Our trek was another awesome day of adventure and making new friends. We headed out to the south of Chaing Mai with a company called Eagle House Treks (i highly recommend them, good price too). We were delighted to find that our group consisted of nine of us and we were bound to meet new friends. First stop we picked up two gorgeous, long legged, blond girls. Any guesses? Swedes. They were 18 years old, had just finished high school and set out to SE Asia for six months before going to college. wow. Next up we grabbed three Brits who had just graduated college and were touring SE Asia. Lastly, we picked up a young nurse from Barcelona who was still a little shell shocked by the fact that there were far fewer Spanish travelers in Thailand than she had anticipated.
We began our trek at a small village where we got a chance to witness the Karen people engaging in their own livelihood. We saw one woman weaving a dress for a wedding that will take about a month to finish in total. We saw a few pigs lounging around that are most likely almost dinner and a few kids offering handicrafts and bracelets. While this scene was interesting, it seemed a bit fabricated compared to the type of raw living situations I encountered in the Philippines. Nonetheless their handicrafts and woven scarves were beautiful and Lindsay bought one and we continued on our way.
We began our trek through the hot jungle and our guide (Mano) began to reveal that not only is he a tour guide with an attitude, but also some sort of Botanist. He picked up a leaf, put a little water on it, crushed it in his hand and POOF it turned into a deep red paint. Kor and I did the same and decided to put it on our faces as war paint. My came off that night in the shower- Kor's lasted for three days. Next up we happened upon another tree where Mano pulled off a big leaf with a thicker stem, broke the stem half way and proceeded to blow bubbles with the 'sap' from the stem of the leaf. Awesome! We decided red war paint and bubbles come from the jungles of northern Thailand.
We continued on our trek over a few rivers on "bridges" (wobbly logs help up by old rope) and ended at our next village. At this village Kor proceeded to get whooped by children in checkers and I bought some bracelets, ate lunch and got ready to board the elephants!
The elephant camp we went to was set out in the jungle and we could hear and smell the elephants before we even arrived. We bought bananas and proceed to hop up on our elephants and meet our "drivers." Lindsay and Elsa (Spanish girl) had an 8 year old driving their elephant and Kor and I were with the dad of the eight year old. The elephants had bristly hair and soft trunks that came right up to our hands when they sniffed the bananas. After a few minutes the driver of our elephant dismounted and allowed Kor and I to alternate taking the drivers seat. The elephants ears covered my entire legs with each flap and when it farted it felt like we might be propelled off the backside.
We spent about an hour on the elephants before heading to the river to float down on a bamboo raft. Mano warned us not to bring anything but ourselves as we would surely get wet. Kor brought along our "drybag" we had gotten in the south and packed his camera for some good shots. The bamboo rafts looked like something out of LOST; they were constructed of long shoots of bamboo and tied together with leather at the top and bottom. Our guide stood in the front with along bamboo stick and steered us away from rocks and helped guide us over small rocks and 'rapids.' Lindsay stood in the back and fended off rocks and did some simple steering while Kor and I enjoyed the ride.
About halfway through Lindsay and Kor decide to switch places and Kor stands up to take over the bamboo steering stick. We hit a small rapid and within seconds Kor is off the raft and all I can see if his yellow dry bag bobbing along in the water. Lindsay and I are in hysterics laughing while our boat guide is somewhat concerned that the only Thai guy on the trip just fell off. Kor flounders around in the water while we try to steer backwards and get him. Not possible. He finally swims up to the raft, dazed and confused from his fall, and gets back on while Lindsay and I are now in tears from laughter. He tries the whole steering thing again and brings us safely to the end of the river, soaking wet.
We dried off on the side of the highway and all nine of us from the journey passed out on the drive back to the city. We showered off at our RLD hotel and headed straight into the night market zone for rotee, foot massages and internet cafe. We then ate at a delicious spicy restaurant where I accidentally bit into a whole chili pepper. That was not a happy moment nor was the constant burning feeling in my stomach and abdomen I had for the rest of the night. Whoops! Good thing cooking school was up next...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Part II: The North
We arrived in Chaing Mai on May 5th to find a plethora of activities and handouts at the airport. We were relieved to find that the prices of everything were at least 50% less than the south if not more. We were tired of getting ripped off and ready for some good quality Asian prices.
We checked into our hotel and went out exploring. Chaing Mai is 'capitol' of the north. It is actually a relatively large city (but small in comparison to Bangkok). We started out by booking our trek for the next day and wandered the streets looking for a place to grab lunch. After asking countless people how to get to a specific restaurant we wanted to try we gave up on the crappy directions and settled for a random guest house cafeteria on the side of the road. It was surprisingly delicious and it turns out the owner had been invited to personally cook for the queen a few years back. Cha Ching!
Chaing Mai's most famous evening attraction is the night market and we set out to conquer it. We spent at least three hours wandering from stall to stall trying to haggle our way down to the best bargain. Lindsay and I brought home loads of gifts for our friends and family while Kor mostly just tasted different sausages (a decision he would later regret). We saw everything from fake nike and name brand everything to real thai silk, pearls and wooden handicrafts. We ended the evening by grabbing a tuk-tuk to a nearby restaurant. As we are driving to the restaurant we realize that we are quickly whizzing through the red light district. Pretty soon we see our hotel on the corner. And then more of the Red Light (karaoke bar) district. Thank you Kor's dad for recommending a nice quiet hotel in the RLD!
We checked into our hotel and went out exploring. Chaing Mai is 'capitol' of the north. It is actually a relatively large city (but small in comparison to Bangkok). We started out by booking our trek for the next day and wandered the streets looking for a place to grab lunch. After asking countless people how to get to a specific restaurant we wanted to try we gave up on the crappy directions and settled for a random guest house cafeteria on the side of the road. It was surprisingly delicious and it turns out the owner had been invited to personally cook for the queen a few years back. Cha Ching!
Chaing Mai's most famous evening attraction is the night market and we set out to conquer it. We spent at least three hours wandering from stall to stall trying to haggle our way down to the best bargain. Lindsay and I brought home loads of gifts for our friends and family while Kor mostly just tasted different sausages (a decision he would later regret). We saw everything from fake nike and name brand everything to real thai silk, pearls and wooden handicrafts. We ended the evening by grabbing a tuk-tuk to a nearby restaurant. As we are driving to the restaurant we realize that we are quickly whizzing through the red light district. Pretty soon we see our hotel on the corner. And then more of the Red Light (karaoke bar) district. Thank you Kor's dad for recommending a nice quiet hotel in the RLD!
After dinner we returned home and got ourselves geared up for a day of riding elephants and other adventures!
Luxuries in Phuket
We arrived in Phuket on a gloomy Sunday Morning (May 3rd). Kor had offered to treat us to one night in a nice hotel and we were so excited. It was called Kata Thani and they aimed to please. On our way to the hotel our taxi driver stopped at a famous pearl factory where
we drooled over huge pearls and looked at different types of oysters.
At our hotel we were happy to find a large room with functioning AC
and a shower with actual water pressure. While checking in we were
clearly the only young people in backpacks with dirt and salt water
all over our bodies. The receptionist kindly handed all three of us
cold, moist towels to wipe our hands and face. I was so dirty that I
wiped my arms and legs as well. I handed the towel back to her almost
completely brown. Oops. The first four hours we were at the hotel we
scrubbed ourselves raw from Maya Bay. We then laid down on the bed and
didn’t get up for a few hours. We were all exhausted from
‘sleeping’ on the beach and didn’t feel pressured to play in the ocean
with clouds and rain overhead.
After our afternoon nap we decided to explore the hotel grounds. Kata
Thani is spread across two beaches and has six infinity pools (which
we would soon explore). We started walking along the beach and made it
to a large rocky area where the rocks were flat enough we thought we
could climb across them. We followed the path of three Thai fishermen
in front of us and made it to some pretty impressive photo op
landings. After walking along the rocks for thirty minutes or so we
had completely lost track of our agile fishermen and decided we should
try to head toward the road. There were many fancy gates lining the
rock with gorgeous exclusive hotels and bungalows behind them. The
first gate we tried to enter was a bust as we were greeted by an
angry, growling dog. We ran back down to the rocks and continued on.
We next found a gate and walkway that looked inviting and accessible.
We are walking up the nice wooden staircase when we happen upon a pool
and a backyard. There is a man lying out at the pool with a fancy gold
Rolex flashing in our face. He doesn’t see us or hear us due to the
waves. There are no dogs in sight but the place doesn’t exactly look
like a hotel. “This is his house!” I say to Linds and Kor. Kor is
convinced it’s just a nice hotel and Lindsay is on the fence. We
continue to walk through the back patio when I peer into the house to
see a personal kitchen, living room, recreation room and dining room.
Definitely a house. I hear someone clinking plates in the kitchen but
the sun bathing man hasn’t moved an inch. We sprint up the stairs to
find two cars and two nice road bikes in the driveway. At this point
all three of us know we are at someone’s beach house (and that someone
is passed out by the pool). We sprint up the driveway, through the
gate and immediately burst into laughter. We made it. No dogs, no
angry owners and no taser guns.
We made it out to the road and walked another five minutes before
getting into town. The town of Kata Beach is a cute little surf town
with huge waves and inviting restaurants. We explored many options
(sampled some Roti per usual) and got coffee and free internet at a
little Italian coffee shop just off the beach. Lindsay stayed and
blogged for a while while Kor and I got our first taste of a Thai foot
massage. It was so nice and Kor talked to the ladies the whole time
about the ghost he saw at Maya bay.
We set out to explore dinner options and happened upon a quaint
outdoor Italian restaurant. I had heard great reviews of it in my
Lonely Planet guide and we were all ready for a night off of Thai
food. We got a delicious pizza, sauteed spinach and bruschetta. I know it's lame to have Italian food in Thailand but it was our one "break" night from rice and fried veggies.
That night we got back to the hotel and set out on our expedition of jumping into every single pool. We started at the ocean front pool and dove in. It was freezing. Next we jumped into the ocean (Lind's and i put our feet in and kor dove head first). We then hit the remaining 5 pools and ended at the biggest one which was next to the bar and live music. How convenient. We ordered some disgusting fruity cocktails (the pictures totally led us on) and sipped them down while doing somersaults in the pool. We headed back to the room and took another round of showers (because our shower was so fab) and slept like babies in our luxury hotel.
The next day Kor and I awoke at 6 am (Kor was rustling around so much I couldn't sleep) to an absolute downpour. It looked more like a tropical storm than anything I have ever seen. We had plans to go sea canoeing that day and were certain we would have to cancel. We went to the much anticipated buffet breakfast a bit later and stayed for literally two hours trying EVERYTHING they had to offer. We stuffed ourselves so as to avoid spending money on food the rest of the day.
The weather slowly started to clear and we decided to stick with sea canoeing that day. We headed to Phang Nga Bay that afternoon just as the clouds returned. Our guide (read: guy that speaks no English and simply drives the longboat for a ridiculous price) took us through some pretty amazing mangroves and swamp like lands to discover hidden caves, ancient cave drawings and even a GIANT iguana that looked like a crocidile. We stopped at 'James Bond Island' (where the Golden Finger was filmed) and disembarked the boat to wander around for a bit. The island was full of a Korean tourist group who were experimenting with very interesting "james bond" poses for photos. When I upload photos you will know what I mean.
We finished off the boat tour by exploring a few more caves and watching the rain start to pour. For the first time in a while, I was freezing. When we finished our sea canoeing we caught a bus back to Phuket and watched ridiculous karaoke videos while riding a bright pink bus with only Thai people aboard.
We spent our second (and last) night in Phuket in a hotel called "Gold Diggers." No joke. In the south of Thailand the hotel employees think it is appropriate to leave at 10pm and return the next morning for work. They have no concept of 24 hour service as a part of a hotel stay. As our hotel employees are heading home, Kor decides to go explore the beach and Lindsay and I retreat to our room to shower. After showering Kor has still not reappeared and I walk out of our room to find a German man (in a speedo at 11 pm) sitting on the patio smoking and trying to light a frog on fire. His wife is swimming in the pool. They both stare at me and I head back into the room quietly. Normally I would maybe inform the staff that some guy is lighting frogs on fire but since no one works at the gold digger at night i kept quiet and watched CNN. Kor returned soon enough with his daily ramen noodles and we packed our bags, slept for a few hours and got back up the next morning to catch our flight up north.
We were lucky that the rains didn't arrive until our final day (and that we had the luxury of a nice hotel to watch it from).
we drooled over huge pearls and looked at different types of oysters.
At our hotel we were happy to find a large room with functioning AC
and a shower with actual water pressure. While checking in we were
clearly the only young people in backpacks with dirt and salt water
all over our bodies. The receptionist kindly handed all three of us
cold, moist towels to wipe our hands and face. I was so dirty that I
wiped my arms and legs as well. I handed the towel back to her almost
completely brown. Oops. The first four hours we were at the hotel we
scrubbed ourselves raw from Maya Bay. We then laid down on the bed and
didn’t get up for a few hours. We were all exhausted from
‘sleeping’ on the beach and didn’t feel pressured to play in the ocean
with clouds and rain overhead.
After our afternoon nap we decided to explore the hotel grounds. Kata
Thani is spread across two beaches and has six infinity pools (which
we would soon explore). We started walking along the beach and made it
to a large rocky area where the rocks were flat enough we thought we
could climb across them. We followed the path of three Thai fishermen
in front of us and made it to some pretty impressive photo op
landings. After walking along the rocks for thirty minutes or so we
had completely lost track of our agile fishermen and decided we should
try to head toward the road. There were many fancy gates lining the
rock with gorgeous exclusive hotels and bungalows behind them. The
first gate we tried to enter was a bust as we were greeted by an
angry, growling dog. We ran back down to the rocks and continued on.
We next found a gate and walkway that looked inviting and accessible.
We are walking up the nice wooden staircase when we happen upon a pool
and a backyard. There is a man lying out at the pool with a fancy gold
Rolex flashing in our face. He doesn’t see us or hear us due to the
waves. There are no dogs in sight but the place doesn’t exactly look
like a hotel. “This is his house!” I say to Linds and Kor. Kor is
convinced it’s just a nice hotel and Lindsay is on the fence. We
continue to walk through the back patio when I peer into the house to
see a personal kitchen, living room, recreation room and dining room.
Definitely a house. I hear someone clinking plates in the kitchen but
the sun bathing man hasn’t moved an inch. We sprint up the stairs to
find two cars and two nice road bikes in the driveway. At this point
all three of us know we are at someone’s beach house (and that someone
is passed out by the pool). We sprint up the driveway, through the
gate and immediately burst into laughter. We made it. No dogs, no
angry owners and no taser guns.
We made it out to the road and walked another five minutes before
getting into town. The town of Kata Beach is a cute little surf town
with huge waves and inviting restaurants. We explored many options
(sampled some Roti per usual) and got coffee and free internet at a
little Italian coffee shop just off the beach. Lindsay stayed and
blogged for a while while Kor and I got our first taste of a Thai foot
massage. It was so nice and Kor talked to the ladies the whole time
about the ghost he saw at Maya bay.
We set out to explore dinner options and happened upon a quaint
outdoor Italian restaurant. I had heard great reviews of it in my
Lonely Planet guide and we were all ready for a night off of Thai
food. We got a delicious pizza, sauteed spinach and bruschetta. I know it's lame to have Italian food in Thailand but it was our one "break" night from rice and fried veggies.
That night we got back to the hotel and set out on our expedition of jumping into every single pool. We started at the ocean front pool and dove in. It was freezing. Next we jumped into the ocean (Lind's and i put our feet in and kor dove head first). We then hit the remaining 5 pools and ended at the biggest one which was next to the bar and live music. How convenient. We ordered some disgusting fruity cocktails (the pictures totally led us on) and sipped them down while doing somersaults in the pool. We headed back to the room and took another round of showers (because our shower was so fab) and slept like babies in our luxury hotel.
The next day Kor and I awoke at 6 am (Kor was rustling around so much I couldn't sleep) to an absolute downpour. It looked more like a tropical storm than anything I have ever seen. We had plans to go sea canoeing that day and were certain we would have to cancel. We went to the much anticipated buffet breakfast a bit later and stayed for literally two hours trying EVERYTHING they had to offer. We stuffed ourselves so as to avoid spending money on food the rest of the day.
The weather slowly started to clear and we decided to stick with sea canoeing that day. We headed to Phang Nga Bay that afternoon just as the clouds returned. Our guide (read: guy that speaks no English and simply drives the longboat for a ridiculous price) took us through some pretty amazing mangroves and swamp like lands to discover hidden caves, ancient cave drawings and even a GIANT iguana that looked like a crocidile. We stopped at 'James Bond Island' (where the Golden Finger was filmed) and disembarked the boat to wander around for a bit. The island was full of a Korean tourist group who were experimenting with very interesting "james bond" poses for photos. When I upload photos you will know what I mean.
We finished off the boat tour by exploring a few more caves and watching the rain start to pour. For the first time in a while, I was freezing. When we finished our sea canoeing we caught a bus back to Phuket and watched ridiculous karaoke videos while riding a bright pink bus with only Thai people aboard.
We spent our second (and last) night in Phuket in a hotel called "Gold Diggers." No joke. In the south of Thailand the hotel employees think it is appropriate to leave at 10pm and return the next morning for work. They have no concept of 24 hour service as a part of a hotel stay. As our hotel employees are heading home, Kor decides to go explore the beach and Lindsay and I retreat to our room to shower. After showering Kor has still not reappeared and I walk out of our room to find a German man (in a speedo at 11 pm) sitting on the patio smoking and trying to light a frog on fire. His wife is swimming in the pool. They both stare at me and I head back into the room quietly. Normally I would maybe inform the staff that some guy is lighting frogs on fire but since no one works at the gold digger at night i kept quiet and watched CNN. Kor returned soon enough with his daily ramen noodles and we packed our bags, slept for a few hours and got back up the next morning to catch our flight up north.
We were lucky that the rains didn't arrive until our final day (and that we had the luxury of a nice hotel to watch it from).
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Bet You Can't Say You've Camped in Thailand!
Kor decided that we must camp on Maya Bay- the famous "Beach" from the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio about five or six years ago. Maya Bay is located on the smaller of the Ko Phi Phi Islands (Ko Phi Phi Leh). This island is a national park and has no lodging or overnight guest houses. Only one company is allowed to take visitors to the island overnight. It had gotten rave reviews yet I was a little suspicious of camping in Thailand. My experiences with outdoor activities in third world countries had been less than impressive (hiking a volcano in El Salvador involved a "hiking guide" carrying a rifle the entire time and falling lava rocks causing my ankles to bleed the whole way down). After our day with the ever so jovial monkeys we changed our clothes and met with our group at a restaurant to head out to Maya Bay for a night of camping. At first it was just the three of us in the group with a couple guides for the night. We weren't so sure how we felt about this as generally we join these types of activities to meet new people and get a break from each other. Witihn about ten minutes two french girls walked up and plopped their packs on the table next to us. We officially had a group.
We head out to the longboat with our packs and get ready for what will be a very eventful trip. Once on the boat one of the French girls immediately starts to chain smoke and our guide, Nemo, starts talking to us in incomprehensible English. excellent. What he was trying to tell us is that we couldn't bring our packs to the island and that they would be just sitting on the unattended longboat all night and we should stuff everything we needed into Kor's little dry bag. This could be an issue. Perhaps they should have told us this before we boarded the boat. Linds and I scramble to throw in toothbrushes, bug repellent and a clean pair of underwear while Kor decides he is too bad ass to pack anything. Gross we think.
We make a pit stop on the opposite side of the island to snorkel and kayak around in a calm bay. The french girls kayak and chain smoke while the three of us snorkel and try to dive down as deep as we can. Pretty standard behavior. Our next stop is Maya Bay and as soon as we leave the cove the winds start to pick up and Nemo lets us know it may be a little rough getting in. What he didn't mention was the way in which we entered the island. We loaded three people at a time onto a small dingy and drove up to a large cliff with a wooden ladder hanging down it that we would need to climb up. We lecture Kor about not letting go of the dry bag and start to inch closer and closer to the wall. The driver is somewhat careful to not let a wave knock the boat into the wall but we are still skeptical of his skills. After a few minutes of getting close to the ladder, backing off and doing it all over again we finally went in for the big push and got up to the ladder. Immediately all three of us are slammed against the ladder/rock face and we are trying to quickly scramble up the ladder as the waves hit the sides of the dingy. Luckily we made it up without any scratches or cuts to show for (this is a first for Kor) and we start to descend the rock down the other side into a sandy cove. About 10 people are leaving the island as we are arriving and the majority of the day trippers are gone. We walk through the jungle for about ten minutes and emerge on the other side to get a perfect view of the famous beach we will be sleeping on.
It's still light out so Kor, Linds and I decide to play in the ocean (although it was a bit windy) while the french girls tag a long and smoke. We body surf, take photos, do hand stand contests, climb up rocks and enjoy the cool breeze. I decide to change out of my wet swimsuit just as the sun is setting and leave Linds and kor to their own devices (mistake #1). I notice while heading off the beach that there is a young blonde guy perched on a rock watching the sun set. That's odd, I think, I thought no other companies could bring campers here. Whatever.
I come back from the bathroom (aka a bush behind the campsite) and head over to the beach. Lindsay and Kor are no where in sight nor is the mysterious blonde dude. I ask the french girls where they went and they point to the tumultuous ocean. Great. I see them swimming off in the distance and headed to another beach about 100 meters away. I try to get them to come back but have no luck. I sit and chat with the french girls (studying abroad in Shanghai and decided to take a 10 day break "just because") for about 10 minutes. The chain smoker stops between her cigarettes to tell me she is wondering where my friends went as well. We try to peer out into the darkness and can't see anything. Naturally, I panic because that's who I am. I go talk to one of the guides and he tells me the tide is very high and it is dangerous out there. Out of no where he strips out of his jorts (jean shorts) and into his underwear and dives into the ocean. By now a few of the guides are gathered around looking in the ocean for them. Within maybe five or ten minutes I see three heads bobbing along and approaching the shoreline. Linds, Kor and random dude surface. I start exclaiming that the Thai guide was worried and is somewhere in the middle of the ocean while they try to tell me about some abandoned bungalow they found. A few minutes pass and still no underwear wearing Thai man. We wait and wait and the other guides decide he is a big boy and we head back to the campsite. He finally emerges about 10 minutes later and I force Kor to apologize to him in Thai.
While walking back to the campsite my heart is still pounding that I don't even realize that random dude is walking along chatting with us (in a British accent). Turns out he is a castaway. His name is Greg and he came on a "sunset trip" to Maya bay and was so maddened that his boat was going to leave before sunset that he jumped ship and decided to figure it out. Good thing he found us. We took him in and jorts man told him he had to pay to stay with us. Greg had no money on him (since he had jumped ship) but promised to pay the next day. Awesome, random castaway joins our group!
We spent the rest of the evening drinking some random whiskey/coke/redbull mixture in a bucket, playing card games, doing magic tricks and watching our guides cook up everything but the kitchen sink (since we didn't have one). When we are getting for bed Nemo takes us down to the beach and helps us find these BRIGHT blue glowing algae that can only be seen at a certain time of the night. They are so crazy looking and I start to understand why the Beach was filmed where it was. Kor also heard that if you pee in the water at night your pee will glow. He pees in the water and we see nothing but he claims it glowed a ton. At about midnight we settle into our foul smelling sleeping bags on the beach and attempt to fall asleep. Lindsay and castaway surprisingly fall asleep fairly quickly while myself and madame chain smoker can't sleep in rock hard sand. Kor is as usual just out of it so I can't tell if he is asleep or not. After a few hours of falling in and out of sleep Kor is stirring so much I have to look over and see what is up. He looks at me and says, "I have to tell you something in the morning." I fall back asleep and within an hour or so he has woken up both myself and Lindsay to tell us he saw a ghost. Apparently a Thai ghost squatted right next to his shoulder in the middle of the night and put his hand on Kor's shoulder. Kor tried to protect our dry bag from the ghost and then it disappeared. Linds and I doubt him and fall back asleep.
The next morning we are up just after the sun and aching. I have sand ALL over my body including in my ears, scalp and nose. Kor is still convinced he saw a ghost and talks to our guides about it (who have never seen one but said other travelers have). Greg (castaway) decides he loves the island so much he wants to stay for five days and bargains the guides into a good deal. I am so dirty and disgusting that I almost scowl at Greg for trying to live like that for five days. Salt water makes feeling dirty and hot ten times worse.
We hop on the little long boat and immediately set out into huge waves. I am scanning the boat for a life jacket and see a pathetic excuse for one at the front of the boat. We are rocking back and forth and I am certain we will tip. We stop by the bigger boat to claim our bags (no pirates took them overnight) and the water slowly starts to calm. In fact, our boat driver and other guide think it is calm enough that they stop steering and stand up on the bow of the boat to steer.
We made it back to Ko Phi Phi just in time to catch a ferry to Phuket. Kor was totally bummed because he couldn't get the ticket salesman to give him Thai national price. Kor is officially an American.
Phuket is up next!
We head out to the longboat with our packs and get ready for what will be a very eventful trip. Once on the boat one of the French girls immediately starts to chain smoke and our guide, Nemo, starts talking to us in incomprehensible English. excellent. What he was trying to tell us is that we couldn't bring our packs to the island and that they would be just sitting on the unattended longboat all night and we should stuff everything we needed into Kor's little dry bag. This could be an issue. Perhaps they should have told us this before we boarded the boat. Linds and I scramble to throw in toothbrushes, bug repellent and a clean pair of underwear while Kor decides he is too bad ass to pack anything. Gross we think.
We make a pit stop on the opposite side of the island to snorkel and kayak around in a calm bay. The french girls kayak and chain smoke while the three of us snorkel and try to dive down as deep as we can. Pretty standard behavior. Our next stop is Maya Bay and as soon as we leave the cove the winds start to pick up and Nemo lets us know it may be a little rough getting in. What he didn't mention was the way in which we entered the island. We loaded three people at a time onto a small dingy and drove up to a large cliff with a wooden ladder hanging down it that we would need to climb up. We lecture Kor about not letting go of the dry bag and start to inch closer and closer to the wall. The driver is somewhat careful to not let a wave knock the boat into the wall but we are still skeptical of his skills. After a few minutes of getting close to the ladder, backing off and doing it all over again we finally went in for the big push and got up to the ladder. Immediately all three of us are slammed against the ladder/rock face and we are trying to quickly scramble up the ladder as the waves hit the sides of the dingy. Luckily we made it up without any scratches or cuts to show for (this is a first for Kor) and we start to descend the rock down the other side into a sandy cove. About 10 people are leaving the island as we are arriving and the majority of the day trippers are gone. We walk through the jungle for about ten minutes and emerge on the other side to get a perfect view of the famous beach we will be sleeping on.
It's still light out so Kor, Linds and I decide to play in the ocean (although it was a bit windy) while the french girls tag a long and smoke. We body surf, take photos, do hand stand contests, climb up rocks and enjoy the cool breeze. I decide to change out of my wet swimsuit just as the sun is setting and leave Linds and kor to their own devices (mistake #1). I notice while heading off the beach that there is a young blonde guy perched on a rock watching the sun set. That's odd, I think, I thought no other companies could bring campers here. Whatever.
I come back from the bathroom (aka a bush behind the campsite) and head over to the beach. Lindsay and Kor are no where in sight nor is the mysterious blonde dude. I ask the french girls where they went and they point to the tumultuous ocean. Great. I see them swimming off in the distance and headed to another beach about 100 meters away. I try to get them to come back but have no luck. I sit and chat with the french girls (studying abroad in Shanghai and decided to take a 10 day break "just because") for about 10 minutes. The chain smoker stops between her cigarettes to tell me she is wondering where my friends went as well. We try to peer out into the darkness and can't see anything. Naturally, I panic because that's who I am. I go talk to one of the guides and he tells me the tide is very high and it is dangerous out there. Out of no where he strips out of his jorts (jean shorts) and into his underwear and dives into the ocean. By now a few of the guides are gathered around looking in the ocean for them. Within maybe five or ten minutes I see three heads bobbing along and approaching the shoreline. Linds, Kor and random dude surface. I start exclaiming that the Thai guide was worried and is somewhere in the middle of the ocean while they try to tell me about some abandoned bungalow they found. A few minutes pass and still no underwear wearing Thai man. We wait and wait and the other guides decide he is a big boy and we head back to the campsite. He finally emerges about 10 minutes later and I force Kor to apologize to him in Thai.
While walking back to the campsite my heart is still pounding that I don't even realize that random dude is walking along chatting with us (in a British accent). Turns out he is a castaway. His name is Greg and he came on a "sunset trip" to Maya bay and was so maddened that his boat was going to leave before sunset that he jumped ship and decided to figure it out. Good thing he found us. We took him in and jorts man told him he had to pay to stay with us. Greg had no money on him (since he had jumped ship) but promised to pay the next day. Awesome, random castaway joins our group!
We spent the rest of the evening drinking some random whiskey/coke/redbull mixture in a bucket, playing card games, doing magic tricks and watching our guides cook up everything but the kitchen sink (since we didn't have one). When we are getting for bed Nemo takes us down to the beach and helps us find these BRIGHT blue glowing algae that can only be seen at a certain time of the night. They are so crazy looking and I start to understand why the Beach was filmed where it was. Kor also heard that if you pee in the water at night your pee will glow. He pees in the water and we see nothing but he claims it glowed a ton. At about midnight we settle into our foul smelling sleeping bags on the beach and attempt to fall asleep. Lindsay and castaway surprisingly fall asleep fairly quickly while myself and madame chain smoker can't sleep in rock hard sand. Kor is as usual just out of it so I can't tell if he is asleep or not. After a few hours of falling in and out of sleep Kor is stirring so much I have to look over and see what is up. He looks at me and says, "I have to tell you something in the morning." I fall back asleep and within an hour or so he has woken up both myself and Lindsay to tell us he saw a ghost. Apparently a Thai ghost squatted right next to his shoulder in the middle of the night and put his hand on Kor's shoulder. Kor tried to protect our dry bag from the ghost and then it disappeared. Linds and I doubt him and fall back asleep.
The next morning we are up just after the sun and aching. I have sand ALL over my body including in my ears, scalp and nose. Kor is still convinced he saw a ghost and talks to our guides about it (who have never seen one but said other travelers have). Greg (castaway) decides he loves the island so much he wants to stay for five days and bargains the guides into a good deal. I am so dirty and disgusting that I almost scowl at Greg for trying to live like that for five days. Salt water makes feeling dirty and hot ten times worse.
We hop on the little long boat and immediately set out into huge waves. I am scanning the boat for a life jacket and see a pathetic excuse for one at the front of the boat. We are rocking back and forth and I am certain we will tip. We stop by the bigger boat to claim our bags (no pirates took them overnight) and the water slowly starts to calm. In fact, our boat driver and other guide think it is calm enough that they stop steering and stand up on the bow of the boat to steer.
We made it back to Ko Phi Phi just in time to catch a ferry to Phuket. Kor was totally bummed because he couldn't get the ticket salesman to give him Thai national price. Kor is officially an American.
Phuket is up next!
Attack of the Killer Monkeys
Day two in Ko Phi Phi.
Backround information: Kor, Linds and I head over to the main beach early in the morning to rent some kayaks and go check out "monkey bay," a famous beach spot where "wild" monkeys roam and you can feed them bananas. Our first stop was at a fruit stand where a woman gave us a bag full of old rotten bananas and assorted fruit and veggies for 10 baht to take the the monkeys.
Part I: We set out in kayaks for Monkey Bay. Kor and I paddled while Linds acted as the coxen guiding us through the somewhat rough waters. We made it around the corner to see a medium sized beach with maybe 3-4 people on it and no large boats in sight. This must be the right place. We park our Kayak on the shore and set out looking for monkeys.
Part II: We deboard our kayak and start looking for monkeys. At first we don't see any. All of a sudden they start to emerge from the rocks and jungle plants onto the beach. They look pretty cute. There are baby ones, females and some larger males. They start to approach us and Lindsay is holding the bag of bananas and not suspicious of her surroundings.
Part III: The monkeys really start to notice us and approach slowly but with intention. The bigger ones has large fists and serious eyes. They eye Lindsay and then eye the bananas and approach faster and begin to hiss. Lindsay screams and drops the bananas. The only thing to do in a situation like this. The monkeys retreat with the bag of bananas and begin to check them out and feast bit by bit.
Part IV: A beach goer lets us know that the monkeys won't get you if you stay near the water. Lindsay and I head his advice but kor thinks his Thai-ness earns him immunity. He is so wrong. He approaches the monkeys again and they begin to surround him and hiss at him. Pretty soon he has maybe 5 or 6 monkeys around him and one grabs at his leg, ready to bite. Lindsay and I scream and Kor ges away just before inflicting himself with some sort of terrible monkey rabies flu.
Part V: We get out the camera and try to video the monkeys. They are still displeased and begin to charge at us again. Kor barely makes it out alive (again) and the monkeys grab the bananas, start to eat and give us a look like "ha ha, dumb tourists."
Part VI: We take a break from the monkey death match and swim out to a big tourist boat that has just arrived. We crash their party and start doing cannonballs and dives off the very top deck. All of the tourists (Koreans) are wearing life jackets and can't figure out how these nutso Americans (and one Thai man) have gotten onto their boat.
Part VII: We head back to the beach where one of the bigger monkeys has stolen a beer can from one of the kayakers and is chugging it. We wonder how many beers he gets in a day. We get back in our kayak and decide that monkeys are terrifying and ruthless and we never want to feed them again.
Part VIII: I have a nightmare about monkeys the next night. It is still vivid.
Backround information: Kor, Linds and I head over to the main beach early in the morning to rent some kayaks and go check out "monkey bay," a famous beach spot where "wild" monkeys roam and you can feed them bananas. Our first stop was at a fruit stand where a woman gave us a bag full of old rotten bananas and assorted fruit and veggies for 10 baht to take the the monkeys.
Part I: We set out in kayaks for Monkey Bay. Kor and I paddled while Linds acted as the coxen guiding us through the somewhat rough waters. We made it around the corner to see a medium sized beach with maybe 3-4 people on it and no large boats in sight. This must be the right place. We park our Kayak on the shore and set out looking for monkeys.
Part II: We deboard our kayak and start looking for monkeys. At first we don't see any. All of a sudden they start to emerge from the rocks and jungle plants onto the beach. They look pretty cute. There are baby ones, females and some larger males. They start to approach us and Lindsay is holding the bag of bananas and not suspicious of her surroundings.
Part III: The monkeys really start to notice us and approach slowly but with intention. The bigger ones has large fists and serious eyes. They eye Lindsay and then eye the bananas and approach faster and begin to hiss. Lindsay screams and drops the bananas. The only thing to do in a situation like this. The monkeys retreat with the bag of bananas and begin to check them out and feast bit by bit.
Part IV: A beach goer lets us know that the monkeys won't get you if you stay near the water. Lindsay and I head his advice but kor thinks his Thai-ness earns him immunity. He is so wrong. He approaches the monkeys again and they begin to surround him and hiss at him. Pretty soon he has maybe 5 or 6 monkeys around him and one grabs at his leg, ready to bite. Lindsay and I scream and Kor ges away just before inflicting himself with some sort of terrible monkey rabies flu.
Part V: We get out the camera and try to video the monkeys. They are still displeased and begin to charge at us again. Kor barely makes it out alive (again) and the monkeys grab the bananas, start to eat and give us a look like "ha ha, dumb tourists."
Part VI: We take a break from the monkey death match and swim out to a big tourist boat that has just arrived. We crash their party and start doing cannonballs and dives off the very top deck. All of the tourists (Koreans) are wearing life jackets and can't figure out how these nutso Americans (and one Thai man) have gotten onto their boat.
Part VII: We head back to the beach where one of the bigger monkeys has stolen a beer can from one of the kayakers and is chugging it. We wonder how many beers he gets in a day. We get back in our kayak and decide that monkeys are terrifying and ruthless and we never want to feed them again.
Part VIII: I have a nightmare about monkeys the next night. It is still vivid.
Amazing Views @ Ko Phi Phi
Ko Phi Phi was truly an oasis of paradise. We arrived the morning of May 1st via a ferry from Railay that was jam packed of backpackers. We even met two girls from SF and compared stories about our encounters on Tonsai Beach with the hippies etc.
Our experience in Railay of looking for a hotel for a solid hour taught me (who then forced Kor to also learn) that we needed to research a couple hotels at least a few hours or a day in advance so as to not waste our time in paradise looking for a room with AC at a decent price. We managed to begin our uber stingy traveling plan in Ko Phi Phi by booking a room for two people and sneaking in the the third (they usually charge about 10$ more per night for the extra person when the hotel room itself is about 20/night so it's a pretty steep price increase). Immediately after deboarding our boat we checked into our hotel and hit the beach. We snorkeled and swam around in the amazing water for a few hours before heading off to explore the island more.
For those of you Lost fans out there, Lindsay, Kor and I like to pretend like every island/remote beach we are on is a part of lost. We pass time role playing between who are the "others," dharma and the survivors etc. It's pretty fun and passes time fairly quickly when you are trying to operate on "thai time. "
We had heard that there was an amazing view point overlooking the entire island as well as the neighboring Ko Phi Phi Leh. We set out to find the view point and got an excellent little tour of the island. Ko Phi Phi has no roads and operates solely with bicycles, small motos and pedestrians. It really reminded me of Europe in this way (and with all the European backpackers). We went down winding little cobblestone roads past countless massage parlors, roti stands, and internet cafes. After stopping to ask a few times (this is a MUST if you are going anywhere in Thailand...even down the street) we found our way to the giant set of stairs up to the three viewpoints. For people who haven't exercised or exerted themselves in 6 weeks, this climb felt like half dome. While it only consisted of 365 steps (Lindsay counted), we were all huffing and puffing pathetically at the top. We continued on to viewpoint one which showcased an incredible view of the island and all the damage and recovery areas from the tsunami of 2004.
We next moved onto viewpoint two which was much more established and paused for some water and photo shoots. Our last stop was viewpoint three which involved somewhat of a trek through the woods. It was just the three of us for the first 500 meters or so until we happened upon an older Thai couple walking and stretching on the trees. Lindsay carefully watched the old guy use the tree as a stretching post and mimicked his moves. He then struck up a conversation with Kor and explained that he walks up this mountain everyday. What a bad ass. He took us up to the final viewpoint and pointed out where his beach bungalows used to be before the 30 foot swells of the tsunami destroyed everything. Considering what Ko Phi Phi went through 5 years ago, it's current state is remarkable.
During our walk down to the beach we made a quick pit stop at an internet cafe to check email and inform Kor's landlord that his rent would be two weeks late (Kor completely forgot about all of his bills he had to pay). Lindsay was sitting two computers down from me when she yells, "No, No No! Get over here and read this." I am quite alarmed thinking her dog has probably died (he's 14). Turns out her dog is still alive and she was accepted to OHSU medical school! Once Kor and I confirm that the email is real she immediately bursts into tears and the woman running the internet cafe is extremely alarmed. We finish up at the Internet and proceed to walk through town while Lindsay trails behind us bawling. Everyone in the street is very concerned and thinks that Kor and I must have physically abused her and are now letting her sulk in her injuries.
We make a pit stop at the Maya Bay Camping office to reserve our camping trip to "The Beach" for the following night. We catch a long tail home and have an awesome celebration dinner and head down to the beach to watch the flame throwers.
Flame throwing is a pretty commonplace late night activity on the southern beaches of Thailand. At first we watch a seasonsed professional throw around a stick covered in flames while dancing to techno music. He is fast and makes the flame look like it is one big string of light. Next he hands the stick over to his 8 year old friend. No Joke. This kid is awesome! He throws the stick in the air, catches it, spins it between his legs and does it all over again. We were quite impressed.
We watched a few more rounds of flame throwing before they put out the flame and started to clear the stage. We thought it was a bit early to end but started to leave when suddenly we see them grab a long thick rope and douse it in gasoline. This can't be real. Flaming jump rope. Two of the men stand on top of canisters and hold the rope at either end as one of them lights it on fire and from even where we were standing we start to feel intense heat.
The first jumper is (naturally) the 8 year old boy. He is impressively agile and keeps the beat and makes it out unscathed. Next up a drunk white dude saunters up toward the rope. This is going to be good. We quickly turn Kor's camera onto video mode and start filming. The tall and clumsy guy tries to get in the rope. He initially dives in and is immediately smacked on the back with the fire rope and nearly trips over it as he runs out and rolls onto the sand. I was shocked he wasn't completely on fire. Sure enough, he goes back in for another try. Totally drunk. The second time he gets himself under the rope successfully but cannot seem to find the coordination to jump at the right time and stumbles on the fiery rope a second time before tripping and running out. It was pretty much hilarious but I will post the video next week so you can really get a feel for the adventure.
We sauntered along the beach back to our bungalow and Lindsay passed out before her head hit the pillow. All of her crying and emotional happiness put her in a deep trance. Kor and I shared a small bed with a mosquito net that didn't protect us from the mosquito's whatsoever. The next day is far more exciting and gets a blog of it's own....
Our experience in Railay of looking for a hotel for a solid hour taught me (who then forced Kor to also learn) that we needed to research a couple hotels at least a few hours or a day in advance so as to not waste our time in paradise looking for a room with AC at a decent price. We managed to begin our uber stingy traveling plan in Ko Phi Phi by booking a room for two people and sneaking in the the third (they usually charge about 10$ more per night for the extra person when the hotel room itself is about 20/night so it's a pretty steep price increase). Immediately after deboarding our boat we checked into our hotel and hit the beach. We snorkeled and swam around in the amazing water for a few hours before heading off to explore the island more.
For those of you Lost fans out there, Lindsay, Kor and I like to pretend like every island/remote beach we are on is a part of lost. We pass time role playing between who are the "others," dharma and the survivors etc. It's pretty fun and passes time fairly quickly when you are trying to operate on "thai time. "
We had heard that there was an amazing view point overlooking the entire island as well as the neighboring Ko Phi Phi Leh. We set out to find the view point and got an excellent little tour of the island. Ko Phi Phi has no roads and operates solely with bicycles, small motos and pedestrians. It really reminded me of Europe in this way (and with all the European backpackers). We went down winding little cobblestone roads past countless massage parlors, roti stands, and internet cafes. After stopping to ask a few times (this is a MUST if you are going anywhere in Thailand...even down the street) we found our way to the giant set of stairs up to the three viewpoints. For people who haven't exercised or exerted themselves in 6 weeks, this climb felt like half dome. While it only consisted of 365 steps (Lindsay counted), we were all huffing and puffing pathetically at the top. We continued on to viewpoint one which showcased an incredible view of the island and all the damage and recovery areas from the tsunami of 2004.
We next moved onto viewpoint two which was much more established and paused for some water and photo shoots. Our last stop was viewpoint three which involved somewhat of a trek through the woods. It was just the three of us for the first 500 meters or so until we happened upon an older Thai couple walking and stretching on the trees. Lindsay carefully watched the old guy use the tree as a stretching post and mimicked his moves. He then struck up a conversation with Kor and explained that he walks up this mountain everyday. What a bad ass. He took us up to the final viewpoint and pointed out where his beach bungalows used to be before the 30 foot swells of the tsunami destroyed everything. Considering what Ko Phi Phi went through 5 years ago, it's current state is remarkable.
During our walk down to the beach we made a quick pit stop at an internet cafe to check email and inform Kor's landlord that his rent would be two weeks late (Kor completely forgot about all of his bills he had to pay). Lindsay was sitting two computers down from me when she yells, "No, No No! Get over here and read this." I am quite alarmed thinking her dog has probably died (he's 14). Turns out her dog is still alive and she was accepted to OHSU medical school! Once Kor and I confirm that the email is real she immediately bursts into tears and the woman running the internet cafe is extremely alarmed. We finish up at the Internet and proceed to walk through town while Lindsay trails behind us bawling. Everyone in the street is very concerned and thinks that Kor and I must have physically abused her and are now letting her sulk in her injuries.
We make a pit stop at the Maya Bay Camping office to reserve our camping trip to "The Beach" for the following night. We catch a long tail home and have an awesome celebration dinner and head down to the beach to watch the flame throwers.
Flame throwing is a pretty commonplace late night activity on the southern beaches of Thailand. At first we watch a seasonsed professional throw around a stick covered in flames while dancing to techno music. He is fast and makes the flame look like it is one big string of light. Next he hands the stick over to his 8 year old friend. No Joke. This kid is awesome! He throws the stick in the air, catches it, spins it between his legs and does it all over again. We were quite impressed.
We watched a few more rounds of flame throwing before they put out the flame and started to clear the stage. We thought it was a bit early to end but started to leave when suddenly we see them grab a long thick rope and douse it in gasoline. This can't be real. Flaming jump rope. Two of the men stand on top of canisters and hold the rope at either end as one of them lights it on fire and from even where we were standing we start to feel intense heat.
The first jumper is (naturally) the 8 year old boy. He is impressively agile and keeps the beat and makes it out unscathed. Next up a drunk white dude saunters up toward the rope. This is going to be good. We quickly turn Kor's camera onto video mode and start filming. The tall and clumsy guy tries to get in the rope. He initially dives in and is immediately smacked on the back with the fire rope and nearly trips over it as he runs out and rolls onto the sand. I was shocked he wasn't completely on fire. Sure enough, he goes back in for another try. Totally drunk. The second time he gets himself under the rope successfully but cannot seem to find the coordination to jump at the right time and stumbles on the fiery rope a second time before tripping and running out. It was pretty much hilarious but I will post the video next week so you can really get a feel for the adventure.
We sauntered along the beach back to our bungalow and Lindsay passed out before her head hit the pillow. All of her crying and emotional happiness put her in a deep trance. Kor and I shared a small bed with a mosquito net that didn't protect us from the mosquito's whatsoever. The next day is far more exciting and gets a blog of it's own....
Thursday, May 7, 2009
More Higher, More Higher!
As I mentioned before, Railay is known for it's amazing monoliths and its rock climbing. You can't step too far off the beach without seeing a climbing outfitter nor can you gaze up at a giant rock without spotting small bodies scaling it at different heights. We originally wanted to rock climb on our arrival day and only stay one night but decided we were too exhausted from the trip and wanted to find a really good school. Luckily we didn't have to look far. While we were being mermaids in the salt water we swam up to a few guys (two danish and one from Iowa) who mentioned they were going 'solo climbing' the next day and were looking for more participants. Turns out solo climbing is the awesome and fairly hard to find new sport where you are taken out to cliffs and the boat drivers hang a wooden ladder on one of the cliffs and you proceed to scramble up the ladder and begin bouldering up the rock until you feel you have gone far enough and simply jump back into the water. awesome, right?
When we finally found Wee's Climbing School in the jungle of Tonsai Beach we were delighted to hear that the trip was only 700 baht per person, included lunch, snorkeling, rock climbing and lasted all day. We were so in. The next morning we hiked over to Tonsai using the low tide route. This entails walking over a couiple rocks and little caves with water about ankle deep. Pretty simple. Unless you're Kor. Once again, Lindsay and I were over the rocks with no blood or scrapes to show for. We didn't even have any close calls. Kor, on the other hand, managed to slip onto a rock covered in barnacles and somehow also cut up his elbow and knee. When we arrived at Wee's, Kor had a bloody hand, knee and elbow and was wondering why everyone was looking at him like he had the swine flu.
At Wee's "office" (read: wooden bungalow) we noticed a small group forming for our trip. Mostly young men who looked American or European. All of a sudden, a red haired guy (without a sun burn- still not sure how that works) looks at Kor and says "Oh my god, Kor!!." Turns out it was Dave, one of Kor's best friends from college at UC Hayward. he also lives in SF and they had been trying to get together in their own city but were apparently to busy and found it more convenient to meet up in the middle of the jungle on a remote beach in Thailand. Crazy.
The group consisted of eight of us plus the two guides (who we later decided were actually monkeys disguised as Thai men). We set off to sea and stopped at a big cliff about a ten minute boat ride away. The guides set up the ladder and we were off. Dave and his traveling buddy Andy were actually amazing climbers. The were up the ladder and scaling the rock in no time. Looked pretty easy so we jumped in after them.
At the top of every ladder the guides placed a bag of chalk for us to get a nice grip on the rocks. Since we were all soaking wet from swimming to the ladder, however, it proved to be quite useless. The first rock seemed nearly impossible. Linds and I moved at a snail's pace from hold to hold and couldn't even make it up to the second level. We had nice jumps off and decided to give the other side a try. The other side of the rock was a bit easier and with some coaching from Dave we made it all the way to the second landing and posed for a few pictures before plunging into the ocean.
We were not the only creatures that seemed to think this water was amazing. Jellyfish also like to inhabit the area RIGHT where we jumped in. Generally our jumps involved a scream, big splash, come up for air and then another yelp from a jelly fish sting. (They were harmless jelly fish, mom, but they did give little stings that hurt for a few minutes). After jumping several times from these rocks and watching the legit climbers scale to unbelievable heights we headed to an amazing little cove for lunch and snorkeling. The lunch was a delicious fried rice with the spiciest curry and chili's I had yet to try (that has changed now...). While digesting we got a chance to really see how Thai men climb. Essentially, like monkeys. Our two guides started scaling rocks that had essentially NO holds or grips on them whatsoever. They would turn their bodies upside down and wrap their arms around their knees and hoist themselves up. Everytime. We all gave it one or two honest at temps before deciding we didn't have any monkey in us.
The snorkeling was relatively uneventful but the water felt amazing. Dave and Andy had brought along the ultimate travellers camera. It was waterproof, shock proof, sand proof, beer proof and pretty much amazing. We dinked along the rocks looking for sea cucumbers, giant clams, clown fish and anything else we could find to take pictures of with the famous camera.
After snorkeling we stopped at the next (and definitely most epic) rock. The ladder this time was a bit longer and required you to hoist yourself up onto the hanging cliff without using any leverage. The first to go was a Canadian man. He got up to about 30 feet and decided to jump down. Naturally Dave had to go higher. Dave scaled all the way up to 17 meters (roughly 60 feet) and we all watched in amazement. The guides got him up there by basically just saying "more higher, more higher" and he obliged. Once at 60 feet he squatted on the rock and contemplated if he was cliff jumping or sky diving. IT didn't take him too long to jump (surprisingly) and he emerged from the water without too much pain. Next up was Emilie, our chain smoking, speedo wearing Danish friend. He claims he hasn't climbed in two years but was able to scurry up pretty much any challenge he was given. He got up to the top no problem, jumped and made it out in once piece.
Andy was hesitant but decided he better do it since solo climbing was the reason he came to Thailand. His climb was flawless but his jump resulted in a nice thorough edema he was still feeling the next day. Oops. Once all the boys had gone Kor decided he HAD to do it (with some serious pressure from me and Linds). He got up the rock just fine and got to the squatting section and yells down, "is it normal to be shaking?" We reassured him that it was and began the countdown for his jump. "No counting!" he yells and we then start singing his favorite song to get him to jump. Within a few minutes he was plummeting into the water feet first (phew!) and emerged with a big Kor smile on his face. Since then he has decided he is a rock climber and attempts to scale anything in sight. He also claims he is commited to doing it back in SF. We'll see if that happens.
Unfortunately, the rope logistics were too difficult for Lindsay or I to make it up to the big cliff and we remained in the boat as the camera women and much needed cheer leaders. By the end of the six hour day we were ready to bond some more with our rock climbing friends and Kor wanted to catch up with his long lost friend. We all went out for a curry dinner (a mistake I regretted about two hours after...) and went to another hippie bar with mats and incense for drinks and card games. We left Railay the next morning with sun tans and new senses of accomplishment. We also left with much more cohesiveness than when we came and were totally ready for more adventures and more people to meet. Our next stop: Ko Phi Phi!
I've used up my internet budget for the day and am ready for some Roti so hang tight for a day for the next post!
When we finally found Wee's Climbing School in the jungle of Tonsai Beach we were delighted to hear that the trip was only 700 baht per person, included lunch, snorkeling, rock climbing and lasted all day. We were so in. The next morning we hiked over to Tonsai using the low tide route. This entails walking over a couiple rocks and little caves with water about ankle deep. Pretty simple. Unless you're Kor. Once again, Lindsay and I were over the rocks with no blood or scrapes to show for. We didn't even have any close calls. Kor, on the other hand, managed to slip onto a rock covered in barnacles and somehow also cut up his elbow and knee. When we arrived at Wee's, Kor had a bloody hand, knee and elbow and was wondering why everyone was looking at him like he had the swine flu.
At Wee's "office" (read: wooden bungalow) we noticed a small group forming for our trip. Mostly young men who looked American or European. All of a sudden, a red haired guy (without a sun burn- still not sure how that works) looks at Kor and says "Oh my god, Kor!!." Turns out it was Dave, one of Kor's best friends from college at UC Hayward. he also lives in SF and they had been trying to get together in their own city but were apparently to busy and found it more convenient to meet up in the middle of the jungle on a remote beach in Thailand. Crazy.
The group consisted of eight of us plus the two guides (who we later decided were actually monkeys disguised as Thai men). We set off to sea and stopped at a big cliff about a ten minute boat ride away. The guides set up the ladder and we were off. Dave and his traveling buddy Andy were actually amazing climbers. The were up the ladder and scaling the rock in no time. Looked pretty easy so we jumped in after them.
At the top of every ladder the guides placed a bag of chalk for us to get a nice grip on the rocks. Since we were all soaking wet from swimming to the ladder, however, it proved to be quite useless. The first rock seemed nearly impossible. Linds and I moved at a snail's pace from hold to hold and couldn't even make it up to the second level. We had nice jumps off and decided to give the other side a try. The other side of the rock was a bit easier and with some coaching from Dave we made it all the way to the second landing and posed for a few pictures before plunging into the ocean.
We were not the only creatures that seemed to think this water was amazing. Jellyfish also like to inhabit the area RIGHT where we jumped in. Generally our jumps involved a scream, big splash, come up for air and then another yelp from a jelly fish sting. (They were harmless jelly fish, mom, but they did give little stings that hurt for a few minutes). After jumping several times from these rocks and watching the legit climbers scale to unbelievable heights we headed to an amazing little cove for lunch and snorkeling. The lunch was a delicious fried rice with the spiciest curry and chili's I had yet to try (that has changed now...). While digesting we got a chance to really see how Thai men climb. Essentially, like monkeys. Our two guides started scaling rocks that had essentially NO holds or grips on them whatsoever. They would turn their bodies upside down and wrap their arms around their knees and hoist themselves up. Everytime. We all gave it one or two honest at temps before deciding we didn't have any monkey in us.
The snorkeling was relatively uneventful but the water felt amazing. Dave and Andy had brought along the ultimate travellers camera. It was waterproof, shock proof, sand proof, beer proof and pretty much amazing. We dinked along the rocks looking for sea cucumbers, giant clams, clown fish and anything else we could find to take pictures of with the famous camera.
After snorkeling we stopped at the next (and definitely most epic) rock. The ladder this time was a bit longer and required you to hoist yourself up onto the hanging cliff without using any leverage. The first to go was a Canadian man. He got up to about 30 feet and decided to jump down. Naturally Dave had to go higher. Dave scaled all the way up to 17 meters (roughly 60 feet) and we all watched in amazement. The guides got him up there by basically just saying "more higher, more higher" and he obliged. Once at 60 feet he squatted on the rock and contemplated if he was cliff jumping or sky diving. IT didn't take him too long to jump (surprisingly) and he emerged from the water without too much pain. Next up was Emilie, our chain smoking, speedo wearing Danish friend. He claims he hasn't climbed in two years but was able to scurry up pretty much any challenge he was given. He got up to the top no problem, jumped and made it out in once piece.
Andy was hesitant but decided he better do it since solo climbing was the reason he came to Thailand. His climb was flawless but his jump resulted in a nice thorough edema he was still feeling the next day. Oops. Once all the boys had gone Kor decided he HAD to do it (with some serious pressure from me and Linds). He got up the rock just fine and got to the squatting section and yells down, "is it normal to be shaking?" We reassured him that it was and began the countdown for his jump. "No counting!" he yells and we then start singing his favorite song to get him to jump. Within a few minutes he was plummeting into the water feet first (phew!) and emerged with a big Kor smile on his face. Since then he has decided he is a rock climber and attempts to scale anything in sight. He also claims he is commited to doing it back in SF. We'll see if that happens.
Unfortunately, the rope logistics were too difficult for Lindsay or I to make it up to the big cliff and we remained in the boat as the camera women and much needed cheer leaders. By the end of the six hour day we were ready to bond some more with our rock climbing friends and Kor wanted to catch up with his long lost friend. We all went out for a curry dinner (a mistake I regretted about two hours after...) and went to another hippie bar with mats and incense for drinks and card games. We left Railay the next morning with sun tans and new senses of accomplishment. We also left with much more cohesiveness than when we came and were totally ready for more adventures and more people to meet. Our next stop: Ko Phi Phi!
I've used up my internet budget for the day and am ready for some Roti so hang tight for a day for the next post!
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