More of Railay and Bangkok

First an amusing story! I went down to Railay to do some climbing, like you all know from my previous post. I met up with Jim, and he and I then met up with about 6 other people that we hung out with for the rest of the week. One of these people was named Kate. She is from Vancouver. Anyway, Kate left Railay on the 14th, and I was due to leave the afternoon of the 15th. Once I left, I took a long boat to a taxi station, where a minibus picked me up to go to the bus station. Well, as I was looking at the passengers in the Mini bus, I recognized one of them. The one and only, Kate from Vancouver was on it. So we said hi again, and I found out that she had mistaken which day her bus left, and it really left on the 15th. So we rode in this minibus to a bus station where she was getting on her bus to Bangkok, while another minibus was supposed to take me to Suratthani to get on the train. So we said our goodbyes again, and got on our sepearate vehicles. Once I arrived in Suratthani, the minibus driver dropped us off at another miniture bus station/reststop. I hung out there for a bit, and guess who shows up in a bus 10 minutes later! Yep, Kate again! So we say hi, and wow, this is weird coincedence etc. etc. and more or less say our goodbyes again when she gets on the bus. So, just before the bus is supposed to leave, all the people that are taking the train get yelled at because we are not on the bus. The bus was going to drop us off at the train station on the way to Bangkok. So, I get on the bus, say my hi's to Kate again, and stand all the way to the train station. (About half an hour away, and there was no room to sit on the bus.) Well, this time I'm sure it's the last time I'll see Kate, but I joke about it anyway. . ."Well, see you in Bangkok!" I say, knowing it's not true. She laughs, and says goodbye. Well, guess what. . .Today, Linnea and I went to the weekend market, which is a story in itself, and after walking around for about 3 hours, in a city of approximately 10 million people, guess who I run into again! Sure enough, Kate was there enjoying the market. What an amazing set of Coincedences! (And she happened to randomly hook up with another of the 6 people that were climbing down there. She just bumped into him in Bangkok as well. He was a German called Marselle.)

Well, now to post up some pictures of the wonderful area called Railay. I'll tell you this now. This is not going to be the last time that I go there. The climbing is so phenomenol, it's hard to describe. More or less, it is just one pitch climbs and everything is sport routes. You can rent gear if you need it (including ropes, however I don't know if I would want to rent ropes.) And there are climbers EVERYWHERE! It can be a little tough to get on some routes, but there are so many to choose from that at most you'll only have to walk another 5 meters to get on something else you can climb. And the majority of the climbs are right on the Beach.

As a general idea what I did for the week that I was in Railay, I showed up, and hung out the first day. I climbed two days, and took two days rest, then climbed for the next three days. On the last day I did a really fun multipitch climb called "humanality." It was five pitches long, and in the fourth pitch there is a stalagtite that hangs behind you. On the main wall, you completly run out of any holds, so as your 150 feet off the ground, you have to turn around and lean out to this stalactite. Then you transfer all of your weight to this stalactite and climb it for about two or three moves. Then you have to turn back around and get on the main wall again. It is an incredible feeling. In this picture, I was standing with my left foot on the stalactite, and my right foot on the main wall. Holding the camera up, I happened to catch my belayer in the picture too. If you look closely, the rope points right to him. You can see Dave's head sticking out. (Dave is a newlywed Chiropracter from the Lake Tahoe area. He came down for his Honeymoon. So Congrats Dave!)

I was also able to climb a 6c climb which for you climbers out there is like a 5.11a-5.11b. I was very proud of myself! Mostly though I was climbing 6a and 6a+ which is about the 5.9-5.10b range. Jim kept calling me his "rope gun" cause I would just shoot up climbs and set up top ropes for him! I like that term. I'm now a rope gun!

Anyway, I love climbing so much that I could continue to talk about every climb I did down there. But since I don't think everybody has that same passion, I'll switch gears to my rest days down there. At least one in particular. . .

On our second rest day I went to a little village Just outside of Ao Nang. At this village they raise Elephants! And sure enough, I went Elephant Trekking! It is really quite an experiance. You'd think it was like horse back riding, but on the contrary, Elephants are ridiculously slow! We trekked a total of about 100 yards or so in an hour! But nonetheless, it was an adventure worth remembering.

Here I am on top of an Elephant head! These things are so massive! Our Elephant was very kind. They just kind of saunter through the forest minding their own business, not even realizing, persay, that there is a human on top of their head! After riding these guys for an hour, we learned all about them. How they like to play, bathe, and eat! They eat about 200 kilos a day! And as Pat would say, "that's 440 pounds!" (I love ya Pat!) Apparently, every now and then the Elephants decide to run away. It's funny cause the trainers have no choice but to follow them barking commands and hoping that the Elephant will listen. Fences won't stop these guys. . .

Well, here I am, typing this post on a Macintosh, and it is starting to get to me. There are a few more picutes I'd love to post up, however they need to be rotated. For some reason when I rotate a picture here, it makes it 14 megs instead of 1.5. And I really don't want to mess with it right now. . .sorry! So with that said, I think it is time for me to sign off! In two days I'll be flying to Auckland to start my Journey around down under! Hopefully it'll be as fun as Thailand was! Wow, it's been a month already huh?

Oh, and before I forget, I'd like to Wish everyone back home a Merry Christmas! Truthfully though, I'm somewhat enjoying not being in the states over Christmas time. It is so busy there with Christmas this, Christmas that, that I get overwhelmed. Out here I've only heard carols in the Subway. But I will however miss my freinds and family over this time. Hope things are going well!