thailand, monday, 2nd rest day

doing 2 days on, 1 day off, today is second rest day

last rest we went to phra-nang beach, i tried some slacklining. i suck. also did some acrobatics with Ryan, who does gymnastics and tumbling. was fun. lots of giant penis sculptures in princess cave. she likes to take a new man every year, so they hope she'll be placated with the toys... either that, or its thai soft-core.

water is a little cooler than the air. but not much.

climbing is fabulous. severely overhanging, acrobatic moves around giant overhanging stalactites. they shake when you stand on them :-( lots of head jams possible for full body rests. good times. lets not talk about the gear.

6c seems to be about my onsight limit (50/50). I don't know if the translations to the YDS are bad, or the nature of climbing here is hard to onsight. anyhow, have redpointed a 7a on TR, and hauled my ass up a 7b+... rock is sharp. our pictures all suck.

people are really nice. today we started with a cooking class from a really great teacher, Aum. We did pad thai, curry, tom yam soup, chicken satay, and banana in coconut milk. We also learned that this is mangosteen season! We need to get to the market in krabi town! maybe next rest day. also got shown a bunch of fruit trees and vegie plants. cool. Oh, and it wasn't on the schedule, but Aum showed julie how to carve a carrot into a flower! its a bit of a tradition, the finer resorts have these beautiful carved watemelons at the gate. it looks a bit like lace. Aum can only do flower carrots, though, and now so can Julie. Get her to show you when she gets back.

i can't keep a shirt clean, its sweaty within seconds of putting it on, so I don't bother. also, julie has threatened to throw my clothes away before we come back.

stay strong, be brave, wait for the signs.

thailand, friday

ok, the jetlag is horrendous, we're sleeping well over 10 hours a night, and still exhausted. Hopefully I'm adjusting, but a 14 hour lag is hard.

the climbing is fabulous, overhanging fairy worlds of stalactites and tufas, belaying from the beach. it rains sometimes, even a thunderstorm one night, but the rock is so overhanging it just cools the air down

in the pm its so humid that I drip sweat just from walking.

got a sunburn :-(. no sunscreen because we were in the shade, but it was cloudy and I didn't notice when the sun moved out... yes, you can get sunburn through cloud cover I know believe

food is great, lots of fish, coconut curry

internet way expensive, its pretty rustic. many places closed, this is construction season, getting prepared for high season! No wireless, electricity from 6pm to 6am.
No way to upload photos, yet. Maybe later.

Seen one 3 foot green snake, and one giant spider that looks like a beautiful golden beetle, with 4 inch crab like legs.

elbow still sore, but appears to be strong.

With Thomas and Julie at Rogue's Gallery

Went up there with Julie and Thomas a few weeks ago, and had fun. We did this pretty technical overhanging corner. The crux is not so hard after figuring it out, but is a not very obvious heel hook.

Julie led, onsight, the hardest climb she's ever tried to lead outdoors, and made it almost to the anchors, with a bit of encouragement. Nicely done!

This is partly a test to see if we can post pictures here when in Thailand...

And I guess I can... but the placement is mysterious!

Morimoto Black Obi Soba Ale, Rogue, OR

Glenn bought this one.


Its got roasted Soba in it. Basically, it tastes like a good stout. It'd be interesting to have on tap.

An Obi is a belt, btw, in japanese, specifically the wide kind worn around a kimono, or its narrower variant used in martial arts.

www.morimoto.com
rogue.com

Sasquatch Stout, Old Yale Brewing, BC

A nice stout, comes in a 650ml botle, 5.25%ABV.

Public Service Announcement, BC

This was posted on all the lamp posts up Main St., but I'm concerned the author isn't getting the kind of coverage deserved for an issue like this, so I'm reposting it here...