Arrival

I have arrived in Thailand after a very VERY long journey. Here's the breakdown:

Before my departure, due to the chaos currently in Bangkok, I spent all night before leaving on the Phone. Exhausted, and worried, I finally made a break though-they luckily changed my ticket from flying into Bangkok, to fly into Phuket. This is favorable anyway because it will save be money and travel time to get to Krabi/Ton Sai beach. It's apparently a very long bus ride from Bangkok (12 hrs), but only 3.5 hours from Phuket. Kyra and her family were very worried about everything, and she refunded her ticket. I am alone on this trip. Not a huge deal since I was going to come regardless, but she is missed. Before I left we spoke about her trying to come at a later date, or even to meet me in another country. It remains to be seen, but I wish her luck in making arrangements.

So I arrived in San Fran and Paul, a friend of a friend that I had never met picked me up from the airport and proceeded to show me a great time on the town. Sushi, Sake, Bars, and a great place to sleep since I had a 12 hour lay over. Admist all the fun, we slept I think maybe 2 hours before I had to be at the airport. He was wonderful-Thank you Paul!!! He even packed me a little snack bag for my trip-so sweet!

Next I was off to South Korea, it was a 12 hour flight, and a 18 hour time change....INTENSE!!! But because of the lack of sleep the few days before, I was able to gather a few hours, and watch 3 movies, read the Korean newspaper, and play a ton of sukuko. :)

Then I got into Seoul, and had 2 hours between flights, boarded my plane, and met the guys sitting next to me. They were staying in Phuket for a week, and said they have been there many times before. The three of them live in Seoul, and were hilarious. A Dentist, a Lawyer, and a Trades specialist. So funny...we had a blast on the flight, and once in Phuket we got a cab together so the hotel they were staying at.

Along the way we ran out of gas...our driver eventually got us to a gas station an hour later. It was pretty scary considering it was on a highway at 2am in the middle of no where. We made it fine, and we decided to take a load off when we got to Phuket Town. We went out to play at the bars last night, and now it is 7:30am Nov 29th, and we just got back to the hotel, still with very little sleep since Nov 25th.

My plan is to relax for part of today, and then make my way to the climbing area of Krabi where Ton Sai is located. I'm so excited to get on the rock...and my birthday is coming up pretty quickly!

This trip is turning out to be alot more play than was anticipated thus far. I just want to get a massage, relax on a beach and climb some amazing limestone. hahahaha

Oh the fun to be had in Asia. Stay tuned!

SE Asia

Soon I will embark on a 3 month (maybe longer?) journey to SE Asia to rock climb. My friend Kyra will be coming with me for the first 2 months. Athough she does not yet climb, she is excited to try, and is very willing to be a belay slave-thanks Ky!

There really isn't a set plan with dates involved, we do know what countries we plan on traveling too (Sorry for the ambiguity guys!).

This is the break down of whats going though our heads, although we do reserve the right to mix it up a bit, so don't panic if we do!

Once we arrive in Bangkok, we will move south to Krabi, the region where the best climbing in Thailand is located. This area is a world class location, and the best season to climb there is the winter. During this time, thousands of climbers from all over the world travel there to get a taste of the beautiful limestone cliffs along magnificent white sand beaches. We will stay at Ton Sai climbing for a pretty good amount of time. Here are a couple of photos from Ton Sai Beach, in Thailand. This is where we will be....you can think of me when you are getting snowed on this year in the states!

Then we will head back north to Bangkok visit the temples, take some yoga classes, visit the markets and so on. We are going to go to Cambodia and see Angkor Wat. Also on the list is northern Thailand-Chaing Mai, we will check out the climbing near there, and make our way to Laos to climb in Vang Vieng.

Deep water soloing (DWS) in Halong Bay, Vietnam is a place I plan on spending a lot of time. This photo to the right is of the bay. There are so many exposed limestone cliffs dotting the waters. I am so excited! The rock looks so good, and the water is beautiful there.

Then from there I/we will head to Yangshuo, China to check out the limestone there, I hear it is amazing. This last photo is from there. It is surreal looking.

The quantity of time I will be spending at each location is yet to be determined, as I have no plans, and will just see were the wind blows me.

Stay tuned....

Life is short, embrace your passions.

As I approach my departure to SE Asia...

Upon waking this morning, I felt a huge wave of panic wash over me as I realized, 'today is my last full day' before I leave on my journey abroad.

While the anticipation of climbing in SE Asia is awe inspiring, I can’t seem to quell my nerves about leaving my beloved Lucky behind for so long. My roommate will adequately care for him, of this I am certain, but the thoughts of missing him, and more importantly, him missing me so badly, are upsetting none the less. Poor little guy!

I spent the better half of the day preparing for my trip, spending time with friends, running errands, last minute stops, and making phone calls to say good-bye.

Later in the evening, I received some information regarding bombing and rioting at the Bangkok airport over political issues. I’m uncertain of what time will change, but as of now the airport is closed. I have no idea what will happen, or where I will have to fly into now because it seems all other Thai airports are booked 5 days out. How frustrating.
I guess we all just will have to stay tuned to see what happens....