One fine day not too long ago, a bunch of weekly boulderers decided that it would be a good idea to go climbing in Krabi, where the primary discipline is lead. A snappy purchase of air tickets kinda locked in the plan afterwards and with no turning back, we finally got ourselves lead verified (after procrastinating for an entire year). We've now even got some nice new rope to lead some more. Ah, the impetus of sunk cost.
For me, Krabi 2018 (17-21 Nov) came at the close of yet another crazy period and was hardly any rest, but in a way it was a great break. 'Twas lovely just to spend time with sun, sea, sand and stone. And friends too! Can't ask for much more with full strength attendance of Team Cockfosters, even if just for a few short days. [Gonna rip some photos from these same friends since I didn't use my own phone much.]
The views!
The last time I set foot on Krabi I hadn't turned 20, so suffice to say things have changed. Tonsai seems to have become much more concretised, complete with a graffiti-covered walkway where (at least in my memory) there used to be a simple dirt path. Also, none of my footwear got sucked to the depths this time, thanks to well-fitting Decathlon water shoes (a good buy!).
Over and above everything else, the rock was just as I remembered. But let's first address what made the trip as shag as it was. The main culprits were the 6.30am risers for 7am breakfast. Between this time and 9+am where we'd reach the day's designated wall, there would be lots of bashing through the undergrowth, scrambling across iffy terrain, guidebook-consulting moments and many other forms of faffing. Cobra Wall was particularly hard to get to by the inland route (imagine having to be consistently wary of toppling off the trail and straight into the sea). And then of course, there was the climbing.
Getting to Cobra Wall--would have been a lot easier to go by the coast if the water wasn't at waist-height.
I knew from as early as August that I was screwed for this trip,
climbing-wise, because climbing once a month is not the best way to prep
for the outdoors. True enough, I clipped no anchors this time. I can't
seem to muster enough "fight" while climbing these days, prob coz the
worst consequence is only my personal disappointment. But after doing my
best under prevailing conditions and having a decent amount of fun, it was good enough.
6a and 6c at Cobra Wall. I'm obviously not on the 6c.
Trying the starting moves of the 6c which was pretty much a boulder problem. Would not have dared to do this on lead.
We visited 3 areas over 3 days (Cobra Wall, 1-2-3 Wall and Tonsai Roof). I climbed a handful of 6as and 6bs (some on toprope) and had great mistrust in my ability to hold anything less than jugs. There were a great deal of ledges too, which either meant standing and admiring the view and not wanting to move on, or wasting a great deal of energy trying to get up and chickening out multiple times. Interestingly, whatever else I felt, outdoor lead seemed less scary/intimidating on this trip than all previous times I've done it. At least I experienced normal, fun climbing on two-thirds of most routes before self-doubt started to bare its teeth. Much left to be desired in terms of mental game, but compared to fearing for my life from the first or second clip, it seems like there's some sort of improvement.
Such pretty rock features!
Those few short days in Tonsai ended with frisbee by the beach/in the water/nearly beheading passing beach-goers, trying to be artistic with silhouette sunset shots and the daily tom yum (to avoid disappointment, always ask for "kung"). In the nights, mandatory codenames/bridge till incomprehensible.
Sunset shot from a point-and-shoot kind of person.
I found this shot pretty funny. Guys were all squashed in the first mario kart otw to our Ao Nang accoms because, as the drivers instructed, "this one men only, this one women only".
No rest for the weary as the adventure continued even after heading back to Ao Nang on the 2nd-last day. For the girls at least. There were two very different wefies taken that evening and let's just say the guys' set was taken in a rather more comfortable setting. We, on the other hand, were busy making our way to the top of Tiger Cave Temple. I dislike stairs but the climb was actually far easier than I thought it'd be (and water shoes + socks werks). After taking my sweet time (30 mins) I reached the top where there was no sunset to be seen. Sighs... I'd actually gotten to see decent sunsets from Tonsai Bay, but where it mattered most, the sky was all but overcast with only a vague smear of pink to remind that the sun was on its way home. Behind the clouds, somewhere. Yea looks like the curse is back.
1,237 steps later. Pro-tip: remember not to wear too-short shorts.
Far overrr the Misty Mountains coldddd~
[After-note: I happily relayed to my sister that we'd successfully
followed her example (of rushing up just in time for sunset and descending in the dark) and received the biggest eye-roll ever. Apparently
the idea was not to repeat her experience, which instead we took as
precedence. But her tale included mobs of gangland monkeys that would glare at you from the branches. Interestingly I saw none of those... I don't think I saw any monkeys there in fact.]
A pretty sight as the lights come on.
The road home (literally, as it leads to Krabi International Airport).
Fast forward to the journey to dinner afterwards (after a shower to get out of downright gross clothes by then well-seasoned with sand, salt and sweat). So we got the resort to prepare some transport for us and a party truck showed up, complete with flashing RGB lights and techno music. Probably no party truck ever ferried a deader bunch... but we revived a bit when the music player rudely signaled its retirement with a piercing blast. Afterwards there was beer --> some supermarket shenanigans --> more beer before we finally called it a night.
And next day, I was back home with limbfuls of battle scars and a wistful longing for a hypothetical next trip in Dec 2019. This trip was much too short (5 days with really only 3 days to do anything), but it was one of the best times I've had in recent memory.
Here's presenting the people who made this possible in our one and only (out of 20 or so gopro burst shots) full group photo of the trip:
Team Cockfosters at its finest.
And of course, one for the memories:
I daresay this won't be the last we hear of this song, given that this can hardly be our last climbing trip to Thailand :)
Let's take it that the plan was always to write every monthbi-monthlyquarterlyevery third half-yearly.
In any case, it's been a while. It's coz I've been consistently prioritising things other than writing during the me-time that's left once I'm done with work/climbing/whatever else I do outside. First up is sleep (yes, sleeping early stems from conscious choice). Second, and the only thing to rival sleep nowadays, is to read. [Gaming's been stripped of all priority coz there's only so much one can do before bedtime.]
Feels great to be back on a hearty diet of fiction after a depressing year of half-read non-fiction books. I was beginning to think I'd somehow stopped liking to read... until I picked up His Dark Materials earlier this year. Turns out all it takes are the right books. For me, it seems that if there's no story, I'm inclined to lose interest in whatever author intends to tell me next, let alone turn pages into the night. Current read: A Song of Ice and Fire. Was initially reluctant to start when I got my hands on them e-books coz (1) things were getting busy and (2) I feared to grapple with a highly epic but slow-moving story written in a lofty, archaic style as per LOTR. But I jumped in anyway coz (1) busy was here to stay and get worse and (2) after taking a stab at the first few pages, I found (to my surprise) that it's very easy to read. Bottom line is: I'm glad I still enjoy reading and journeying along in a good story.
In other news, I've been amassing a collection of black shirts lately from jumping at all sorts of opportunities to go monkeying around. [The exercise segment of my wardrobe makes it look like I'm preparing to join the Night's Watch.] So life's been full of obstacles lately but quite a few are 自找的, namely the Spartan Race, Battle Bay Extreme, Urban Attack. Haha, it's something else that's fun to do other than climbing, and incidentally also draws upon the climber skill sets. Things like getting over walls and cargo nets aren't difficult once you're used to holding smaller stuff and using your feet. But then there's always things to pick up, and it can sometimes be surprising to find out what comes easy and what doesn't. E.g. learning to scale a rope and actually going all the way in the same setting wasn't surprising. But I found that climbing strength =/= weightlifting strength after feeling a whole new group of muscles burn in the aftermath of the Spartan Race. Basically, the only sort of weightlifting I'd ever done before that was to carry office water refills (18kg) on no more than 20m walks. This newfound awareness helped me make some wise decisions for the BBE, where I'd certainly not be able to hoist a 25kg sandbag over my head and lob it over a wall. So I went for the "most difficult" category instead, equipped more for swinging around.
[I wish I'd some nice photos to post of all these and I really should be sleeping now.]
Also don't do these things without friends, it'll be like playing at a playground alone. Post-race day Whatsapp group muscle ache complaints are all part of the fun. I'm also now convinced that I don't care for glory if it doesn't come with an attainable reward, but I do get a kick out of maximising my gain:effort ratio. So depending on situation, I can be perfectly un-competitive ;)
Welp, nothing else to report. OH WAIT, HK solo trip post still pending and I swear the time will come when I have time to write it properly. Other than that... everything else seems to revolve around food and drink which I seem to be more willing to spend on these days. Not toooo helpful when it comes to conquering obstacles but hey the stomach's part of the body too so it also deserves to be kept happy hahaha. In fact, one of the best memories I have from within these almost-6 months was when a friend emptied her entire cup of honey wine into mine, saying "you need it". I'm sure it wasn't just my stomach that was feeling warm then :)
