Pictures...finally

So some photos have finally decided to upload...

At the beginning of my trip, after taking the 12 and some hour bus ride to Krabi, I caught my very first longtail boat from Ao Nang to TonSai. Here I am


Upon arrival, I found the Andaman (to be my home for the next couple of weeks) and hiked up to the top of the hill where James was to be found in his hammock - recovering from the TonSai sickness that everyone seems to acquire (i got it a few days later).

The next day we set out for my first climb. (sorry if some of this is a repeat from an earlier post, I just want the story included with the pictures!) We walked across Rai Lay beach to TonSai Tower. We hiked up just above the treeline to see this amazing view of Rai Lay and TonSai

Ton Sai is the far beach.

I then did my first climb on a beautifully exposed cliff (this picture's for you mom!)



A few days later we hiked to the Lagoon from Rai Lay beach


The sunset in Ao Nang after our motorbike trip


Our trip to Phi Phi was great. We hiked up to the viewpoint


and over to Hat Ratnee beach, a very secluded beach on the other side of the island with good snorkelling. We even saw a group of dolphins from the shore!

That's all the pictures I've had time to upload up to now.

We're in Koh Lanta now and plan to explore the island via motorbike and hike.

hopefully i'll have more pictures next time.

Koh Phi Phi

So James and I have stayed on Koh Phi Phi Don for two nights and are leaving in about 2 hours to head back to Ton Sai. Since being here we have done some more climbing (of course)...I attempted my first lead climb, but got really scared, and after trying three times to clip the 4th draw I had to come down. I'll give it another try in Ton Sai, and hopefully will be successful on a lead climb. During our climb a Thai climbing guide came running around the corner asking if anyone knew first aid. I grabbed my bag and ran over there thinking the worst, that someone had fallen off the wall. Even when i got there I feared the guy had a head injury as everyone was crowded around his head. When I got there I immediately realized he was having a seizure, and to my shock they were holding his head still with a stick in his mouth!!! I ended up taking charge of the situation, 'cause nobody seemed to know what was going on, and the guy ended up being alright. He had a seizure while he was on the wall and his belayer had to lower him quickly as he was hanging upside down in his harness....a little scary, but worked out alright.

The next day James and I hiked up to the viewpoint were you can see both main Phi Phi Don beaches, then continued across the hill to Hat Rantee, a beautiful secluded beach (secluded because most are too lazy to hike over there). We stayed for a couple of hours then hiked back so I could go out for my afternoon dives.

I signed up for a couple of fun dives with Barakuda diveshop. We left at around 2:30 and headed out to Koh Phi Phi Ley, the southern island that is a national park. During the first dive, at Bida Nok, i saw about 3-5 black tipped sharks (1.5 metters in length) puffer fish, oriental sweetlips, an undulated moray eel, a huge baracuda of about 1-1.5 meters long, huge starfish and sea fans and a tiny little nemo (anenome fish). We stayed under during both dives for almost an hour which was great. It's surprising how cold you get in 28 degree water when you're down there for so long. For lunch our boat docked in a bay right next door to Maya Bay (where the movie the Beach was filmed). I snorkelled over to a little bay with a few other guys and we hiked to Maya Bay....just another beach really. Our second dive was at Maya Bay. Visibility wasn't quite as good, but we were fortunate enough to see a little turtle of about 1.5 foot diameter. We also saw pipefish (relatives of the seahorse), common lionfish, painted spiny lobsters and banded boxer shrimp to name a few. All in all it was a fantastic afternoon and I look forward to doing a local dive or two back in TonSai.

When I returned from diving we went for dinner then checked out a bit of the 'scene.' This place is full of young party-goers, so most of the bars give out free drinks. We cashed in on one, but always find ourselves way too tired to stay out much past 10 (are we getting old?) It's also not worth ruining the next day from a Samsung hangover.

This morning I woke up early to get another early morning beach run in...what a great way to start the day! After my run a few of the locals that own a stand on the beach invited me for coffee so I sat and BS'ed with them for a while. I also got to try some of the banana sticky rice that they usually eat for breakfast. We were going to maybe climb again this morning, but instead decided to walk through the streets a bit more and play on the beach. We threw the frisbee around in beatifully warm and shallow water and are now waiting for our ferry in the shade.

Pictures still to come...having a little trouble with the uploading here...

and it continues.....

I still can't recover the pictures from my camera, so i'll have to steal James'. Since last post we've done a ton more climbing and some nice hikes. Two days ago we rented motorbikes with two guys from the states, Ben and Eric, and headed out to a temple outside of Krabi. We climbed 1237 steps to get to the top, but the view was well worth it.


giant buddha at the top

James with Buddha

also at the top

Eric, Ben, me and James before the descent which took us about 15 minutes

After that we attempted to find a park to go to a waterfall, but couldn't locate it so checked out this reclining buddha, then headed back to AoNang for dinner and the sunset.




Yesterday James and I hiked to the Lagoon between Phranang and Railay beach. It was a great hike and I do have some awesome pics, but will post them next time.

Tomorrow morning we are off to Koh Phi Phi for some diving and more climbing.

Until next time.....

Thailand 2007

So I made it to Bangkok after twenty-some hours of in air bliss....I slept most of the way and I must say United Airlines would not be my choice for the next long trip...the food is really not that edible.

I arrived late the night of the 12th and took a taxi to Khaosan road where I stayed at KS guesthouse. The next day I got a 30 baht tuk tuk ride for two hours around the temples in bangkok, bought my bus ticket to Krabi and shopped the street vendors.

At 5:30pm I caught another taxi to get me to the bus station, Monday traffic was bad, and I somehow got convinced to stop for something to eat before getting to the bus station at 6:30 (my bus was scheduled to leave at 7). Turns out he took me to a fairly posh tourist seafood place when i thought i was going to a local stall with him for a bite. Turned out I had to catch another cab, spend way too much, but luckily get to the station in time to catch my bus to begin the 12 or so hour trip to Krabi.

The bus, aka 'freezer bus' has nice reclining seats and blankets, so i again slept most of the way and the trip went by fairly quickly. According to the Thai way though, we ended up waiting in Suratthani for close to 2 hours to catch the next 3 hour bus down to Krabi, and waited another hour or so to get a van to Ao Nang to catch the longtail to Ton Sai.

Ton Sai has been amazing. I arrived at about noon, met James at the chalet (don't let that confuse you, it's bare basics, but great!) and checked out the beach.

The next day I tackled my first 3 climbs on Taiwand wall. Amazing views! My first climb called 'fit to be tied' was a little scary, as the rock face was fairly exposed - I did the whole thing first try which was amazing. (Unfortunately my pictures are not uploading, so I'll have to post these ones later). 'Lord of the ties' was my next climb, another beautiful climb, but the fatigue was setting in and had to rest a few times on the way up. The last climb of the day was up to a cave in the middle of the rock - a really tough one - I think James slightly over estimated my ability. With a few good falls I finally made it up to the top





We then hiked through the cave to Phranang beach to relax in the shade for a bit.

The next day I climbed "Missing Snow' a fantastic climb with amazing stalagtite holds. I will have to work that one a bit to get it, but was excited to get to the top. In the afternoon I climbed 'groove tube,' an awesome climb, that I made up all the way!


the start of 'groove tube'




going through the narrow part


finally at the top, and what a view!



One of James' amazing climbs!

Next Destination.....Long Beach California!

In 5 days my good friend Suzie (pictures to follow) and I are off to Long Beach (for a bit more than a week) for what we are claiming as a well-deserved break. We'll hopefully be meeting up with 6 of my friends from Malaysia, to enjoy at the very least an awesome wine drinking weekend in Santa Barbara. I'll be sure to post most of the escapades in either text or photo format....

Here are a few photos from our last month or so of fun...

After a sushi/fondue party, before Dante's


We stole someone's aviators and had fun with the camera


A fun night at Cook County


Fun with the camera again and this time a cowboy hat


There'll be more from LA!!

SPAIN

Barcelona
After Montpellier we headed across the border to Spain. Our first stop was Barcelona, where we stayed for 3 nights. What a gorgeous big city. I definitely could have stayed there longer. There is so much to see, and everything's open late.

After settling in our Pension right on 'La Rambla' THE street to be in Barcelona, we went out searching for something to eat and came across this fantastic Turkish restaurant. Right away the guy told us that if we eat there we'd be back, and we were. I think I ate there 3 times in 3 days. Here we are enjoying our Kebap's (with our waiter) from what the restaurant I like to call 'Turkish Delight'



After checking out street performers on La Rambla, and undoubtedly having ice cream (as became a custom, sometimes more than once a day), we called it a night.
The next day we headed out to see the sights. The top of the list was all the Gaudi architecture. There's really no way to explain it, it's art on the outside of the building.
Here's Emily and I outside Sagrada Familia after a slight altercation with the postcard man


I don't think this was one of Gaudi's, but this is outside of a beautiful hospital just down the street from the cathedral


Emily and I outside of Casa Mila (it's an apartment, we think, with a museum of destruction inside it)

This is what the inside looks like


Here we are outside of Casa Batlo

some key photos


We discovered 60cent ice cream at McDonald's across the street. I was happy, but I think Anna was expecting one like the one advertised


Next we went to Park Guell, which I think was my favorite. It's a huge park basically in the middle of the city that is full of Gaudi's work
The gift shop

A different style of Gaudi

an example of the mosaics on the ceiling of one of the canopy buildings

This reminded me of Hansel and Grettyl

Here is the view of the entrance of the park, from the gift shop


We did this quite often...taking pictures of the stupid souvenirs
here's Anna as a Matador


Emily and I spent a few hours in the morning seeing the Dali museum while Anna got herself a temporary passport. Probably my favorite museum of all we've seen. Dali's work is so amazing. Seeing his early work and sketches makes me appreciate his mainstream work much more. I actually prefer his less popular works. It's interesting to me how his work is very art meets science, and religion for that matter. Definitely worth seeing!

The Barcelona Waterfront, near Olympic village

The giant whale

A cow needs a bull like a fish needs a bicycle, like a woman needs a ...


All along La Rambla there were pet shops and flower shops


Sevilla
After Barcelona we headed to Sevilla in the South-West of Spain. This was an cool small city with a lot of Spanish Culture. Spain is full of beautiful parks, here's Anna and I with some of the flowers


Plaza de Espana

the Cathedral (not unlike so many of the others we've seen)


In the evening we were originally going to go to a Flamenco dance, but decided instead on a bullfight.
Emily and I being matadors



Anna and I outside the ring

Although the fight itself was hard to handle, the atmosphere of the ring, and the band were excellent. I just learned to look away


Cordoba
After Sevilla Emily and I went to Cordoba. This city was really cool as it was a melting pot of cultures and religions. While there we visited a Synagogue as well as a Basilica turned Mosque turned Cathedral, called the Mezquita. We also visited a large park with both Roman and Arab ruins. Emily and I spent the whole day walking around int 42 degrees seeing the amazing architecture that is so well preserved. I will definitely post pictures of Cordoba when I get home

Madrid
Emily and I left Cordoba and met up with Peter and Anna in Madrid. Since it was Emily and Anna's last night we stayed out late. We met up with Sophie, a friend of mine from Malaysia, at a typical Euro bar, and after catching up for a while, Peter, Emily, Anna and I went to the square and enjoyed a pitcher of Sangria. The next day we walked around town checking out the Palace that Peter will own one day, and once again enjoying the statues



Anna and Emily left at around 10, and Peter and I set out to plan the rest of our week together. After finally getting our train booked for San Sebastian, Peter and I spent the rest of the day checking out the Reina Sofia museum, where we got to see Picasso's Guernica (excited to have finally seen that after Mrs. Stucker in grade four taught us about it!), more Dali and some Miro among other works. When we got back to the hostel, we met a Danish girl, Emilie, and went to a fantastic Flamenco dance together. That is definitely something I can't describe, it is just a must see when in Spain. Afterwards we went out for Sangria again, which apparently is only something the tourists drink.
The next morning Peter and I got on a 6 hour train ride to San Sebastian where we spent time on the beach and walking around town. This place was cool as everything was open really late. We spent our evenings walking around town, enjoying the waterfront, and of course the ice cream. We also found a really good burger restaurant which we went to two nights in a row. Could have stayed longer, but had to move on to Bilbao.
Bilbao is an industrial town, and besides the Guggenheim museum doesn't have a ton for tourists (we really noticed that when everything was closed fairly early). After walking around the outside of the Guggenheim, we headed out to the beach. This beach was a long metro ride, but was well worth it for the huge sand beach and nice Bay of Biscay water.
After two nights in Bilbao we headed to Santander. We didn't have much time here, but headed to the beach one last time. Early the next morning Peter left for France, and at noon I headed to the airport to fly back to London.

Now back in London I'm going to hit Camden Market today before heading in to the Adelphi theatre to watch 'Chicago'

I'll be home Sunday night, and will post all the rest of my pictures as soon as I can.