Who else is back from Thailand?

[skinsk]

Paved Paradise? well, maybe not paved (yet:eek8: ), but they added a channel and a dirt road and it will only continue! I admit I was hesitant about going back, and sometimes the crowds, the noise (moters, generators, Ao Nang Ao Nang Ao Nang. . . where you go?. . . Tonsai Tonsai. . . ) the constant buzz and trash even on the fairly "remote" islands. . . is a little overwhelming, but being there with so many friends added something else, and for that I want to thank everyone!

So the Thailand thread Mary started over a month ago (so I could find her in Railay?) became the trip report. . . it seems a thread here is fitting too, as an unbelievable number of KOTR folks turned up in the month I was there!
WONDERFUL to see so many good friends, aquaintences and people I hadn't met! I am psyched, stoked and motivated to climb!

So here's this thread for people to post their stories, impressions, etc. I'm still sorting through photos and will post/forward as I go. (Check under fun photos International. . .) Peace!!

PS: Anything you may have heard about my last night is not true. It is absolutely false. If you have seen photos, they are not true either.

[skinsk]

OK, anyway, I'll start us off: I got to climb with James Bond. I'd met Kai (http://www.kaimartin.co.uk/) on Fire Wall with a mutual friend one day, and the next day 6 of us were heading to the Nest. I'd been eyeing these two PM multipitches for over a week, always a queue down the path, through the cave, to the beach, etc. This day it's free and I spend almost an hour convincing these guys it's worth doing, but there's 3 of us so I have to run back for my rope, and it's getting late. Kai is kinda new to climbing. On the belay for the 2nd pitch, I asked him what he did (in England) and he said "stuntman" which led to the follow up question, "What did you say?" And well, I so rarely see movies, but I did grow up on James Bond. . . as Kai said, "a blond Bond. . . brilliant for me. . .golden" in a voice that sounded so. . .British/Bondish . . . anyway, what a really cool humble guy, looking to add climbing to his resume (and learning fast-- his first multipitch included a near 60 meter free rappel (between me and Mike) around a bend by headlamp. Good thing the guy doesn't panic easily!
Anyway, I will see the new Bond (apparently there are 3 stunt Bonds, and the real Bond, and sadly another Bond bonded better with Bond, but Kai feels like he's employed as long as this blond guy is Bond). . . if you saw Casino Royale Kai's in the Miami scene and a crane scene. . . Now I am not one to care about hollywood or spend much time in the cinema or the like, but Kai was so really fun and sweet and cool, I may have to see a few movies!

[alex_bo]

Skinsk, I got an email from a Russian friend travelling in Thailand-Malaysia-India say smth like "regards from an american girl Sonja working in Korea, we met her at the first day climbing". Well, I am used that the world is small enough, but still it's nice to get another confirmation about it :)

As for me I am again working, this time on the Austrian-Swiss border. Trying to find snow for skiing (winter is really bad in Europe this year) and waiting for crags to get dry & warm for climbing :)

[skinsk]

The climbing world is indeed small! I still plan to be both in Austria and Switzerland (at a friend in Kriens) this summer if you're in the area!

[skinsk]

RICKY!! MARY!! KLT!!! DAN? JESSICA? GO(with two dots)RAN?? DAVE and AMANDA, JO, YURA, MIKE?!?! DEBORAH? I know y'all were er, um, un-sober or delirious with tropical diseases and/or the like (don't worry, I've deleted anything that too badly incriminated any of us;) . . . well, anything I didn't post under "International" in the photoplogs:eek8:), but don't you remember anything, have any Thailand story worth posting here?! Impressions? something to make the other people on KOTR not miss Thailand before they leave the region? (Didn't anyone, in this amazing setting, get a photo worth posting?!?!)

Surely someone remembers something about Thailand (or are you not fully recovered yet?!)

ER, but uh, nothing you may have heard about the night of the 24th-- as Ricky will attest to. . . lies all of it!! How would they know?!! Someone clearly photoshopped it. Don't believe everything you've seen and heard. The things people will make up. Sheesh! :gossip: Please post only stories that incriminate YOU:rolleyes8

BTW, this post is not limited to only people who overlapped with me in Thailand this year, but to ANYONE and EVERYONE who ever returned from Thailand (DJP, Chris, Dee, Jason, Jenn, Jake, KA. . .even people I don't really know?! Gary? and EVEN people I didn't know went to Thailand (you know who you are, um, though obviously I don't:confused8 ) Still want to hear your story!?

Haven't been to Thailand, no worries. . . make one up!!

[Deuce]

I don't think I could have picked somewhere better to spend 11 days climbing! Unfortunately I didn't get to meet up with any KOTRers while I was out there, must have all taken off by then, but there was no shortage of climbers to hook up with. Hooked up with a couple of guys my first night and ended up hitting Humanality my first morning out there. Don't think I could have asked for a better welcome to Thailand than that climb. Even with that grand opening it still seemed to just get better from there as the days went. There were so many awesome climbs and even more ****-hot cool people that everyday was better than the last. I don't think anything can really describe it as well as the guys at the Chill Out bar did with there drink special for Friday night..."Buy one bucket get free one joint." Sure I don't partake, but how can you beat that live for the moment and just have fun vibe??? Whether I was doing my happy dance for just OSing Reminisence (7a), sitting on the beach with a bucket of Sang Sun and Red Bull watching all the different fire dancers or just swinging in my hammock watching an episode of Scrubs before dinner I don't know how it could have gotten much better. From the moment I jumped into the water of Tonsai beach from the bow of the longtail, I was done, completely drawn into the area.

Can't wait to get back there again since there are a lot of climbs that I would still love to do. Not really sure where everyone is posting pics from Thailand, but if someone points me in the right direction I will throw some of mine on there. Unfortunately my camera started to crap out towards the end of the trip (guess I can't complain, it's survived 5 years and hundreds of climbing trips) so I don't have as many pics as I would have liked, but I will post a few of the better ones for sure.

Chris

[skinsk]

Thanks for sharing. . .Hooked up with a couple of guys my first night but I thought there was a "don't ask, don't tell" policy?

[Deuce]

What can I say, I'm a busy little monkey! :lol: I didn't even think about it when I wrote that but damn, you really are all over me! Ha!

Where did you guys post your pics? I would love to drop a couple of shots on the site but I don't really know where.

Chris

[shanja]

Chris mate, post your pics thru the Add a Fun Photo link, I guess you could upload them into International Photos. It's dead easy. Just be aware you might need to resize the pics...I think max size is 100Kb or something...it says on the upload page.
Well, as Sonia has asked, here is a wee tale of our Thailand climbing trip. It may not be as alluring (with hints of tasty immorality) as some but it has elements of truth in it, somewhere...

"The skies were cast in a dark and heavy hue. A malignant intent that permeated every mould fostering recess in my humble abode jeered at my wearied return each day. An oppressive dank ether had squirmed into my very soul it seemed, as I cast a blank despairing look about me. Nah, this was not right. Suddenly my tie seemed to tighten about my neck, my briefcase plopped to the floor with a languid thud that lacked even the spirit of alacrity to trouble the disinterested 'roaches grazing on the shadow-lands fringe between fridge and wall. 'Get lost jerk!' they seemed to say as I trudged slowly in on stockinged feet. 'Get lost...' Was I not already? Snow capped peaks whose shimmering lines and silvery flanks were once mine gazed dumbly back at me, and I at them. My fingers traced an old route up and down the dog-eared print, an idea began. The yellowing corners and rich brown ring of a coffee cup once rested in unconscious repose there bespoke quietly but firmly of...colours and heat. An outrageous juxtaposition to the harsh siren blues and whites behind. What was going on? Must get that cleaned and laminated, I thought. Meanwhile other thoughts were being thunk of their own esoteric accord.
A brickwall of vision crashed upon my senses, and reeling in intoxicated frenzy from this unexpected and afronting meeting I turned sharp on my still stockinged heels to seek the answers for this monstrous intrusion into my torbid decay. Memories unassociated were pummeling my brain. Racing in through the nostrils and expanding wildly as if to overfill my empty decaded shell with their potency. Smells and fragrances sharp and zesty hung raced and surrounded me. I was not here at all you see, I was entirely elsewhere...but where?
"What's that I can smell? For surely it is not like that I have known of recent days...and yet it is somehow not alien. Exotic! Yes it's that and more. What is it that bedevills my memory so?"
"Oh hi honey! I'm cooking Thai green curry, OK?" Thailand! Of course! The riddle solved defiantly! Impeachably! The room swam with a freshness and clarity only moments before were lost to my ken. I knew the answers now.
"Oh yeah, that's cool hon' thanks...smells good. Say, you know we haven't had a honeymoon yet and I'm off work in a few weeks..."Thus began the splutter of a belching rusted disel long-tails sweet song. We would honeymoon in Thailand, in Railay/Tonsai. We'd nestle betweixt the placid aquamarine swells and the fang fringed cathedrals that soared in drunken splendour along paradise. Balmy evenings lolling in hammocks with 6 inch translucent green lizards and the sparkling tears of condensation crawling down to wet the wicker tables below an endless parade of Chang and Singha bottles. Moments of fear too! Hands running like broken rivers with sweat in the full face and force of a tropical sun, blindly groping for purchase on the only feature left between me and the anchors or me and a whipper. It was fear embraced and loved. Thailand, the beers, the food the monkeys that dropped down to steal my curry puff samosa, the massage ladies touting day in day out as ever unchanging and omnipresent as the seas behind them, the cliffs beneath us. Kyung Ah learned to belay. Revelled in the sun, surf sand and crags. Kyung Ah learned to climb. Diamond Cave, 1,2,3 Wall, Cliffsman bar, YaYas terrible waiter service, dodgy cheap hair bands, tattoo galleries and a day of sunburn, chalk, salt and satisfaction. Kyung Ah accepted climbing as a given for the rest of her days, and mine. On that honeymoon we tied a second knot..probably a bit like a Flemish bend with long tails.
Thailand climbing holidays make you stronger. I lead harder routes, lead more often, climbed more times and introduced a sceptic to what George Leigh Mallory once referred to as "the beauty of it all." There's a magic in it there...the volatile and heady fire of great climbs, super relaxed atmosphere, terra exotica, outrageously postcard-esque beaches. It's romantic and vibrant...the perfect place to get strong or to strengthen that which already is...So my advice, GET LOST!
Pics in International Photos, somewhere.