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.
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.
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