Hangin' On

Trying To Get Over The Roof

It's like a summer camp for climbers with only about 10-20% of the travelers being non-climbing backpackers staying here due to it's relaxed atmosphere and cheap accommodations. The huts / bungalows have no hot water and very few have A/C. They get generator created electricity in the evening only. The small bathrooms take some getting used to, consisting of a toilet with a shower head next to it and a small sink somewhere near by. It's odd that you can accomplish all 3 S's (*hit,*hower, *have) without lifting your feet.

It's easy to find climbing partners and meet new friends. Most everyone is very approachable and many traveled here alone and are staying for a long duration.
I've hit it off with Erik, an aeronautical engineer and fellow film afficionado from Stockholm, Sweden. He's a very interesting guy! We climbed yesterday and then had some great cultural and politically driven discussion while hanging out at one of the several beach-side bars for the evening. The next day his friend Andy arrived and they were nice enough to allow me to join them even though they both climb much better than I. Once again, it was followed by a great evening of insightful chit chat and inebriation.

The climbing is everything that it's world class reputation stated it to be! The rock is limestone, providing more pockets and holds ("jugs") than typical of other stone. The many stalactites are another one of it's great scenic and climbing features.

Climbing Buddies, Erik (left) & Andy

Looking Across to Tonsai from Thaiwand Wall

Another Railay Beach

Hiking Around Rilay

While doing a little climbing and exploration, I found a small opening that eventually lead to a large cavernous cave. It winded around inside the mountain and then came out much higher on the same mountain wall. It had a thick fine powdered floor and there were no other foot prints, so it was an interesting find.

Inside Cave

Inside Cave 2

Climbing to Splunk

There are monkeys all around this region. They tend to show up in droves after being unnoticed for any given period, startling climbers and wreaking havoc along the way.

Mischievous Monkey

Monkey 2

Monkey Showing Off His............ Stolen Orange.

Jumping Off

Deep Water Jump Off

Deep Water Jump Off Close Up

Deep Water Solo Climbing

Everyone in the group was traveling Thailand alone.
The deep water crew was- from left,
Myself
Diana, A social butterfly and stewardess from Germany,
Dave, A great climber and witty Englishman with a good dose of that dry sardonic sense of humor unique to Brit's - Hence his web address, www.Pythonist.com. Good luck on your PHD!
Berry, A mature beyond his years 19 Year Old from Holland who had just spent 3 weeks trekking north Thailand and living with a tribe.
Brad, A fun, outgoing guy from San Mateo traveling Asia until mid-March. (I'll want to hear about the travels when you get back, so be sure you get a hold of me)
Chris, An entertaining, boisterous individual from the U.K. enlisted in the military.
and Bec (across the middle), an upbeat and outgoing flower child from Australia.

Thanks to all of you for the great day of fun and evening of socializing!!

The Deep Water Solo Group

While there, I decided to enroll in the PADI scuba certification program, so I had class work and 5 dives during my stay. I was the only one in the class. The down side was that I had comparatively little time for climbing. Yet, on one busy day, I went on an AM dive, then went out with the group snorkeling, then went out later that afternoon with a group deep water solo climbing, then came back and climbed a few of the island's routes before dinner... tiring, but fun times!

I had recruited Berry from the prior day's deep water solo trip to go along. Other than him, I had never met any of the other travelers. It ended up being a great group of people!

The others on the trip were:
Berry,
Tommy and Hilary, a charming and attractive couple from El Cerrito, - Thanks for the great conversation!
Jonathan and Shaghig, another laid-back, cute couple. Thanks Jonathan for supplementing Pons' "broken-English-thank-god-I-had-a-book" scuba instruction - Jon is a professional scuba diver. Thanks Shaghig, for being so damn likable and for leading the laughter during my tales of prior reckless abandonment and the resulting injuries.
Ben and Mason, a couple of cool-cat's from Quincy, CA. Sam"antha, Mason’s girlfriend, who along with the others, works for the Department of Forestry monitoring and caring for spotted owls.
Shelby, an American college student in Thailand while working on an internship regarding the environmental impact of tourism on third world countries.
John and Camilla, a nice, recently married couple from Goteborg, Sweden, traveling with their 9 month old girl and proving once again that the Swedes are a friendly people enjoyable to converse with. It was a pleasure spending time around Majken! What a doll!
And, finally, Quin and Brett, a young married couple from Ontario, who have been away from home for about a year. They were the only "non-climbers" and were at the island to slow down and "get away from it all". Best of wishes on your return home!

Oh, as per the title of this blog entry.... In a small dose of "It's A Small World After All", I quickly learned that Tommy, Hilary, Jonathan, and Shaghig are all fellow alumni from Cal Poly, SLO. For an even larger dose, Shaghig and I realized we live two blocks apart here in Curtis Park, Sacramento and Jonothan worked for a neighbor of mine that used to live 3 doors down!

Picture to follow...

written by  Whereisdan on January 25, 2007 from Tonsai, Thailand
from the travel blog: Thailand on a whim
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Although I was warned by others that it can be painful, I was also told that you felt better afterward. Having a slightly bruised tailbone from the culmination of jumping off into the water and the "hiking incident", I pointed to that area indicating that it was off limits. She didn't speak English. The message began with me on my back and her lifting up my leg and putting a fair amount of pressure on my foot... not too bad. Then she began to pluck my calf muscles as if she were playing a large stand-up bass guitar... Ouch! Similarly, she worked the leg muscles, then repeated the routine on the next leg before having me turn over. Then, in some kind of sadistic plot twist, she must have thought that my complaint about my posterior meant that I wanted extra attention paid to it. Staying mum, and trying to relax, I let her go about the massage figuring I might as well get an authentic experience. She poured some type of menthol based self-heating oil lotion all down my backside and worked the exact area I wanted her to avoid, adding way too much oil to that same area. Next was her standing on and walking all over me, followed by her pulling back my arms and arching my back as if I were to make a swan dive. It went on simularly for the hours remainder. Most of me did feel better after she was done.

David Letterman style, here is my top 10 lessons learned from an authentic Thai massage.

1. Thai women have hands of steel and are stronger than should be humanly possible for their size.
2. Somehow, I must have offended my masseuse, her family, or the Shaolin Temple - Think Bruce Lee with patience.
3. A Thai masseuse gets paid way to little to work so hard. They must enjoy sadism.
4. It's possible to sweat without being hot, eating spicy food or increasing your heart rate.
5. If you hold your breath, you can sweat more, causing them to stop and fan you off - ahhh... relief.
6. They will restart, from the top, in the same painful area that caused you to sweat in the first place.
7. I'm more flexible than I thought.
8. I didn't know it was possible to temporarily relocate one kidney to the center of my abdomen.
9. It helps to arrive with a theme or melody on your mind to help facilitate a distraction - There's no place like home... There's no place like home...
10. Be arefull where the oil lotion ends up as it can inflame "sensitive" areas!

written by  Whereisdan on January 27, 2007 from Tonsai, Thailand
from the travel blog: Thailand on a whim
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Although it had a nice beach, Phuket was way too touristy for me with seemingly little to offer. I doubt I would go back, unless to just pass through again.

I'm now in Bangkok and staying at Suk 11, an oasis-like hostel located in the Sukumvit area. I'll be staying here until departing for home.

written by  Whereisdan on January 28, 2007 from Phuket, Thailand
from the travel blog: Thailand on a whim
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The Lao Liang Group

I've finally received my camera and camera case!! By now, I had acquiesced to the fact that somewhere in Thailand a postal worker was making good use of it. But, alas, it found its way home after apparently first going to the wrong zip code.

Now that I have the photos and email information I've be missing regarding my "Thailand friends", I'll finally be emailing them tomorrow.

Above is the photo of the Lao Liang Group: on the left is Hilary (CA, Bay Area), I, Shaghig (a fellow Sacramento resident that I just happened to meet in Thailand), John, Camilla and Majken (Sweden), on the right is Tommy (Hilary's husband), Jonathan (Shaghig's boyfriend), and closing out the lineup is Mason and "Sam"antha (Quincy, CA).

Below are a picture of Stefanie and I (Phuket) and the top of the parcel box containing the aforementioned camera, camera case, and it's contents.

Stef & I

Parcel