Gasp, grunt. Bam! Landed the hold. Move the feet, move the feet.. traverse right. There's a crimp... reeeeeach... aaaaah! SPLASH. The warm water overwhelms me and I swim to the top, gasping for breath and laughing as I look up at the cliffs I had just pitched off of. My forearms throb in the clear water and I taste salt on my lips.
Yesterday, despite the rain, we went on a deep-water soloing trip. You get ferried out on a longtail boat and swim to a rope ladder attached to the cliffs, then climb until you get pumped out or simply slip off and go crashing and flailing down to the sea below.
The ocean is bathwater warm and falling is almost more fun than climbing. The climbing is tricky because you are wet, you are sweaty, and it is raining so the rock is wet too. Sometimes you get pretty high before you realize how high you are, and falling can be pretty intimidating, then you get the thrilling drop in your stomach as you hurtle towards the water.
After the climbing we boated to a deserted beach on one of the islands and barbecued fish, rice, and squid just bought off one of the fishing boats, ink and all. It was quite an experience and we met some new friends, especially Sarah and Dylan from Alaska and Oregon who spent a few months trekking in Nepal before coming to Thailand, and had some interesting stories to tell.
Today the weather cleared so we grabbed our gear and hightailed it up to Fire Wall, one of the cliffs high above Ton Sai beach. We climbed all day, and it rained off and on, but the rock was just overhung enough to protect the rope. It felt good to get out and really get a good workout, as I had been getting antsy sitting around with all the rain. We did get out and go bouldering yesterday as well in the rain, at an area called Dum's Kitchen which is protected by overhung cliffs, but there's nothing like grunting up a bunch of long, hard pitches for a great workout. The approach is almost as hard as the climbs, snaking our way up a series of muddy half-cliffs and roots.
Life's feeling pretty good here. We finally got in our climbing groove, and hopefully the rain will clear up for a few days at least. We're thinking of extending our stay in Ton Sai because we lost two climbing days to the rain, and there's still so much to explore! Our clothes are getting manky, as are we, from all the sweat and sand and sea salt (there are showers but I'm not sure how much they really help) so I am glad to be in a place with mostly climbers and backpackers and not a bunch of tourists to turn up their noses at us in the bars. (We had coffee in railay the other day after kayaking and I think some were put off by our unkempt appearance and salty/sweaty aroma.) =) The ice cold showers here feel great though after being so hot, and I take an average of 5 per day, so I guess I must be pretty clean after all. =)
On that note, time for a beer.
It is our friend Lucas's birthday today... Happy birthday! Hope you're getting snow.
Big sweaty hugs,
Liz and Jamie
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