Good Bye Beaches, Hello Northernn Thailand

Hi everyone, today I am in Chiang Mai the northern part of Thailand with Brendan and his friend Ryan.

My last look at Railay Beach. Because Railay East is a very shallow piece of water, you ride in these boxy, homemade 4x4 trucks from the waterline to about 200 feet out where the water is deep enough for the longtail boats, which was just over a foot deep at most. As they drove us out to the boat to drop us off, they also were loading food and supplies from another longtail into the truck to take back to the shops on the beach.

Once I was on the longtail, I had a short ride to the pier at Krabi Town, where I caught a mini-bus. That mini-bus took everyone on a ride to the 'bus station', where we waited around for an hour and a half. It was really just a shack off the road with overpriced junk food, and I passed the time talking politics mostly with some Brits and Aussies. Naturally the ticket seller lied to me and everyone else when they said it was a direct bus all the way, because it certainly was not the case. At around 5pm, we left the 'bus station' in another mini-bus, which we rode in for almost two hours to another shack down a dirt road in who knows where. There, we only had a few minutes to get on the real bus, no time to eat or anything. The bus played the new GI Joe movie, which was just as bad as I expected it to be, but still a decent way to kill time on the long ride. For some reason the toilet was locked, and unlike the buses that make too many stops, this one didn't seem to stop at all and I just about had to pee in a bottle. At just past midnight we finally stopped at a food stand where poor quality and overpriced food was unenthusiastically consumed, then we hopped back on the bus for the rest of the drive.

At 5:15am, well before sunrise, the bus arrived in Bangkok and I had a lot of time to kill. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I got less than 4 hours of uncomfortable sleep on the bus, so I stopped at a little stand that served coffee and fried dough for 20 baht to keep me awake for the long day ahead. I wandered back down Khaosan Road, which actually does sleep apparently, then sat down on a bench on one of the main roads to read my book and wait for sunrise.

At 8am, I went to the hotel I had stayed at with Nick's family to pick up my passport I'd left with them three weeks earlier and picked it up with my new Indian visa. They charged me 3100 when I'd paid for it, but when I got there I was told it was actually 4000 baht and I needed to pay the rest of it. I was a bit annoyed, but that price was inline with the priced I'd been quoted from other places when I was looking where to get it, and still well below the 'official' price of 6800 baht. I then paid 100 baht for breakfast, but the food is good and all you can eat, plus they have wifi. So I sat around their lobby eating for two hours until the food was put away, then another 3 hours taking care of business on the computer and then just killing time. With my visa ready, now all I needed to meet Sazzy in India was my plane ticket.

Because Brendan was arriving at 2am or so, I went ahead and got a room for both of us to stay in. I picked one right on Khaosan because that is where I told him to meet me, and because it is a crazy scene to witness. I ended up with a room in Lak Guest house, because it was cheap, 260 baht, was right across from where I told Brendan to meet me, and had a cool rooftop deck with some decent views. The room was what you expect for that kind of price on Khaosan, but it ended up being a poor choice. What I didn't know was that it was above one of the loudest clubs on the road, and the bass was shaking our room way up on the 5^th floor well past 4am...

Ok first of all let me just say I'm not nearly as tan as this picture makes me look! I've been on the beach for a long time up until now, but that looks like some Jersey Shore levels of tanning! Weird lightning or something... Anyways, Brendan arrived about when I expected, shortly before 2am, and after putting his things down we walked around the area, chatted for a while and went to sleep quite late. Brendan was kind enough to bring a package from my mother containing some brownies marzipan. Thanks for the treats!

In the morning we moved into a different guest house on the other end of Khaosan, 7 Holder Guest House (10 baht less and much quieter), and since I knew the area a bit from my last time in Bangkok I took Brendan around the area. Because I thought Wat Po was so nice last time, I was happy to go there again with Brendan and we also spent a while sitting in a park that was once the Royal Garden, and just wandered around for a few hours exploring the neighborhoods away from all the tourist attractions.

Being Asia, most people don't have cars and instead have a moto if they have a vehicle (even in Bangkok which has more cars than any other part of southeast Asia I've been to yet). Most are just 100-125cc Hondas, but there are tons of bikes around and from time to time you see a really nice one like this vintage BMW. My other favorites are the mini-bikes, not sure what they are called, but are about pit-bike size but use the same 125cc engine as the normal motos, and the 125-150cc sport bikes. Being out here really makes me want to buy a motorcycle, but I'm going to try and resist!

In the evening, again there was lots of time to kill. Brendan’s friend who we would also be traveling with was arriving at about 2am so we walked around some more, I bought my plane ticket to India (February 2^nd, very excited!), and we waited on Khaosan. These were just two crazy Swedish brothers we met while sitting at the bar. They had wasted lots of money in wigs, hill-people hats, and trinkets like the annoying wood frogs people sell everywhere, and were quite amusing. Brendan's friend Ryan finally arrived at 3:15am, and we rather promptly went to sleep in what was probably the most uncomfortable bed I've had yet.

In the morning, the three of us took off walking and we went to a small park by the river. Brendan and Ryan are both big birders, and we sat on a bench for a while just looking at birds that were new to them. We had the bus to Chiang Mai at 5:30 so we couldn't make big plans for the day and just wandered around until we got tired of walking. We did come across a weird little place behind an old fort wall that sold all kinds of fireworks (not very good prices), walked through a market that was I think devoted entirely to Buddhist nick-naks, among other local discoveries.

At 5:30pm, we took off for the bus, and had an uneventful overnight ride to Chiang Mai which is 12 hours away and in the very north of the country. I managed a bit more sleep on this ride than the last one, but still not great. The bus dropped us off and we were then loaded onto a mini-bus and drive into Old Town, where they then dropped us off in front of the guest house they were hoping we would stay at. We kept walking of course, and found another place farther down the street. I was glad to be out of Bangkok and back in a smaller city.

Once we were situated in our rooms, we rented three bikes and headed off for the Warorot Market to get some breakfast and look around. I haven't ridden a bike since Phnom Phen with Nick and Ellen, and it was fun to be back in the saddle. We walked through the market, ate at two different food stalls and went on our way riding around the town.

One of our main stops for the day was Wat Phra Sing one of the many wats in Chiang Mai. I'm not sure the reason for it, but Chang Mai is second to only Bangkok in terms of the number of wats it has, which means you seem to see one every few blocks. We have two right near our guest house that are both surrounded in similar white walls, confusing us on more than one occasion already. Like many others, this complex houses a number of different buildings and Buddha images, including the 'Lion Buddha' which is the oldest and most revered in the area, arriving in the 1360s. The Wat is nice, but seeing this after seeing the wats in Bangkok is sort of like my diving experience: starting out at some of the biggest and best makes everything else seem a little underwhelming in comparison.

This complex housed a school of about 1,100 students, including a school for monks. We hadn't planned on doing one of the 'monk chats' but as we sat down at a table to decide what to do next we were approached by one monk, then another. The idea is to be able to ask the monks questions, and they get to practice their English skills. The two monks we ended up chatting with were both 19 and had been studying together for 6 years. It was pretty interesting to talk with them, about subjects such as how monks couldn't play sports of music, why people become monks, that it is hard for those who become monks to get into university later on, and that one of them liked Chang Mai University 'because it had lots of girls' haha...

Speaking of Chang Mai University, it was the next stop of the day. About 2km from Old Town, we rode down a large road and into the main entrance. Some sort of graduation is happening soon, and students were out in their caps and gowns getting photographed everywhere we looked. The university isn't supposed to be much to look at, but is situated on a tree and grass covered campus at the base of the 'mountain' that overlooks the city. There Brendan and Ryan saw a number of new birds, and we ran into a 18 or 19 year old missionary from Montana who was teaching English to students as part of his training.

We then took a long, late lunch and headed back to the room with plans of relaxing a bit and then heading out in the evening. Instead, exhaustion seemed to catch up to all of us and by the time we had woken up at about 10:30pm, we quickly realized we were not going to get out that evening, and should take a rest day the next day as well.

In the morning, we woke up to return the bikes to the shop (since we were expecting to ride to the bar last night), went out to breakfast, and then went back to the room to plan. After some planning, we headed out and wandered into one of the many previously mentioned wats to look around. It contained a building and Buddha from the 1400s, and strangely enough a statue of Donald Duck with chopsticks...

In our efforts to find transport tomorrow, we returned to the Warorot Market which was much more interesting this time. We entered the dry-good section and clothing section, which had a big screen TV showing music videos, and people working stands were dancing a bit. Also, for some reason there was a guy in a military-style uniform and a microphone walking around talking. I wish I knew what he was saying! At the market I bought a new hair brush (still getting used to this long hair thing) and some avocados, I think the first I've seen here in se-Asia!

At the moment the three of us are sitting at a restaurant where we all had some great curry dishes, and are using their wifi. Tonight we are going to go to a bar for some live music, and tomorrow into the park to see a view of the city and do some nature watching (well, birding in particular). Until next time!

Rock Climbing on Railay, Does it Get Any Better Than This?

Welcome back, as I write this, I am waiting for the boat that will take me away from Railay Beach (too soon!!) and off to Bangkok. I've had a wonderful time here, so sit back and read all about it:

As I discussed in my last blog, Railay is supposed to be one of the top climbing spots in the world (one person was saying he thinks it's #2, after one of the spots in California, forget which one...) and is an area full of everything from serious climbers to tourists here to try climbing for the first time. The schools are all over the place, with ½, 1, 2 and 3 day classes and all offering exactly the same thing. I went with Real Rock simply due to price (4500 baht verses 5000-6000) for other schools, and I was pretty happy with it. Everywhere we went we saw all the other schools, and they all know each other and get along so I'm not sure why you would pick one of the more expensive ones.

While I've done a little bit of rock climbing in the past, it's really been five years since I've done much. That was during the semester I lived in the woods in New York, the Adirondack Semester, but since then I'm struggling to recall the last time I climbed. Sure I climb trees at work, and do some mountain climbing with my dad, but actual rock climbing is very different, and I was very rusty on how it all worked so I needed a refresher and some people to climb with out here. The class was a perfect way to do that.

We started out at 9am on One Two Three wall, one of the closest ones and the area with the bulk of the easier routes. It is a bit of a zoo with so many people around (high season and all) but despite this it was all managed pretty well. It was a mixture of classes and other climbers who were just out with their own gear, and between climbs was fun to watch so many other people.

We started out doing top rope of course, and as soon as I got my hands on the rock again I was loving it. After maybe two climbs and some quick instruction (as well as watching others), I was given a rack of quick-draws and sent up a more challenging route as lead climber. What that means is that I was going up trailing the rope behind me and clipping into the bolts as I went, rather than having the rope setup above from the beginning. It's a bit more challenging and technical, and a lot of fun. This photo is just me looking down from the top of one of the routes.

Just another beautiful day in Thailand! This is Railay East, from the spot we were climbing at. After morning climbing, we would take a one hour lunch break. I thought this was funny, because when they said “includes lunch” what that meant was that they just gave back 100 baht of what you already paid and told you to go buy your own lunch, haha. That system however, is probably better than the alternative. Most times you sign up for something that includes lunch it's just some dish of low quality fried rice, so I preferred their system.

In the afternoon we went to Diamond Cave Wall, and did more climbing. This time again, it was a mixture of lead climbing and top rope, just depending on what routes we ended up doing and if the other instructors had ropes up to the anchor already. The routes we did were rated 6a and 6b, and people seemed impressed I could lead 6b climbs on my first day climbing in so many years.

After a hard days work and almost nothing but Thai food for three weeks, I decided to splurge and get a burger for dinner. I ordered beef, and while the 'meat' didn't look like any beef I'd seen before it was very good. I think I mentioned it last post, but the restaurant here at Rapala where I stayed is about the cheapest place to eat here on the beach, and the food is quite good. I ended up eating almost every meal for three or four days in a row here, haha.

Yep, just another wonderful day out here in Thailand, walking down the beach to go rock climbing! That cliff was our next climbing spot, I forget the name though... (and don't have the map with me), where we did a few routes in the morning. At one point one of our guides was leading, and took a fall. Normally this doesn't really matter, but for some reason the belay device that was supposed to stop him automatically, a Gregorry (sp?), failed to catch and he came all the way to the ground very quickly, maybe 30 feet. At the ground the weight balanced with that of the person belaying him, so he didn't fall to the ground in a heap, but he landed on his foot which seemed to hurt a fair bit. After some climbing we headed to the cave in the cliff, and entered the darkness.

The opening was very large, but quickly we began climbing up rickety bamboo ladders into the darkness.

After a few minutes, we saw light again, had gone through he whole cliff and arrived on the other side, very cool. From here we had this amazing view of Railay West and of climbers coming up the rock from below us. Here we rappelled down, which was supposed to be a 'feature' of the class or whatever, and something people pay to do on it's own. To me though, it was just a waste of time because honestly I rappel out of taller trees than this all the time, and it was just boring. The view was nice though, and for people who have never done it before I'm sure it is exciting.

After lunch we went back to One Two Three wall, and tried some more challenging routes. I had no trouble in the early afternoon, but by the end of the day my hands and forearms were so weak and tired I was useless, and called it a day.

That evening I could feel my hands and forearms were just wasted and my fingers cut up from the sharp rock. Rock climbing involves so much hand strength and little muscles you just don't use in anything else, so two days of climbing with no prior training I knew I couldn't climb the next day worth anything. This left me with a decision: take a day off from climbing, finish the class the day after and miss out on meeting Nick, Ellen and Chris in Phuket, or not finish the class, on the day we would learn about multi-pitch climbing, and just go to Phuket. I felt bad for not meeting up with my friends, but honestly the decision wasn't that hard to make, haha.

So the next day I slept in and took care of some business. Walking around the beach, I asked about prices from Railay to Bangkok, and got a ticket for 500 baht (they ranged from 5-600). That includes taking a longtail boat to Krabi Town, a van to the bus station, and then an overnight bus to Bangkok, a pretty good deal really. I also did some laundry (the tried and true plastic-bag method) and left it to dry on the deck of my bungalow.

With rest being the order of the day I went back to the beach and just lazed about as the sun was going down. I've been to a lot of different beaches on this trip now, and the beach here is very nice. Unlike some beaches, there are no people harassing you trying to sell you things, there are no rocks in the water, at low tide it is still deep enough to swim easily, and of course the views of the surrounding cliffs are amazing. I then finished the day by eating dinner, reading my book and going to bed early so I could get the most out of climbing the next day.

The next day my hands were still far from back to normal, but felt a lot better and I was ready to go. We headed back to One Two Three wall, and after an easy warmup, I lead this climb here that starts off with a good little overhang. I've always dreamed about doing some cool overhang climbing like this, and I was pumped to have a chance out here! The first few moves were pretty hard, and since I was leading and the first bolt was a ways above me, I was unprotected (no rope to catch me) but it was a blast. Also, pictures like this make me realize just how much hair I have now, haha.

And farther up the same route, where it gets a fair bit easier. Let me just say climbing on and among stalactites is pretty awesome!

After lunch we got to learn about what I was most excited to do, multi-pitch climbing. What that means, is climbing with a partner up long stretches where a rope isn't long enough to do it in one shot. So instead, the first person climbs up to where the anchor is on the cliff, clips in, and then belays their partner from above. Once both people are up the wall on the anchor, then the process is repeated and you belay your partner from on the rock face. I'd never done this, and had no idea how to set it all up so it was pretty exciting to learn and practice it. I wish we had more time, but we only did one 'multi-pitch' climb and it was really just stopping half way at another anchor, tying in, and then going on to the next anchor that could have been done in one shot in the first place. Oh well, I suppose I should have expected that, but I was expecting to get to do more...

After that, I wanted to do a few more climbs, and the guide pointed to a route and told me to do it. Of course I did, and as soon as I got down he said “Now that one, no rest!” So I went up the next one as well without stopping. I thought that would be my last climb, so I went all out, going hard and fast up the rock. Then the sent me up another, directing me up a pretty hard section where I fell once or twice, but made it. I got down, and they said “Do this one, only two minutes!” So I did a bit of a speed climb up that one, thinking it would be my last. Rather exhausted, I got back to the ground, and then they wanted me to lead one of the hardest routes on that particular wall. I had done that climb before, and found it very difficult. Now it was my third day of climbing, at the end of the day after just racing up four other routes, and I was very tired but game to try. I didn't think I'd be able to do it, and took one fall, but made it up, feeling really good. That turned out to be my last climb, and it was a wonderful way to end the course and my time climbing at Railay.

In the evening, I showered, shaved and decided to splurge for a personal pizza for dinner, after all I deserved it! It was very good, but to be honest hardly worth the price of more than two of the Thai dishes. Oh well, part of the reason is that cheese is expensive out here since they don't really eat dairy out here. Anyways, I went to the bar (The Last Bar, probably the best one on the beach along with Ya Ya) for some live music and a fire show (yah, they are everywhere, just about every night) with some of the better dancers I've seen. After one beer though, I was ready to turn in, and did just that.

And this brings me to the end of my brief time on Railay Beach. It's sad really, because it's been probably the best place I've been on this trip and I wish I had more time. I could spend a month here easily, because I think I've caught the rock climbing bug a bit. If only I'd come here straight from Phi Phi instead of going to Koh Lanta, I would have had another nine days here! Oh well, no point in looking back with regret, I have enjoyed every day of this trip immensely, and this is minor in the scheme of things. I do think I'll be buying some rock climbing gear of my own when I get home though!

Well, that brings me pretty much up to date. Next as I said is going to Bangkok to meet Brendan and his friend, and then into northern Thailand. As always, the future is bright!

More of Thailand's Best

Greetings from Railay Beach, the rock climbing mecca of southeast Asia! I finally said goodbye to Koh Lanta yesterday and am on my way back north towards Bangkok to meet my friend Brendan and then to northern Thailand. Looking forward to it, but first let's wrap up the last few days:

As I discussed in the last post, I'd gotten to Koh Lanta expecting it to just be a jumping off point to going farther south, but for various schedule reasons that didn't happen, giving me a good way to relax in one spot for a while.  On this day I did the usual: sleeping in, laying on the beach, playing some soccer with other travelers and locals (barefoot, I got a big blood blister on my left foot....), and enjoying the sunset. 

This is Miao (“Like a cat”), and on this day she showed up at the dorm to stay for a few nights.  She is from China, and has done some pretty cool trips on-and-off for the last year or so in the region.  We spent quite a while talking travel, and comparing photos from our respective journeys.  Her time in Burma in particular stood out to me just because of how undeveloped it is compared to the rest of southeast Asia, and her trip to the base camp of Everest. Jealous! So the picture, haha. Well, she had a little spill on a moto she rented. Nothing serious, just some road rash, and some scrapes on the bike, but she was pretty bummed because it was going to keep her out of the water for a few days at least. 

The bike rental became a bit of an issue: Miao had left her cellphone with them as a deposit, and when she returned just a few minutes later to grab a map of the island, they said they didn't have the phone. Naturally she became quite upset, thinking they had stole, or at least lost the phone, and she wasn't going to give the bike back (this distraction is partly why she crashed later in the day).  The next day, the people she rented the bike from came to our room where the bike was parked and tried to take the bike back.  She still wasn't willing to give the bike back until her phone had been returned or she was paid for the lost phone, and this caused a bit of a scene.  I was inside, and I heard Miao say “Ow, your hurting me!” so I rushed outside, and saw the old lady from the rental place grabbing her (on one of her fresh wounds at that).  I sort of pushed my way in between them to break it up, and stood there to make sure things stayed under control. The rental place was insisting they never even got a phone, which is impossible, because without a deposit they wouldn't have given her a bike in the first place, and she was still refusing to let them take the bike. At this point there were probably 10 people standing around the bike on various sides of the argument, or translators between everyone.  Eventually the police were called, and a guy who spoke zero English showed up in a truck wearing a white polo (apparently he is the only police officer on the island) maybe 15 minutes later.  He sat in our room smoking a cigarette with two other guys around Miao speaking in Thai and nothing new was said. Talk about an uncomfortable situation huh? (I sat near them the whole time just to keep an eye on things). Anyways, I guess they went to the police station, and the rental people finally admitted they had gotten the phone and lost it or something, and I believe they agreed to pay her 2000 baht (as well as not charge for the rental or damage to the bike).  I think most people would have given into the pressure and gotten nothing, but she was very persistent and it paid off better than any of us had actually expected it to. Ah, travel!

The next day was more of the same relaxation I'd been enjoying for a while now.  More sleeping in, laying on the beach, and reading. I was still very interested in doing the home stay, and I had gotten a way to rent a moto for myself, meaning transportation was no longer the issue, and tried to contact the guy and say I'd meet him on the dock in the morning. While I'd both called and emailed him a day or two before, when I called back both numbers said they were 'temporarily unavailable' and he didn't respond to my emails either.  I found this a bit annoying, because I'd been hoping to do it for a few days, and trying to schedule that meant I didn't go to the animal shelter to volunteer, since I didn't know what days I would be around and able to help.  So in the end, neither happened....

That evening at the bar, a pool tournament was going on, and part of the festivities was a snake show!  I was pretty excited to see it, because while I wanted to see one, and billboards were all over for it, I wasn't going to shell out a few hundred baht to see one.  This way I got to see it for free! (well, I bought the guy a beer when he was done, that cost me 50 baht, haha)

I'm not sure what kind of snake this one was (anyone know??) but it was the first of the two he brought out, and he crawled around on the mat sort of dancing to avoid the snake strikes.  One thing he did which I thought was really cool, was he pet the snake on it's chin and then down it's body, and the snake actually rolled over like a dog when you scratch it's belly! He concluded this snake by catching it by the tail and then holding it in his mouth.

The other snake he brought out was the serious business, a king cobra.  He did pretty much the same thing with it, which is to say the snake just wanted to hide in the corner, but he poked and prodded it into striking at him.  He also caught it by it's tail, and would put his hand on the back of it's head, getting it to lay flat on the ground.  He concluded the show by getting the cobra to bite a cup, releasing it's venom and showing the cup of venom to the audience.  Neat stuf.

Throughout the show, for a little crowd participation they had two snakes they passed around the audience for those interested to hold.  Personally, I would have gotten onto the mat with the first snake if they would have let me, but I guess this one will have to suffice for now!

I spent yet another day doing nothing, but then the next morning, it was finally time to leave Koh Lanta.  I'd arrived expecting to spend a night or two, and ended up staying for nine!  I'm still not sure how that happened really, and each day sort of blurs into the next, but it was a great place to just do nothing for a while, and I guess I needed to do that.  That said, I was totally ready to go and get moving again, and for 450 baht hopped on a boat to go back to Railay Beach.

As I said earlier, Railay is a rock climbers wonderland, and while I haven't done any real rock climbing in quite a while, I obviously love climbing things (mountains, trees, buildings, etc) so I had to return.  With Nick and family, we visited just for the afternoon while staying at Ao Nang, and I saw how beautiful the place is, and got all excited to climb, so I had to come back. (this photo is actually of Ton Sai Beach right next to Railay by the way, but one of the big climbing spots in the whole 'Railay area')

Railay is not a particularly cheap place compared to other parts of the country and region, and while I wanted to find a bunk room to stay in and meet people, no such place exists here.  I wanted to go explore the area further, in search of a cheap room, but I was running out of daylight and getting frustrated. I ended up at my most expensive room to date, 600 baht ($20), but sometimes you just have to do it.  With a room sorted out, I walked around the area exploring what the options are for staying the next few nights, and talking to the numerous climbing schools. 

 This photo is of Tham Phra Nang (Princess Cave) on the beach. The story is that in the 3rd century, an Indian princess drowned here in a storm, and her sprint lives in the cave.  Fisherman, both Muslim and Buddhist, leave offerings of carved wooden phalluses to ensure they have a good catch.

In the morning, I moved out of that expensive bungalow and into one at Rapala, which is a much better value, 400 baht.  I suppose I was spoiled by the dorm, because staying there a week, I only ended up paying 115 baht a night!  400 is still more expensive than I would like to be paying, but I think it is the cheapest place on this part of the beach, the room is fairly nice, in a good location, and has a good restaurant with what seems to be the cheapest food on the beach as well (60 baht a meal).  And I guess since I spent so little for the previous week, it's not too bad to have to spend a bit more now.

On my to-do list for the day was to decide what climbing operation to go with, and that meant walking all over the area, including heading over to Ton Sai beach.  Ton Sai is the more 'backpacker' part of the beach, so I was expecting to find cheaper rooms over there, and it is also the base for most of the serious rock climbers, as many of the harder routes are in this area.  To get to Ton Sai from Railay, you have to walk about 30 minutes on a path that takes you through the jungle and over the hill.  Some of the scenery on the walk is excellent, and in this clearing, everything was just bananas and other plants with giant, green leaves.  On the path I also came across a spider on a web almost as big as my hand! It turned out cheaper rooms could be found here, but the only climbing school on this beach was more expensive, and so was the food, so it didn't make sense to move off of Railay East. 

Next on the activities list was a walk through one of the limestone caves on the island, Tham Pranangnai (also called Inner Princess Cave and Diamond Cave).  This particular cave is actually a national park, costs 40 baht to enter, and has an illuminated boardwalk in the cave.  The cave goes in maybe 200 feet, has a very high ceiling in places, and has some pretty impressive formations.  I spent about 30 minutes just walking around alone looking at it all, and could have easily spent more.

This is the formation which the cave gets it's 'diamond cave' name.  It is a sparkling, gold colored quartz formation and is actually very similar to the cave I swam in while in the Philippines.  40 baht well spent.

 After the cave, I ate some food and signed up for a rock climbing class that I am pumped about! It cost 4,500 baht, or $150, but for that I get gear rental, lunch, and an instructor for three days in one of the best spots in the world! (prices ranged from 4500-6000).  The first day is a review of the basics and top rope climbing, the next day is lead climbing, and the third day is multi-pitch climbing on one of the big faces! I can't wait.

So now I've got my next few days sorted out and will be climbing the whole time.  As a result, I'm here in my room, under the mosquito net, writing this blog and going to bed early, rather than going out for the evening which is just fine by me.

 I am hoping to meet up with Nick and Ellen again in Phuket on the 15th, part way through their volunteer program, and Chris who I traveled with in the Philippines is also going to be in Phuket at that time.  If all works out, I'll take a boat from here on Railay to Phuket, meet Nick, Ellen and Chris, then on the 16th get an overnight bus to Bangkok, arriving the morning of the 17th. Brendan gets in to Bangkok at like 1am the next day, so I'll find a room and be ready for his arrival.  As always, should be fun!

The Koh Lanta Limbo

Howdy Y'all! I'm still relaxing on Koh Lanta, taking it slow and easy right now. Before I started organizing the pictures for this post, I was thinking to myself, “Man, I haven't really don't anything for a few days, not sure what I'll have to write about.” But then I actually went over all the pictures and realized I've done quite a bit! Staying in one place does weird things to you I guess, when you are used to moving around so much as I have been. Well, let's get to it:

I spent the previous two nights in a private bungalow near the beach, and I got a good price, 400 baht, but it was a little luxury I can't and won't do very often. I saw a sign next door for a dorm room that only cost 150 baht, and decided to go for it. It's the first time I've actually used a dorm room (other than one time in the Philippines with Sandy and Kathryne, but we had that room to ourselves) and I was expecting a shabby and crowded bunk room, but was looking forward to using it as a way to meet people. It turned out the opposite was true! I got a huge and very nice room by myself, it has a loft, fridge, sink, and only 4 beds, none bunked. This is the Sonya Restaurant & Home Stay, and I highly recommend it as a place to stay.

This is Luke, his family owns the place, and he works very hard helping run the place. He has been very kind to me, and this day took me to one of the beach bars for lunch and to meet some of his friends who live on the island. We sat around under the cabana for a number of hours, just chatting and relaxing, while I built some (if I do say so myself) rather impressive sculptures/towers out of Jenga blocks. The bar is owned and run by an Irish family, but has a great group of locals who hang out at the place and work there. In the background, you can see a young boy, maybe 12 (?) doing mauy thai training, and I was told he already has 52 fights!

I ended up playing beach volley ball with the kid and an old man, getting very sweaty and sandy in the process, but once a game of football (soccer for us Yanks) was discussed, volley ball went out the window and football it was. Using sticks pounded in the ground for goal posts, running around barefoot (and getting bit by ants) I proceeded to get even more sweaty, but had a great time. My team got crushed (3-0) but I had a lot of fun playing with a few other travelers and the locals in the process.

After working up an apatite, I decided to go to the 'night market' for dinner. In a mixture of trying to save some money (about $2-$3 in all honesty) and because it was a wonderful star-filled evening, I walked the 45 minutes to the market. “Market” doesn't really describe it, this is more of a carnival. There are big glowing lights, bouncy castles and slides for the kids, a large stage for singing and dancing, carnival games, gambling, food stalls and yes, a few booths you could call a 'market'. For $1 I had a delicious chicken burger (I was curious) that contained hardly any chicken, but literally had (I watched him make it) 6 different sauces on it. Messy. It was a very small area so it literally took 10 minutes to see it all, but I had some fried things on sticks (no idea what it was) and watched the music for a bit, then caught a tuk-tuk loaded with speakers and a big subwoofer (playing Lady Gaga) back to the room. I then headed to the bar Kevin had introduced me to, and watched some live music before heading to bed early.

Bright and early, 7:15am, I was picked up by a truck and taken to the pier in town for another scuba diving trip. This was my first since the Philippines where I got my certification, and I was really looking forward to it. The prices here are a lot more than I was paying in the Philippines, so that was a bit of a bummer, but the boat I ended up on was quite nice, the food was excellent, and it was all very professional and well done. This was with Blue Planet Diving, by the way.

Somewhat ironically the spot I ended up going to was right next to Kioh Phi Phi where I had recently left. The dive sites were Koh Bida Nok and Koh Bida Nai, and I saw some wonderful things. Just like I said with the snorkeling, the diving off Alona Beach and Baligasag Island in the Philippines spoiled me rotten. I didn't find this area nearly as spectacular. The fish were quite good, and I saw some new things, but the coral was in rather poor shape, which is sad. It didn't terribly dampen my sprits however, because I got to see my first sea turtle!! That was one of my goals while diving here, so that alone almost made the trip worth it. I also saw (for the first time) a banded sea krait, a moray eel, a sting ray, a yellow tail barracuda, a peacock mantis shrimp and many more things. An excellent day of diving, and I just passed 4.5 hours of underwater time.

In the morning, I awoke to the sound of the door to the room opening, and a new face coming in. While I was losing my 'private' room I was excited to see someone new and to meet him. He turned out to be a kiwi named Joesph, and I once he had told me what he was doing for the day I was quite pleased, because it was EXACTLY what I had wanted to do as well. He had a scooter, and was going to ride around the island visiting the Old Town, the two caves and the light house on the southern tip. It's not a big island, but moto is the only economical way to get around. It also turned out that since I don't have my passport (in Bangkok to get my Indian visa) I probably couldn't rent one anyways without a huge cash deposit. Luckily my problem was solved my Joseph, who had a bike and the experience (a month riding one across Vietnam) to use it.

We set out for one of the caves, but due to poor signage and poor navigating on my part, we went past it and ended up going to 'Old Town' first. Now I read about this before hand, and was hoping to look into a place to stay for the next night, and look into the homestay program where you go to a nearby island and spend the night with a family in a little Muslim fishing village, doing what they do in their every day life. The 'town' turned out to be only one street really, and the water-side was nothing but restaurants and expensive rooms for tourists, the other side shops. Not only was there nothing to do there, it was too expensive anyways. They also didn't know anything about the homestay program, and just told me to call, making it a bit of a bust. At least I found out before just arriving their on my own without transportation.

After lunch, I took a shot at the scooter, having never driven one before. Let me just say having your first time driving one with a passenger, on windy, hilly, potholed, Thai roads, then a dirt road, also while being your first time EVER driving on the left side of the road isn't ideal for your first time, it worked out just fine. It took me a minute to get the feel for the throttle, but especially since the bike was an automatic, it was a breeze to drive and will certainly be renting one in the future.

We got to the site of the first cave, and was told it was 300 baht each to go in! We both decided we had seen caves before, and we refused to pay that much to see this one, so we turned around to go to the smaller cave, which we were told 'takes 10 minutes' and doesn't have a fee to get in. The photo here is of a tree in a rubber plantation, which is a common sight around these parts. We motored on to the next cave, only to find they wanted 200 baht to go in, saying we 'needed' a guide! Again, we left in protest without paying a single baht.

We finally achieved some level of success when we went to the trail to the waterfall. In a mixture of luck and misfortune, it was raining for a good portion of the riding. Bad because it's not fun to ride in the rain (especially on dirt roads) but good because the falls only..... falls.... when it rains! We had to pay 20 baht to park, but we were OK with that, and headed off on the 20 minute walk. Along the way we saw some a cool lizard, some crazy insets, and a number of impressive trees such as this huge banyon (so I overheard?) tree.

The falls itself was rather unimpressive. A rather small trickle of water really, and maybe a 25-foot drop at most. Nevertheless, it was rather pretty, and the walk was very nice. After the falls, we continued our tour of the island, and rode towards the southern tip to see a lighthouse. After a number of kilometers of nasty dirt road (then a totally unconnected section of good pavement) we reached the entrance, where they wanted 100 baht a person to drive on and see the lighthouse. Again, in both cheapness and protest, we didn't pay, and instead turned around, heading back to the room after what ended up being a fairly fun day, despite the series of letdowns on the way.

In the evening, Joseph and I got dinner at one of the local restaurants, which cost 50 baht each, the cheapest you can find a meal for around here. I had fried rice, he had pad thai, both were quite good. A good rule for finding the cheap food here in southeast Asia, is look for the places with plastic chairs! If they are bamboo/wood, expect to pay at least 20 baht more, for what will often be the exact same thing. That said, the chairs where I am staying are wood and concrete (weird I know) and the dishes are more in the 70-100 range, but the food is of a notability higher quality, so I have it from time to time and enjoy it quite a bit.

After dinner, I took Joseph to the Ting Tong bar, for some drinks and live music. As usual, the band plays mostly covers of western songs and Bob Marley, but it is a cool atmosphere and some good people hanging out for sure. We ended up chatting with some Germans and an Austrian guy for most of the night, as well as a few locals in the band, and had a very good time.

This brings me to today. Joseph left early in the morning for Koh Phi Phi (where I came from a few days ago), and I spent a lazy day around the room mostly. It was cloudy and drizzling on and off most of the day, and since I saw most of the island yesterday I didn't have much to do. I sat around on the computer emailing and chatting with friends, getting this latest post ready, and trying to figure out what to do with my time. By about 3pm, the sun came out, so I headed down to the beach where I relaxed for three and a half hours, napping in the sun and reading my book until the sun went down.

I emailed the person who runs the homestay program, and when I heard back I was excited to do it. However my hopes were shortly dashed, by the cost of getting back to Old Town where you leave from. It seems taxis don't want to take people there, because the cheapest I could find for the 20 minute ride was 700 baht each way! What I had initially expected to be 350 baht had suddenly turned into 2,100 (since the price in the book of 350 is also half what they are charging for it now) and that is just too much. I wrote him back and said if I can find a way to get there and back that isn't outrageously expensive I'd still want to do the homestay, but as is it was just too much money.

In the meantime, I have a few days to kill. Tomorrow I am going to go chat with Lanta Animal Welfare, a local animal shelter about volunteering for a few days, and if that doesn't work out I guess I'm just kind of sitting on my hands for a few days, so cross your fingers! I had thought about heading farther south and inland, but I just don't have enough time to do that, so I'm sort of in limbo right now. It's a little boring right now honestly, but at the same time I really like the fact I DO have the time for something like this to happen and be OK. Flexibility is freedom, eh?

So that is where I am at right now, so for now, goodbye and take care.