New Years!

12/26-1/1/2016!

Lets talk about transportation in Thailand. 

So we made I to Ko Pha Ngan! I am not sure how transportation works in Thailand but it works.   We bought a ticket from a street vender in Thailand, showed up on a street corner where a man in a mini bus told us to get in. Instantly trusting him, we packed in with 10 other people. He dropped us off on the side of the highway where there was a bigger bus waiting for all of us. We landed and got our designated colored stickers that represented where we were going. Then we were dropped off at a remote pier where a giant ferry was waiting. Within an hour of waiting on the dock herds of people starting showing up, all wearing the appropriate sticker. We were packed onto the ship in color order. Some colors where headed to Ko Samui, some to Ko Pha Ngan with us, and lots to Ko Toa. The people who operate the transport here must of taken a lesson from sheep herders, Its hectic but effective. It takes some blind faith and a lot of trust but you get there eventually. 

Ko Pha Ngan Coffee Spot

Ko Pha Ngan was a wild place. A mecca for partiers and scuba divers. We found Greg cruising on his motor bike in the heart of town. He is out there interning with a scuba diving company working on getting his master diving cert. and Instructor cert. Last time we saw him was at Joshua Tree Music Festival and now on a island in the south east of Thailand. It’s wild how many people from High Trails you find in the smallest corners of the world. It was great to see a familiar smiling face and to spend 4 days being beach side. We motor biked around, visited some remote beaches, and spectated some drunken debacle. It was interesting to see how westerners have shaped the island. One of the main industries is partying and everything that goes along with it. The scuba diving is great there as well. Austin was able to go out with Greg for two dives at sail rock. My notorious ear infections held me back from diving. It was a cool break to check out a different section of southern Thailand. 

Leaving Ko Pha Ngan was another experience.  We opted for a night boat. It was a huge slow boat with mats on the floor. If you didn’t know your bunk buddy it would of been an interesting night. We were told that we would land at 6 am and someone will pick us up at 7 am to bring us to the airport. Sounded great. What happened was we landed at 3 am to a dark pier with one woman that couldn’t speak english very well but knew what was going on. After looking at our tickets she pointed everyone to where they needed to be. Everyone that got off the boat with us were smushed into a tuk-tuk but we were pointed to the bench. When we realized we were going to be left alone on this dark dock, we tried to have her explain what we were meant to do. After insisting we just sit and stay, we took a breath and had a seat. Everyone pulled out, leaving us by ourselves. Just as we were starting to get seriously worried, a fella came around the corner and asked us for a ticket. Our overly tired selves handed it over and followed him. He brought us to a nice minivan with ac and a company label. With a sigh of relief we got on and got ready to land at the airport. We drove past the airport and down a dirt road to a bus stations. It was 4 am and we were dropped there, again we were the only ones in sight besides the guy in the ticket booth. The van driver said 1 hour, just wait. So we did. One hour later, more busses dropped off more people and the place filled up. The same fella that dropped us off earlier showed back up yelling “airport, airport”. We were the only two who got back onto the van. But we figured this was it, we are going to the airport! We drove past the turn off for the airport again and were dropped on a random city street. So with some more blind faith, we sat on down and a fella waiting on the corner said 1 hour. And he was right, one hour later a huge bus with doilies on the seats showed up. 4 people got on and finally we were on our way to the airport, wow what a relief. We were so exhausted the rest of the journey seemed like we were dreaming. 

For New Years we stayed just outside of the airport in Bangkok so we could grab an early cab and catch our flight to Laos the very next day. Finding our hostel was quite an adventure. Our host was nice enough to write us directions in both English (broken of course) and Thai. Although we felt good about this is still seem to confuse our taxi driver but after a few minutes were able to get a ride to what we hope to be the right spot. Once out of the cab and on the busy streets we had to now decipher the broken english directions to our place. An hour of venturing in circles trying to decide if we were heading the right way we decided to find help. We found a 7 eleven where we were able to get them to call our hostel host and get better directions. Turned out we were so close the whole time. Our host came via his bike to find us in the market by the 7 eleven and walked us to his place. On our way he shared a brief history of the markets and canals we were passing. Once settled in we went down stairs and enjoyed a cold water and a nice warm meal for little to no bahts. 

Our Hostels Window View

New years eve was awesome. We had a trip planned into the city center to meet up with Peter, a friend of Robyn's from high school. We took a taxi to the sky train where we were able to easily buy a ticket into the city. After a neat ride over neighborhoods, fields, and buildings and one connection at a station we were at the stop in which we were meant to meet up with Peter. A short walk down some stairs and there he was waiting for our arrival. After a quick catch up chat and a brief introduction we were off into the city. We went to a neat bar which was apparently closing for good that night so the beer was on happy hour prices all night. We were excited to see beer on tap with choices. Austin was even able to get an IPA, something that is greatly missed. Later on, the night food trucks showed up outside so ordering food was on the to do list. There was a taco truck, another thing we had not seen since leaving southern California. We all ordered really tasty burritos. Ten o’ clock came and it was time to get back to our hostel before the evening got to wild in Bangkok and, more importantly, the sky train stopped running. Once back to our hostel we sat on the balcony and enjoyed the views of locals celebrating New Years with loud music, fireworks, and plenty of laughter. 

Austin got adventurous as midnight approached. He heard some locals down on the dock by our hostel celebrating New Years with beer and loud Thai music. He headed down to see what all the commotion was about. He was welcomed with a beer and plenty of food. Now the next bit is from his perspective as I was on the balcony still watching the city skyline fill with fireworks:

 I was given a beer and offered food as we danced around the table and exchanged many hand gestures as they did not know a lick of English. After a few bites of mystery soups I was offered a chicken foot which I could not deny out of respect. I bit in to it and was surprised to find it tasty. A few more laughs and lot more dancing I brought in the New Year with my now good friends. They managed to eventually tell me “I Love You” which i figured meant they enjoyed my company. After midnight and the firework show, one of the gentlemen left with a bag of soup and showed back up a few minutes later with it warmed up. He placed in front of me. After several hand gestures that I managed to figure out meant try some, I did. It was black and filled with parts of chicken I did not recognized nor did I care to know. The weirdest part was the jello like clumps in the soup that you could not avoid as you took a scoop. Yet again, it was pretty good. After another beer and a few more laughs it was time for bed. 

The next morning, we woke up and got ready to head to Laos. As we headed out our host wished us luck with our travels. Oh and yes as for the black soup with jello clumps….it was chicken blood soup…yep! Thanks to our host for informing us on this as we left. According to him though it meant good luck and was an honor to be offered such a meal! 

Smell ya Later Tonsai

12/26(ish)

After a few days rest with some ac and and hot water we decided to head back to the rock and get back after it! After we arrived to Tonsai a place that felt like home we were in search for our next bungalow. A few times back and forth down the short street lead us to a place called Jungle hut, a nice set of bamboo huts tucked underneath a famous wall know as The Nest. To our surprise this place not only had a porch with out mosquitoes but a bed that was decently comfortable. We spent the next several days waving to friends who were still in the area, climbing, eating familiar food and climbing harder than we had in our first visit. We  decided to seek out new walls and famous climbs over the next few days. Of coarse ending our day with a nice over price beer at Freedom Bar watching sunset.

Christmas eve we ventured over to Pranang Beach where Austin Climbed the hardest climb of the trip a 6 c+ (5.11a) called “Best Route in Minnesota.” Afterwards, we traveled through a cave which took us through the rock tower to the other side. We repelled down to a beautiful view point over looking all of Tonsai and Railey east-side. Christmas morning came and we decided to go big: get “real” coffee and do a multi pitch. The climb was the world renowned Big Wave a 5 pitch climb that reached the top of a 400 foot tower over looking all on Tonsai and the Andaman Sea. A over hung challenging start led to interesting climbing through vegetation for the first pitch. The following four pitches went up brilliant rock with tufas and stalactites all around. The start of the climb was busy with multiple parties of mixed experienced. Some continued as some bailed being above there heads. Before Robyn could continue up the second pitch she had to dodge inexperienced climbers as they repelled back to the bottom of the route. Once clear of the second pitch it was smooth sailing to the top. Four hours later we returned to the ground with big smiles and the feeling of accomplishment. Never had either one of us spent Christmas day like this before. That night we treated our selves to a big meal including grilled fish, fried chicken and an assortment of noodles and vegetables. After stuffing our faces until or stomachs could not handle it any more we ventured down to the Thai massage place. We bought one another the best Christmas gift for any climber, back massages. An hour later, feeling like butter, we headed back to our bungalow where we crashed hard.

The next morning was a bit sad and surreal feeling. It was time to depart this beautiful place we had made home for the last 18 days. We had bought a ticket across the peninsula to visit a friend back from High Trails, Greg. Although excited to see a familiar face and hang out with a friend we found it hard to leave the crags and our daily routine of climbing. But as they say all good things must come to an end and so we headed down to the beach with all of our bags packed and waited for the long tail boat captain to give us the thumbs up once enough people had arrived. As we waited we reminisced about all the good times and wonderful people we had experienced in our time in Tonsai. We continued to gaze up at the walls that still surrounded us everywhere and day dreamed that we were still ascending them. Our day dreaming finally cut short as it was finally time to go. Only seven people out of the required eight needed to leave were there but several eager families decided to pay a little extra so that we could go ahead and get on the long tail headed back to main land. As we climbed into the boat reality hit that the chapter of Tonsai was coming to an end. We through our bags down in the front, found a seat, and smiled at one another knowing that we had made the most of our time there. The motor cranked up and deafened everyone as we cruised out of the bay. The rock walls started getting smaller and smaller and eventually fell out of our sights officially starting the next chapter of our Thailand adventure.