cards and lots and lots of reading. I have averaged a book every two days. I am currently on my fourth Anne Rice book this trip as well as a few other chunky ones on the side. I'm also reading the Bhagavad Gita and have the Satanic Verses by Salmon Rushdie queued up next for a bit of diversity.

Since we were out of the hills I didn't really have much need of a guide but Dommar insisted on staying on and acting like a wounded puppy dog. It seemed I couldn't piss without him trying to help. I'd done a couple days site seeing and so was basically just trying to relax until my paragliding course started. It got a little ridiculous when I was trying to talk to a shopkeeper who had great English and he'd butt in, trying to translate when his English isn't so great at all!

About the only time it was actually useful was when I got sick the day before my Paragliding course started and he was my personal waiter. But then when he threatened to stay because I was sick so I tipped him and made sure he got on his bus! Then I moved hotel ... not to escape but to save the half hour walk to the school :)

The course is very relaxed and fairly informal. Especially compared to the climbing, mountaineering and scuba courses I've done. Maurice our Scottish instructor is pretty good value and has a very down to earth attitude to everything. Every second word is either 'Aye' or 'Fecken'. He and his wife Japti (also an instructor) and their 10 month old Keiren, alternate seasons between here and the UK. The first few days were ground handling practice, theory (weather, flight dynamics, law etc), a few instructional tandems flights and then delays due to bad weather.

Oh and I almost got taken out by a motorbike sliding along the road on its side followed by three guys sliding along at high speed after it. They looked pretty sore after! Glad I didn't join them. Another funny thing I saw was a heap of soldiers training in the morning, running down the street with their guns. The last guy was lagging and was running along with no gun while a civilian ran next to him holding his gun!


Then today the sky dawned hazy but cloud free and we finally got to fly! Admittedly they were all low flights where you practically land as soon as you take off but flying nevertheless. Not only has the last two days been cloudy so that no thermals develop it also means cold showers because it is mostly solar heating here. But today after after getting of the ground and having a huge grin I also had a much needed hot shower. Yay!

We resume after a break for Christmas and then head up into the hills for the real deal. A big 800m drop into the valley so we get a lot of air time without needing to worry too much about thermalling skills just yet and just enjoy being up there.

I can't wait!

Have a Happy Christmas everyone!

Sorry no photos yet!

Oh and by the way I have taken lots of piccies but partially because of the internet situation and mostly because I have taken a lot of panoramic shots I won't be playing with and uploading photos until I am back in oz. Sorry!

Nepal! Annapurna circuit!

Wow! What a few weeks it has been. Where do I start?

I flew into Kathmandu via Bangkok and stayed they only briefly to buy a few goodies and then head to the hills. The quality is a little dubious but the price is certainly right: A down jacket, a new 90 litre pack (my 65 litre was too bulging), and a nice pair of soft core trousers plus a few other goodies for around $100 AUD! All have turned out to be completely worth it. I also ummed and ahhed a lot and finally decided on getting a guide/porter rather than go it alone (like 3 of my harder core friends have recently done).

First mission: Annapurna circuit the most popular trek in Nepal if not the world.

Thankfully it was the end of the season (because the passes get snowed in - but we'll get to that) so the track was almost deserted. In the first few days I saw about one or two westerners each day! It started out fairly easily with a few ups and downs and overall gently working its way up a valley of forests, rice paddies, villages and the ever present tea houses. At about day 3 my right knee started to swell up but it sorted itself out only to replaced on day 5 by pain in my left knee instead, usually only when descending. I expected my left knee to hurt like it usally does so SNAFU. By this stage the trail now is mostly ascending so it wasn't a big deal. I have to admit that a couple times my knee was hurting pretty bad so Domm (my guide) and I swapped packs - 6kg vs 18kg is sooo much better!

By day 7 I was at Manang (3500m) where you typically have a rest day to aclimatise to the altitude and relax a bit. Because of this there was a greater concentration of trekkers here. Manang is quite a nice place to hang out with a few good day walks including a nice frozen lake at the base of Gangapurna glacier visible from the warmth of the hotel dining room. My dreams of a hot shower and washing my clothes however were dashed as the weather closed in (only solar hot water) and the ground started piling up with snow. Being Australian and generally snow deprived I was quite happy to stare at the lazy drifting flakes and just enjoy it for what it is - but many of the other trekkers it wasn't a good omen. The highlight of the trek, Thorung La pass, is still two days walk away and there is a chance that if the snow does't ease, the pass would be closed and we would have to back pedal the whole way. Not appealing! Anyway a few of us decided to wait it out and after three nights of playing cards, eating heaps and drinking litres of mint tea we went to sleep yet again with hope. This is probably one of the worst nights I have had in a long time. The company during the day was good but I really didn't want to walk back. I was cold, my knee hurt lots, I missed Denni, I missed my family and friends and Armidale and I knew things were really bad when I started missing my job. I was trying to tell myself that I didn't hate Nepal, I didn't hate freezing squat toilets and no hot showers. That I didn't hate travelling alone. I was pretty down. Finally I got to sleep.

After the usual wake up at 3am and then every hour after until it is light I finally woke up to a clear beautiful day. The elation I felt was the exact opposite of the despair I felt the night before! Something had clicked in my head and even though I didn't know wether the pass would still be open, and either way it would be a lot of hard work ahead I felt fantastic! So off we headed.

Walking through the snow was fairly easy - only about 10cm on the ground.

STOP PRESS!! Wow I was just abducted from my cosy relaxed internet cafe and thrust into a frensied mob! But I'll get back to that at the proper time ... where was I?

Ah yes. The snow wasn't thick on the ground at this elevation but it was damn cold. Domm (my guide) was still wearing pretty well exactly what he was at the start: A pair of jeans, grey business socks, squash shoes and a light fleese. Mean while I was decked out with layers of wool, polypropylene, wind stopper and gortex. And I was cold! We pressed on as snow started to fall again and finally made it to Thorung Phedi (4500m). Domm is a chain smoker and frequently has coughing fits that even the other Nepali seem to think is unhealthy. At the hotel he starts to show the classic signs of both hypothermia and altitude sickness. But every time I ask he says he isn't cold and he has never gotten altitude sickness. I myself was feeling fine when I got there to the hotel but quickly started to get sick. Dizziness, nausea, lack of apetite (when only 5 minutes ago I was starving!) and as I was about to find out an inability to sleep. There was a couple of German guys there, one of whom had already been sick and forced to go back to Manang and adjust before trying again this time armed with Diamox (anti-altitude sickness drug). He very nicely gave me one of his three remaining pills and I took half now and left half for the morning. After I took it he told me that it worked well except for the side effect of making you piss every hour during the night.

So feeling a little better and forcing some tea down I retired but not before asking Domm if he would like my spair set of thermals and my down jacket for tommorow. All he could manage between chivers was 'OK'.

So I then went to bed and stared at the roof. I wasn't tired. I couldn't sleep. I has just walked for a day in the snow and was knackered but nope I couldn't sleep. And then I had to go and pee in the snow outside. I reckon it was around -15C. Then I checked my watch. Then I stared at the roof. Then I repeated this over and over and over. The best thing for altitude is being well hydrated but this drug just seemed to drain every spare drop out of my body! Eventually at around 4am I got up and went to find Domm and the hotel cook who was supposed to wake us at 4:15 and have breaky deady for us. He was nowhere to be found and Domm seemed pretty cosy in bed. Eventually I woke the cook up who was sleeping in the other hotel and got some porridge into my stomach, bought 4 snickers bars and we headed off. Ahead was a tough day, first an ascent of 1000m through snow and then an even worse descent of 1600m which usaully takes around 9 hours. And Domm didn't take any water or snacks and was a bit vague about wether food would be available on the way. At least he looked a bit warmer in my down jacket. Oh and did I mention my boots were frozen solid?

So we headed off and slowly trudged our way up through the predawn darkness with our headlamps on while it snowed. Or at least I had a head lamp! I know Domm had one but he prefered to stumble around in the dark. I think Nepali guides just like suffering. The snow was around 20cm deep and not too bad. By the time we got to the high camp it was dawn and the snow was around a foot deep but still ok. The first of the rock hard snickers somehow wasn't that satisfying! Then the next few hours were tough. One step. Breath. One step. Breath. Visability ranged from 50m up to maybe 500m but the sky and ground inevitably merged indistinctly some where above. I was like being on a step machine, inside an industrial freezer, blindfolded, through which you can occasionally glimpse an endless field of white like mashed potato. It is definitely one of the hardest things I had ever done.

After one false "We're at the top!" we finally made the pass just as the clouds finished parting and suddenly it was blue skies and the ordeal seamed like a dream that didn't happen. I struggled to find the energy to take a few pictures (very odd for me!) and then Domm muttered something about having a bad headache and practically ran off the other side of the pass trying to lose altitude and ease his pain - with my water and food!

So I struggled after him, the descent was easy now except my knee started to hurt like hell and I resorted to taking dolly steps, keeping my knees straight and doing all the motion with my hips instead. Very slow progress! And so the second stage of the ordeal began. Finally after hours and hours of watching the tiny village, all the way down, there get closer and closer I finally walked into Muktinath and into the very cosy Bob Marley hotel (yay! Hot water!).

The ordeal was over!

The hotel was pretty good. I ate some soup and mint tea as I couldn't think about solid food just yet. The shower was so good and hot and then suddenly the gas ran out and I finished it cold. It was then that I realised that even though we had descended 1600m, and yes it was warmer than the pass, it was still bloody cold. All the shadows hid frozen ground. The floor of the bathroom was a layer of ice after the hot water ran out. By the time I got dressed I had a splitting head ache from the cold and ran to bed. I ordered some food and a pot of tea to the bedroom and then passed out before I had barely touched it. That was about 5pm.

The next morning I woke at around 6am to find my potatos solid and the tea pot completely frozen solid. The potatoes went down ok - I was starving!

By this stage my knees where a complete wreck and the thought of another week or so walking down the valley dropping 3500m to Pokhara seemed like hell. I had found out that Jomsom, the next big town, had an airport and a lot of trekkers finished there instead of walking the other 8 or so days back to Pokhara. I was saved! Domm even organised for a jeep to take us there instead of walking the 4 or so hours down to Jomsom. Yep I am a wimp!

Then after a semi rushed night trying to organise two seats on a flight the next day and having to contend with the hopeless Nepali phone system, Nepali culture in general (ask a simple Yes/No question then listen to 5 minutes of Nepalese argument and then have to repeat the question) we finally flew out to Pokhara the next morning (ie today).

So now I am in heaven! This is the Chiang Mai of Nepal I have decided. Less rushed than Kathmandu (or Bangkok) and much more laid back with seemingly a lot more to do. A couple of nights ago (I think in the deepest night of my despair) I discovered that Pokhara has perfect weather and terrain for paragliding and that several companies operate here. Ever since the paragliding championships at Manilla I have been keen to try this and perhaps take it up - perhaps with a bit of peer pressure from Sam. And seeing as the main reason I am in Nepal is to trek and that isn't really an appealing option anymore it seems perfect.

So back to my adbuction before. I was relaxing in the internet cafe catching up with everything when Domm was a little insistant that we eat lunch. I told him to eat without me but I was hungry anyway so I left it and we went for a walk. As usual he is a bit low on the communication side of things. We walked one way trying to find a cheap foo joint, then ended up in a taxi drove a couple km's to one near the airport. After that we kept driving the opposite direction even after he said 'Ok back to internet'.

Then we ended up at a crazy cross between a Country Town Show and Ag-quip. I found myself slowly squeezed into the mob and funneled towards the ticket booth. Nepali have a complete lack of understanding of lines and order in such things. It was way worse than a mosh pit as I was pushed and elbowed and trodden on and everyone is yelling and screaming. Finally Domm ends up with some tickets and I realise he has bought about 10 for various people who handed him money at some point.

Then into the show which was actually very similar to one in Australia once inside. Except everyone is crammed in much more. Very loud, very dusty, with lots of stalls on studying abroad, hot water systems, computer systems, sweets, fairy floss, ballon animals, bad nepali music, rides. The one redeeming factor was that despite the availablility and abundance of fairy floss and sugar lollies almost everyone was eating mandarine's! The ground was carpeted with peels.

So finally I escaped and we took a bus back and now I am sitting here finally at last relaxed and up to date!

Until next time...

how long has it been?

Wow. So much has happened. After I left Cambodia I traveled via 4WD through the Northern Territory and Western Australia for a couple weeks which was wicked fun. I have always wanted to get to the Bungle Bungles and I wasn't disappointed. Even managed to get a bit of bouldering in after that. So I can be excused for not blogging anything during that time (altho I did find time to upload to flickr...)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brendan_heywood/sets/72157602157290414/

After that I had a very brief few hours in brisbane to pick up Denni before heading to NZ for another month of equally wicked but damp fun over there:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brendan_heywood/sets/72157602596336656/

So much to say but its all in the past and I couldn't be bothered! But go through the photos - its all in there anyway.

Since NZ I cam back, bludged a bit, my sister got married and I got my one and only wisdom tooth removed which is still sore as I write this. On Friday I fly out to Nepal for another two months or travel and trekking which will be fantastic! So probably not much from me while I'm there but I expect I'll take quite a few piccies. Just bought a new tripod (I love my manfrotto heaps but it is 3kg!) a nice light weight but sturdy Velbon which is < 1kg and 33cm long when folded! Gotta love carbon fibre! Was umming and ahing about buying a new digital back for my old cannon lens's but have deiced to go without for a bit. I'm happy with what I've taken so far with my little powershot and figured that having a tripod with me more than makes up for a lower quality but lighter camera.

http://www.velbon-tripod.com/ultra_maxi.htm

Until next time!

and now for something a bit different...

Ok Angkor is pretty awesome but it all gets a bit same same. Yesterday howver I went to a different kind of site which was just simple and magic. About 40km north it is a little creek running through sand stone which has been carved with lots of bhuddist and hinda images. A perfect place to chill out, swim and escape the heat. And on the way in I noticed a lot of potential sandstone crags and some big boulders ...

I met up with Mark again last night and today we headed out to the Rolous group which after everything else was just a waste of time. So now just a bit bored waiting until I catch my flight back Bangkok tonight and then back to brissy. The is a bit of a dengue fever outbreak so I donated some blood at the childrens hospital here. I figure it will help me to sleep on the plane :)

Angkor

Wow. It's big.

On one hand you can't help but be impressed with the size and the effort that has gone into creating these temples. On the other hand there are so many and they are so big (as well as the usual Asian heat and peddlers and beggars etc) that it is almost like a bludgeon to your head. And I guess it is reasonably physical as well. I have no idea how far I've walked or how many stairs I've walked up but I feel pretty wrecked. I've seen about 30 temples, terraces, gates, bridges etc over the past two days and have a pretty good feel for the different styles and features.

My favourite, and probably most peoples favourite, is Ta Phrom which was chosen by the french conservationists to be left as it was found half consumed by jungle, with massive buttress roots and strangler figs growing through the stonework. It's been in the Tomb Raider movie so therefore it must be good. My suspicious is that after so many temples people take a morbid satisfaction in seeing one dying a slow death by strangulation at nature's hands.

Other highlights have been just chilling out chatting with various monks, beggars, peddlars and tourists. Some very interesting stories. And of course a very patient dragon fly!

The life of Pai ... and onto Angkor

Well we jumped into a minibus and headed up to Pai. I hadn't heard much about it but apparently it is known for Trekking and white water and elephant rides. The white water was brown and the elephants didn't have the same appeal for the others so we signed up for a trek with Mr Chart!

Now this deal advertised itself as 'No elephants! No whitewater! Just trekking!' and said you'd be living in the jungle and learning survival skills which sounded a bit more interesting that just walking around. If only it lived up to it.

It started out pretty good. The guides cut us all walking sticks which was a good omen for how hard it would be. The walking was easy enough and the pace was pretty slow. Every ten minutes or so we would all stop for a bit. Eventually after 2 hours we got to a nice enough waterfall where we stopped for about 2 hours to BBQ some chunks of pork.Then finally we moved on and walked slowly for another couple hours until we got to a dodgy jungle hut. We were expecting to make our own shelter but seeing as it was destined to rain we weren't too upset that our skills weren't put to the test. But then the guides made us bowls and cups and collected wood and started cooking and we were all bored sitting around doing sweet FA. We asked on several occasions if we could help or learn or try or anything but NO! All I wanted was to get my own little jungle knife and start hacking bamboo up into stuff. Dammit!

So out comes the book and the cards. If it wasn't for them we'd have gone crazy. There was two other guys Matt (Dredds) and Mike (John Lennon) who were also on the trek. After a fairly decent, but many hours overdue, dinner with plenty of rice whiskey to go around we slept pretty badly. Next day was slow. Real slow. I ended up in front of the lead guide for a lot of it just cause I was sick of stopping whenever he did. And every half hour or so we would have to stop for a few minutes and let the two other guides catch up. And every time we stopped for a break it would need to be for way too long. And then to top it off we finished walking early in the afternoon for night number two in a dirty Lisu village. A pretty ordinary village with lots of very mangy dogs. And the offer of pork for dinner which was green and stank - 'We can wash it!' No thanks!

More cards. More bad sleep. Another slow day. And then some fresh fruit and the trek is over.

So in celebration of such a great trek we found the Shisha bar and got wasted. I think we each spent 160 baht on drinks. Good times. Mark and Alex put on a bit of a show (ask me for details!).

Then back to Chiang Mai for one last bit of climbing action - Mark and Alex had healed up a bit. Then on a spur of the moment thing I decided to waste a bit of money on a flight to Cambodia and spend a few days at Angkor. So an over night bus to Bangkok then straight onto a plane (and by straight I mean waiting around in an airport forever), then straight onto a bike to the temples (and by straight I mean wasting time filling out ooodles of paper work to get into Cambodia).

So far so good, the temples are seemingly endless and cover huge areas of land with massive moats. It is crazy to think that all that remains is just the stone temples and to think about the vast wooden city that surrounded it all. It's huge!

Crazy horses, Drugs, Boxing and Elephants

Wow it seemed like a quiet two days but in hindsight we saw a lot.

We got a lift out to Crazy Horse buttress and the climbing there is great. I could easily waste a few weeks here (my list of places to waste a few weeks is growing quicker than I have weeks to spend). This crag is just so ... lazy? Maybe it should be called Lazy horse buttress. The walk in is about 15m. The climbing is dense and quite varied in style. It isn't busy at all and the climbing guide company here has done an awesome job not only setting routes but making tracks, steps, belay platforms, and shelters from the rain complete with a nice little bed for naps in the afternoon. And to cap it off a hot lunch is delivered to the crag! And then back in Chiang Mai at after the sun has set you can keep going with a hard trash session back at the bouldering wall just to help you sleep :)

And the next day that little voice that has been saying for over a week 'You're feeling a bit better today, no need for doctor!' has finally been overcome and I went to the hospital. The experience was pretty smooth but a little disconcerting when you're sitting in the hospital waiting room and someone is walking around selling lottery tickets. Well it seems I have bronchitis and now three sets of drugs to kill it. (4 if you count the unknown rum like stuff I'm drinking as I type).

So after a chilled out arvo reading, tonight we bicycled across town to check out the Maui Thai Boxing. To my surprise I actually quite enjoyed it. Got me thinking a lot about gambling and betting (I am also reading a book called 'Breaking Vegas' which might also have something to do with it).

After that we headed home and had just locked up the bikes when a baby elephant gets led down the alley way! The things you see...

The damage!

The damage!

Well today didnt go to plan! A picture tells a thousand words.

We looked into getting the bus to Crazy Horse buttress with the local climbing guides but it cost 200 baht each. So we decided to get there ourselves, hired two scooters for 250 baht total and set off into the interesting traffic with what seemed like decent enough directions. Well after an hour or so we decided we probably weren't in the right place but it was a pleasant enough ride.

Then a random guy left left in ront of Mark and Alex's bike and they T-bones him. Luckily they had slowed down a fair bit and the almost stopped and then sort of fell over. I was following and saw it all. A couple thai people saw it and so after a couple minutes an ambulance turned up who wanted to take them to hospital. After a bit of discussion they just cleaned them both up a bit and we were back on our lost way!

Not to be discouraged we kept riding with a few extra vague (and wrong) directions from the nice medics. Eventually we stopped at a posh looking golf course in the middle of nowhere and figured out where we were. So then we back tracked, got a bit lost again coming back into Chiang Mai, and ended up at the Wat right in middle of the old city. And then just to top it off as I was chaining my bike up I burnt my ankle on the muffler. So that the last straw and we headed back home, to the waiting aloe vera gell, chemist shop and some good cheap food.

Tommorow we are getting the bus!

Chiang Mai

Well as much fun as the noise and clutter and scams of Bangkok are, we got a train up to Chiang Mai. Got to the train station at 8pm, boarded at 10pm left the station maybe around 11:30pm had several random stops for a few hours along the way in the middle of nowhere and eventually found ourselves in Chiang Mai at 3pm the next day! We are definitely gonna fly out of here when we leave but it could be a while, this place is pretty nice and relaxed.

I have consumed several books now: The intruder, Count Zero (same guy as Neuromancer - loved it!), Memnock the Devil (Anne Rice - Loved it!) and now a much meatier non-fiction on comparative religion. I could easily lose a month just reading - there are so many great books in the 2nd hand shops that I'd love to read.

The night markets here are pretty cool and I picked myself up a Go board. I've been intrigued by this game for ages but never had much opportunity to play. I had grabbed a nice little wooden travel version of Connect 4 (or Bingo as they call it) about a week ago which has been a nice little diversion. But unfortunately the gazillion little stones of Go will have to wait until I am home before I get to have my fun with them.

The climbing here also looks promising but is around 45min drive away. So tomorrow, weather permitting, we'll hire a couple motorbikes, try not to die on the roads (nowhere near as bad as Vietnam though) and hit up Crazy Horse buttress. It's been a while since I've climbed properly between the rain and being sick and weak so fingers crossed it won't rain and I'll be close to 100% percent tomorrow.

Bangkok

Well I am still sick and getting pretty tired of this cough. Every cough feels like someone pushing their thumbs into my eyeballs. But thankfully it didn't rain last night in Tonsai and we got the boat the across to Ao Nang and then into a taxi before it started hammering down again.

Now we are in Bangkok just walking around finding things to look at. We were going to check out the big Wat that has the reclining Buddha but it was shut so we walked to the Maui Thai Boxing stadium only to find that a seat costs $80 AUD! I am pretty low on energy so I'll probably crash early with a book.

Lets see what some clean bangkok air does to help my cough along :)

Thumbs up / Thumbs down in Thailand...

Ok first I'll start by saying that I am sick with an annoying dry cough and it has rained almost straight for two days. So I decided to copy the local Armidale paper and have a thumbs up / thumbs down style rant:

Thumbs up to the relaxed atmosphere where nobody blinks if a cat jumps onto your table or chickens stroll across the floor in a resturant. Or if people just ride motorbikes though shops.

Thumbs down to dampness: damp bed, damp towel, damp clothes, damp harness and shoes and rope and draws. Damp air so that nothing dries. Everything stinks!

Thumbs up to some fantastic quality climbing. Even when it rains there is still good routes that you can work on.

Thumbs down to un-anodized quick draws that start to corrode in the thai air in less than a week!

Thumbs up to Monkeys. They're cool.

Thumbs down to hidden airport fees which more than double our tickets price from whats advertised.

Thumbs up to flights being dirt cheap even with the extra fees.


Ok enough ranting. Not much to add except I am sick and feeling so damn weak compared to the crank session from a few days back. I dream of just one day of wearing dry clothes and maybe even a hot shower. We will fly to Bangkok on sunday and hopefully all my simple dreams will come true.

I've fallen! :)

Well I wanted to fall and I did. Or at least I wanted to push myself until I had no choice and I did. On a supposedly rest day we headed to the Tonsai cave, where I warmed up on a 6c which was some of the ugliest climbing caving throught stalagtites. Then onto the project: a 7a+ route that leaves the beach at about 40 degrees on smooth grey limestone with a couple eroded seams, moves over a few stumps of half formed stal's, a half decent rest if you can just figure out how to ride the stal before traversing along polished 45 degree slopers to the anchor. I haven't felt so weak and inadequate in ages! I love it! It was a complete dog with rests on every clip but once I figured out the sequence it wasn't too bad. On top rope I did the first half clean before my arms turned back to jelly. Mind you cleaning a roof traverse route on top rope is essentially as hard as leading it: if you fall its damn hard getting back on! After I had cleaned it all I had to sit down for quite a while, sweat pouring off me, a vein in the left temple pulsing so hard I thought it would pop. Maybe it was the combination of the dry cough I have developed (or maybe it was why I got the dry cough!) but I felt so weak and useless for ages afterwards.

So on with the rst day: Hours of chill out, reading, napping and drinking water. Then we decided to check out Pra Nang beach - I'd been there last year bouldering quite a bit and decided it couldn't hurt to throw in the shoes ... and a rope and harness. Mark had a 6 in mind but I have been itching to complete another 7a+ route which I had bouldered up the first half of, last year. But I was supposed to be resting! So after much thinking and a quick swim and a few tentative boulder starts at the problem I finally ropes up and realised just how completely and utterly weak I am! I knew it wasn't happening until I was fresh so I cleaned off the one and only draw I placed and then tried a 6c I did last year that Mark wanted to try on top rope. Nope! Too fashed to even get up that!

So the sun was setting anyway so we headed back to Mom's (cheap good food) for the semi-routine dinner and movie. And then it started to rain. And rain. And rain. Until we figured it wasn't going to stop and we trudged back to Tonsai. And today it has pretty well kept raining the whole day. Which is kinda good cause at least I am having a proper rest day. My right knee, left elbow and shoulder all feel like I've acheived something so they need the rest. Hopefully if the weather clears (forecast for scattered showers for the next 5 days) we'll finish up Humanality (5 pitches with a 6c crux) which we bailed on a few days ago because of bad weather.

Next stop Bangkok: We just got some cheap domestic tickets up north. The vague plan is the check out Bangkok, Chiang Mai and perhaps do a day or two in Cambodia to see Angor Wat which woul we wicked to see.

Cranking along nicely in Tonsai

Well life is settling into a nice routine now. We have two bungalows in Tonsai for 130 baht a night each. It's more quiet than last year - and Railey seems much more sedate with lots of good bars simply gone (as in not even a pile of rubble!).

Every day is awesome. Getting up late. Eating breakfast with the guidebook figuring out what to climb first and still avoiding the sun and high tide. Having a climb until the sun or hunger chases us off the rock. A late afternoon lunch and then usually climbing something a bit harder in the arvo.

The food is fantastic and we are all working on less than 100 baht a meal in total.

On the climbing front I've been damm happy with myself so far, 4 climbing days (with one rest day) and not a single fall. I've been leading lots of 6a and 6b with a couple 6c's under my belt and it is becoming obvious that I am just not pushing it hard enough! I have a couple 7a's on the tick list though. Later I'll put up a route list of my ticks (more for me than anyone else). It is really good to work longer routes and we've done a few multpitch as well. Humanality was great but we had to bail a few pitches up cause of a storm front. We'll get back to it.

On the rest day we went to Ao Nang just next door and did a but of shopping. Railey doesn't have any shops like it use to that sell clothes and other random stuff - just more resorts. It is still great but has lost a lot of atmosphere and will be a very different place in a few years.

We don't have any fixed plans which is great but will probably head to Ko Phi Phi for a few days. There is a lot more easier climbing there and I want to do a few dive trips as well.

Anyway time to walk back to Tonsai. Hopefully the tide is still low enough that we don't have to do the jungle path.

More phuket

Well I hadn't met up with Alex and Mark last night so I was preparing to head over myself when they knocked on my door first thing. Lost notes, bad timing, timezones and tiredness are suspected.

So anyway we decided to chill out for a day on the beach which means I am now sunburnt! Doh! I think the polution layer here only blocks visible light and amplifies the uv. Am a bit more relaxed and phuket doesn't seem just so garish as I first thought. Now with the party lights and almost carnival atmosphere it is almost tolerable. Night is definitely more interesting than the day unless you can get away to an island (we tried but were too late for today).

Saw a kinda black humour event today: Being a beach resort there are lots of european's who can't handle even the smallest surf. He was yelling and panicing and a few people were swimming out to him. Just as one girl was near him (and still touching the bottom) a Thai life guard reaches him reaches him on a jet ski and drags him in. As soon as he is close two other life guards take over dragging him into shore while he speeds of and does some jumps to please the small crowd on onlookers. The poor guy is completely exhausted and limp and being dragged on his knees along the sand. They lie him down, face up, look at him for a while and then decide he needs to be emptied out. So they then pick him up by the feet and hold him upside down! And then just at the right moment the next wake comes in and submerges his whole head and again!

On the way back from the bookshop we witnessed some filming which could have been for a movie or a music video. Not sure but a small crowd of locals was pretty excited.

The lady boys are also a bit more of an issue than in Railey. Here they are agressive! Whaa! One accidental moment of eye contact and they are all over you.

Ok now it's time for a large night caps at several bars and then an early night to catch the 7.45am bus...

Phuket

A bit shell shocked from the journey even though it actually good and not too long. I had this really weird feeling when I jumped in the taxi and had to think about wether we were driving on the same side of the road as Australia. My head isn't with me today.

I just arrived in Phuket. This place is pretty nuts. It is just a crazy dirty mess of bars and I kinda wish I had headed straight to Tonsai. I sat next to a guy called Mark on the plane who works at the Aussie bar just down the road so I might check that out later. Alex and Mark turn up around 9pm tonight.

The new airport is nice but they are having teething problems and so the domestic flew out of the old one which was a 90 minute journey to get 40kms.

I love this sign!

I've seen this sign so many times and never been able to take it all in when speeding past it. Maybe it is just designed to make the NSW visitors feel stupid. From a quick glance it reminds me of a peace symbol, maybe it is to reduce road rage?

Also on the way up this trip; I hit a patch of really slow traffic just on the outskirts of Brisbane, but couldn't see anything that would slow it down that much. At a particularly boring corner I noticed a large add with a simple maze problem saying 'Traffic slow enough to do this?' ... well I managed to complete it just in time as I rolled past it! A few seconds later I burst out laughing as it occured to me that the sign was probably the reason for the slow traffic :) It's a pity I didn't see what the add was actually for.

Near death experience at climbing festivus

Well I haven't even got on a plane yet and almost got killed :)

On the weekend we went to Beular to clean and climb some of the granite goodness out there. Within minutes of arriving I tried to swing tarzan style on a long hanging mistletoe which unravelled in reverse ending with a big thump. I looked up to find a big bough had landed about a foot in front of me! Off to a good start...

I was still not 100% after a weird sickness I got in brisbane but still got up a few things including a new route on the Crystal Meth boulder, (The Sickness V2/3?) and toproped Todd's slab climb which is his horrid idea of fun.

I wish I could have stayed longer but I had to get out of there to pack, head north and spend hours doing my tax before my flight out to Thailand.

Last day at work!

Well today was my last day at UNE for six months! I have such an awesome 6 months of travel planned out. First a wedding and a week in brissy before flying to Thailand for a bludgy month of climbing. Then a few weeks in NT and WA 4WD'ing. I am really looking forward to the bungle bungles. Then a month in NZ catching up with a few people and caving and climbing and canyoning and tramping.

Then another wedding (my sisters) and then 3 months in Nepal and India (maybe Tibet as well).

Yeaahaah!