Thailand

In the interest of actually posting something before I am off to the next country I'll attempt to be brief and actually finish this. I am sure there will be plenty of nice stuff I am leaving out, but as they say the perfect is the enemy of the good - or maybe posting something ok is better than posting nothing better.

We flew into BKK the 23rd and met up with Tee (a friend from Sam and Raquel's previous trip here). He kindly allowed us to stay in his condo in Bangkok which was very handy - thanks Tee. In Bangkok we climbed at the gym (fun but hot), did some acrobatic training, played in pools, ate delicious food and caught up and laughed with friends, and packed for Chiang Mai.

Tee met us in BKK and supported us in many ways

playing with underwater acro lets Raquel base head to hand

We took the train up to Chiang Mai partly because of all the stuff we were taking. There we climbed at Crazy Horse (fun but hot overhanging tufa limestone climbing - we were all pretty exhausted by the end of the day). We also played at a park where we (and others) had slacklines up and did acro and juggling. We were also joined by Matt and Kristin who will be joining us for the rest of the YogaSlackersTAO tour (Tour of Asia and Oceania).

fun steep climbing at Crazy Horse - I think this was rated 6c

Next up was the 2nd Annual YogaSlackers Thailand Retreat. This passed in a blur of yoga, slacklining, acroyoga, conditioning, therapeutics, talking, eating, photography, photoprocessing and uploading, fun, and not nearly enough sleep. I was a little frustrated by my injured wrist but it only really stopped me from a few things. It was a great group of amazing and talented individuals and I think we all improved our skills.

fisheye group pic from a tree

fisheye fun

There are heaps more pics available from the retreat. I'll try to get the link for them here at some point.

After the retreat we had another day of climbing at Crazy Horse - less steep tufa stuff but we did a better job of staying out of the worst of the heat. Then there was a scooter excursion to a waterfall and more play in the park, delicious and fun dinners and prep for Koh Lanta.

After the retreat last year most people wanted more time to play, so this year it was actually organized and 16 people from the retreat plus one from last year and another we recruited in Chiang Mai came down for a week of fun. But first we had to get there. We packed up the night before carefully weighing our bags. Then we had to get up before 4 am to get to the airport on time and no coffee places were open - so we weren't firing on all cylinders. In any case we were wrong about our carefully planned baggage allowance and checked the bag we should have taken as a carry on through first. An expensive mistake. Meanwhile I remembered to pack my pocket knife in the checked bag but not my leatherman. DOH. They let me take it back out of security in the hopes I could get someone else from our group to check it but I was too late. I stashed it in a flowerpot and took pics.

Later I was able to send a mission to reclaim it to Nalumon who came the next day. YAY.

In Koh Lanta we recovered from our early morning before assembling at the beach for some play (there was enough surf for some SUP surfing fun) as well as the sunset. The water was wonderfully warm so it wasn't traumatic to get in at all. I kept bracing for cold water but it was like getting into a mild bath. Cool enough to be refreshing when you got out but warm enough to stay in as long as you wanted without getting chilled.

This week too passed in a blur of sun, water, slacklines, sunsets, photos, climbing, laughter, food, boats, scooters, and only barely more sleep.

Almost every day had some sort of excursion. We started out with a longline on Secret (I think) beach. This was the full 270 feet of enlightenment line we had and was rigged high to try to keep Eric from grounding out in the middle (which still failed). I think it was about 10 feet at the anchor. I scooted a bit before I started and managed to walk a fair portion of it (maybe 1/3 my best go). It was a lot of work for not very much distance. That night we were soaked by a rainstorm.

Matt on the longline

Eric captures the magic too early in the morning

The next excursion was a long-tailed boat ride to some islands where we used a good portion of our toys - 2 packrafts, slacklines, the inflatable SUP, snorkel gear, pfds, etc. The water wasn't all that clear but there were lots of fish. I didn't do particularly well on the waterlines but it was fun to try. We wanted to set up another longer waterline but decided to bail partway into the operation so we would have time for another location. This was an island that had a cave leading into a central opening. Luckily the tide was out so we had plenty of clearance. I wished I could have had my good camera with the fisheye inside for pics but I didn't bring it. We marveled at the scenery and took a bunch of acro group pics before swimming back through. When we got out it was pouring rain. At this point the seawater felt warmer than the air. At some point on the ride back we got a bit cold, but that didn't last.

we used most of our toys - packrafts, SUP, slacklines, snorkel gear...

heading back in the rain

We followed this trip up with a speedboat trip to Koh Ha for snorkeling. The water was clearer but not super clear. There were plenty of fishes and some tridacnids (giant clams). Sadly I didn't see the school of squid that others did or the swimming eel, but I saw another moray and lots of stonefish and other cool stuff. I was having a hard time equalizing my ears though so diving down was painful if I didn't pinch my nose and blow and sometimes that didn't work. Normally if I stick out my jaw and wiggle my ears it does the trick so this was new and annoying. The park service boat showed up and shook us down for the admission fee. Evidently you are supposed to pay this but it is sporadic enough that nobody collects it ahead of time. At least we had enough cash between us all to pay it.

Sam snorkels with his Tilley hat

Nalumon floats in the sea

We were delayed a bit on our trip back by an engine not starting - mai pen rai. There was a nice low rainbow over the beach as we returned.

it was windy in the front of the speedboat

The next day was more restful with a morning of catching up with media followed by a slackline/beach afternoon with another gorgeous sunset.

a heap of peeps at the YogaSlackers Koh Lanta adventure

Tash and the boot base Raquel

Nalumon walks the mid-line

SUP acro action

Matt and Kristin with SUP sunset acro

and falling in - nice splash

Next up was a painfully early morning start to Ao Nang and a long-tailed boat ride past Railay/Tonsai (where I spent a good bit of time in 2010 and 2002) to Poda Island for deep water soloing. I was a bit worried about how this would go with my glasses, but I wore my old rose tinted sunglasses that I am not as concerned about losing or destroying and covered my face when I splashed down. In any case it was a lot more fun than I expected. I opted to wear my nice Evolv shoes rather than the provided blown out old shoes. They worked quite well despite repeated soakings. I started out dry which was nice, although the holds were wet from others. First a lowish traverse before I headed up. I opted to jump off from 20 or 25 feet rather than go higher. That wasn't so bad so the next time I went up a good bit higher - maybe up to 60 feet? I don't know, some Thai guy jumped from there. I downclimbed a bit before plummeting but it was still very high and I hit the water hard. I mostly went into mental free-soloing mode once I got high and only had a few uncontrolled falls mostly quite low. There was some fun steep stuff as well as easier tufa climbing. Then we had a break for lunch and to see some large monitor lizards.

After lunch we went to another nearby spot. This featured hard wet steep climbing off the water or easier but high climbing. I did one circuit around the high easy stuff but downclimbed to the bottom of a stalactite before dropping off. Then after a try on the steep stuff I did another traverse fairly high above the sea. The sun came back out and I was sweating pretty hard on some slopey holds. I managed not to fall, but it was a close thing in a few places. Others climbed more or less. The Thai guide had everything wired and jumped from way up high. IT was Caleb's first time climbing and he did quite well. Then we returned for the long trip back. I found a shower in Ao Nang and was able to shower and rinse my shoes before the shuttle bus back to Koh Lanta.

Tash watches us climb about

this is about as high as I went - Caleb rocking it below me

dangling from the stalactite before...

...dropping into the sea

traversing across while Brent looks on

 We had one more full lazy day in Koh Lanta and then a day to pack up and travel to Bangkok for the Bankok Acro Convention.

what we really do - catching up on the internets

taking the shuttle bus to the airport

there is never enough ketchup with this crew

Krabi airport acro conditioning

At the Bangkok Acro Convention I met a bunch of cool acro peeps and learned a bunch of new skills and refined some things I had learned before. We also saw Star Wars episode 7 in 4d - that means 3d glasses plus the seats shook and bumped you as well as wind, wind puffs in your ears (mostly synched with blaster fire), smoke, strobes, and I think smell too although I didn't really notice it.




Then we had another day of hanging out, packing, playing in the pool, and saying goodbye to various people that we had been having fun with for the previous 3 weeks or so. Finally we got everything packed and headed to BKK for the next leg - on to New Caledonia.

Hong Kong and Bangkok

Yes, I am behind the times. A lot if you take experiences into account. Still, I'll try to put something down... Sorry if the formatting got messed up.

The Journey so far, Hong Kong and Bangkok

After a lot of stress and uncertainty about if my flight would leave
from Mammoth Airport everything worked out fine. They weighed my carry
on bag in LAX but since I had another checked bag allowance I started
to make one for that and they let me split it into 2 carry on bags
(and then I just shoved it all back into my carry on bag). The flight
across the Pacific to Taiwan was long. I watched 4 movies and tried to
sleep some. I reset my watch to local time so I lost track of how long
I had been up. I had a few hour layover in Taipei before continuing
on to Hong Kong. There I collected my stuff and put more stuff into
one bag and left it at the storage area before eventually meeting up
with Sam and Raquel who had been there for over a week already. We
took the bus to the Big Buddha and played tourist there for a while.
Then we returned to the airport, picked up my bag, and headed to the
city for an Explorers Club presentation by Ray Zahab who among other
things ran across the Sahara.

The next day we planned a paddling adventure. A subway and bus ride
later we walked up over a hill to a beach where we inflated our
watercraft (2 Alpacka packrafts and a Hala SUP). One of the rafts rode
behind the SUP and carried all our extra gear and bags. Sam and Raquel
were on the SUP and I was in a raft. We headed on into the wind and
waves to Shelter Island to a sea-cave cove. Then back across and south
along the coast to another little island and then through some rather
threatening waves and side-wind before we turned the corner and had a
tailwind to another beach. We got there just about dark and took out
and packed everything back up before taking the bus back home to
L'Hotel (where Sam and Raquel were put up for teaching at the Yoga
Festival and a few more classes at Flex Studio.

The next few days we combined teaching classes with a little
touristing, an acro jam, and hanging out with Heather - who was
instrumental in bringing Sam and Raquel to Hong Kong. The last full
day we went rock climbing at the Zawn - a sea cliff area where we
walked down the old path to some WWII era bunkers before rappelling
into a cove. There were a lot of people climbing there who were happy
to share ropes and beta. I think we did climbs ranging from 6a to 6c+.
We left just about dark for a long walk back to public transportation
and a stop for Indian food for dinner. The last day we packed and
weighed everything before a ride to the airport and the separate
flights to Bangkok.

belaying Raquel at the Zawn

My flight on Sri Lankan Air was nice except it left after dark so I
couldn't really see anything out the window and they took away the
earphones with about 45 minutes left in the flight so I didn't hear
the end of the movie. I should have had my own earphones more
accessible (actually they were, but I didn't realize it at the time). It took a little bit to find Sam and Raquel in the airportbut then we all loaded up in Tee's car and drove to his Bangkok condo.

The next morning we had a breakfast of street food and then went to
the climbing gym where Tee wanted to try a bit more climbing. It was
fun, but awfully hot near the top of the wall. I would have been happy
to stay a bit longer to get completely pumped out but we were planning
to meet with some others for acro and handstand training. That was fun
but tiring trying to get my shoulders to do what they were supposed to
(plus being tired from climbing probably didn't help). Then we moved
to the pool for some 2-high fun. It was getting dark and cold by then.
We followed this up with a delicious Thai feast. yum.

That was enough fun so that we wanted to do it again. First we had to
go to the train station to get tickets to Chiang Mai, then we went to
the park for more training. This time pops - so basically the flyer
got launched into the air and hopefully caught again in a safe manner.
Spotting was essential. This was a festival day and lots of families
with little kids were going to the park to launch their floating
krathong often with candles and or incense. Some were all dressed up in
sparkly traditional garb.

For Thanksgiving we ate Thai food and played in the pool like
unsupervised kids - 2-high, underwater videos, etc. Then to a
Vietnamese restaurant for Francis' birthday dinner followed by a Thai

blowing air bubble rings in the pool

iced tea ice mountain and a lot of laughs. On a Thai tea caffeine sugar high we went home and watched Star Wars (a new hope) in preparation for episode 7. We repeated the pool day and then joined Jenny and Jay (who work at a school here). I first met Jenny back when I lived in Portland and it was nice to catch up again (and eat Lebanese food).

The last day in Bangkok we sorted and packed things up. It got tedious so we made some time-lapse movies of it. That didn't speed things up but was more fun.

I'll try to be a little more on time with these updates, but I can't count on it.

Going Intercontinental

I am heading off for the rest of the year - and well into 2016. I'll be joining among others at various times Sam and Raquel, Kristen and Matt, Eric, and more YogaSlackers plus visiting Tammy and Andy and hopefully a few other friends on the far side of the world. First stop Hong Kong, then on to Thailand, followed by Christmas and New Years in New Caledonia and then on to New Zealand for a while before a stop in Hawaii on the way back to the US Mainland. I am pretty excited by everything except the expensive tickets (actually a good bit cheaper this year than last year). I sure hope I can get all the stuff I need to get taken care of before I go. So much logistics and packing. I wish I could just have all my toys with me without having to cart them around when I am not using them. I am pretty sure that there will be some climbing, slacklining, Acro, Yoga, packrafting, snorkeling, running, hiking, photography, and eating. I suspect there will be some adventures whether we want them or not, so I'll pretend we are planning them.

I don't know how much internet access I'll have. I won't be taking a computer myself other than an old droid smartphone and a kindle but some of the people I'll be traveling with will have computers so hopefully I'll be able to at least update this blog from time to time as well as keep up with e-mail. At some point in the future you might be able to see a few of the many GB of photos I expect to take.

Meanwhile I try to finish up the things I should have been doing the rest of the year, find gear and pack and cull and repack my bags, and prepare my place to be abandoned for a while.

I made a kindle case to protect it while traveling

kindle case closed up and hopefully safe

quite a pile of toys and gear to try to pack

Fall Highball Classic in Bishop

a little fresh snow on the mountains

Last weekend was the fall highball classic in Bishop. Friday I went to the Reel Rock 10 film showing. Unfortunately I was late enough that I had to sit on the floor. The quality of climbing films sure has improved in the last few years. Saturday I went to the Buttermilks with Julie and Ernie. We mostly got shut down but did do the stand start version of the Pope's Hat in honor of the Highball themed weekend. There was a nice sunset too, although the wispy clouds sort of changed before the color got decent.

sunset from the buttermilks

That night there was a get together off of main street, among other things there was a pack weight guessing contest (Price is Right rules) and a rope coiling contest put on by Sierra Mountain Guides. I had the fastest coiling time when I did it but was beat later. However my pack weight guessing skills were up to snuff and I won a nice Camp M4 pack. It might be my new carry-on pack (I gotta check the dimensions) not to mention a good size for other adventures. There was also a slide show put on by Peter Croft. This time I got a seat. The next morning I headed out earlyish (for me) for a nice bagel breakfast and then did a stewardship project out on the tablelands. Our group worked on delineating the edge of the road and either blocking off or making more obvious a few campsites and turnarounds. The weather was lovely and the city of Bishop helped with the festivities this year - the movie and slideshow was in the Bishop Twin Theater and the party and breakfast were across the street in the lot there as well as a Friday night get together in the Mtn Rambler Brewery. All in all a successful weekend although I did sort of strain my back picking up a rock. oops.

before

during - moving big rocks

mostly after - parking camping area but you can't just drive across the desert

after from the other side

Red Rocks with Dawn

I met up with Dawn to climb at red rocks. The first day we climbed "frogland" this was a fun romp not really marred by the fact that the first three parties to Black Velvet Canyon were all going to climb there. It was a little crowded, but not a big deal. We hung out in the shade at the top until the descent was in the shade. The temps were a bit hotter than I expected (there was a cold front the week before). Then we had the main event, "Epinephrine". This classic heads up some 11 pitches and continues on to the summit of Black Velvet Peak. We got an early start - showing up at the base of the route just as it got light. The one other car at the parking lot ahead of us was already on the route. Unfortunately they were a bit slower than we were. Eventually they dropped a shoe (I caught the sock, but the shoe was out of reach) and bailed. The chimneys were pretty physical (5 pitches worth), especially with a mini pack. Then we cruised up fun face and crack climbing to a huge ramp. We got there just in time to scramble up it to the end of the 4th/easy 5th class as it got dark. Then on up to the summit and a rather long but only slightly confusing descent. The nearly full moon and warm temps made that pretty nice really.

Dawn in the chimney (p. 4 for us)

Dawn was pretty tired near the top (as was I)

reading the summit register with the lights of Vegas in the distance

I have a more complete trip report here: Frogland and Epinephrine Climbing With Dawn

2015 Sierra Challenge, Ultra Run, River Trip... the busy time has come

As the title suggests, things have gotten busy, after Wanderlust I made a weekend trip to San Diego to see some friends and participate in the Slack-Pocalypse (I walked 2.78 miles on a slackline - lots of laps) or as reported on Gearjunkie.  Then it was on to Utah for the Kat'cina Mosa 100k trail run race and the OR show and back to CA to do days 3-9 of the Sierra Challenge. I missed the first 2 days due to the OR show and recovering from the run. I skipped the last day to pack up and start driving up to OR for Jason's 40th birthday Deschutes River trip. This was a heap of packrafts and other watercraft on the river for 4 days of fun and paddling (the paddling was fun too mostly). Busy busy. It will take a while to catch up with pics, but here are a few. Hopefully one day I will have proper trip reports written up and posted.

Julie and Willow acro in San Diego

parking lot cooking with JD and Chris

Bob and Robert traversing N of White Mtn

Bob, Jeff, Rob, Robert, and myself on a peak N of White Mtn

Milky Way from near the Taboose Pass trailhead

sometimes things get weird on the river

our flotilla, we had one more packraft to start out.

Chip paddling through a rapid

group shot the last morning