Thailand: Tonsai
After a relatively uneventful overnight bus trip, I arrived Tuesday morning back in Tonsai. Not surprisingly, after the wonderful memories I made of the place back in January, my return felt like I was coming home after a long trip. Not only did many of the people who work in the area remember me, including the employees at Andaman Bungalows and the man at the internet shop, but I was also amazed to run into various other climbers that I met months ago.
I settled into my bungalow, unpacked, and immediately hung up my hammock to enjoy the lazy afternoon. A guy in a bungalow across the way from me was doing the exact same thing, and before long we were chatting. Before I had time to fall asleep in my drowsy state, Graham and I were loaded down with our gear and off to Railay for a quick climb. I found that my confidence was extremely too high. When I left Tonsai in February after over two weeks of climbing, I was scrambling up some pretty difficult climbs. However, my last two months of no exercise worth mentioning and entirely too much over-eating have made for a considerable loss of strength and power. So, after a couple frustrating climbs, I decided to call it a day and rest my fatigued arms.
On Wednesday, Graham and I got up and went out for a full day of climbing. I was still feeling a bit weak and sore but managed to complete a few climbs before finally succumbing to my jelly arms. That night, we met some other climbers, Chris and Rebecca, a couple from Germany, as well as English Tom and Kiwi Julz. Together, with my old Swedish pal Anna-Karin (we planned back in Vietnam to meet in Thailand, so she decided to come down to Tonsai for some climbing lessons), we all had a lovely dinner on the beach.
Yesterday was a rest day for me...I slept in, layed around in my hammock for a bit, and then finally found a nice shaded spot on the beach to plop myself for some much-needed Vitamin D. While lounging on the beach, I met Leoni, a friendly Canadian who was on a short holiday from work. I invited her to dinner, where we joined the other members of our newly-formed "posse" and made plans to climb today.
Therefore, this morning, Leoni, Tom, Julz, Chris, Rebecca, and I, loaded withour gear, waded around the rocks of Tonsai to Eagle Wall (the one and only site of my late-night, lost in the jungle without a flashlight incident back in January). We had a wonderful day of climbing in this remote spot, and we enjoyed a packed lunch of fried chicken and sticky rice mid-afternoon. Finally, just before sunset, we hiked out of the jungle, had a refreshing swim on our "private beach," and hailed a passing longboat to take us back to Tonsai.
In order for a change of scenery, a few of us are going to take the ferry to Ko Phi Phi tomorrow. The boat ride is pretty expensive, as are accomodations, food, and most everything else in Phi Phi, but I have always wanted to check out this little island that was devastated by the tsunami, as well as try some of the climbs.
I settled into my bungalow, unpacked, and immediately hung up my hammock to enjoy the lazy afternoon. A guy in a bungalow across the way from me was doing the exact same thing, and before long we were chatting. Before I had time to fall asleep in my drowsy state, Graham and I were loaded down with our gear and off to Railay for a quick climb. I found that my confidence was extremely too high. When I left Tonsai in February after over two weeks of climbing, I was scrambling up some pretty difficult climbs. However, my last two months of no exercise worth mentioning and entirely too much over-eating have made for a considerable loss of strength and power. So, after a couple frustrating climbs, I decided to call it a day and rest my fatigued arms.
On Wednesday, Graham and I got up and went out for a full day of climbing. I was still feeling a bit weak and sore but managed to complete a few climbs before finally succumbing to my jelly arms. That night, we met some other climbers, Chris and Rebecca, a couple from Germany, as well as English Tom and Kiwi Julz. Together, with my old Swedish pal Anna-Karin (we planned back in Vietnam to meet in Thailand, so she decided to come down to Tonsai for some climbing lessons), we all had a lovely dinner on the beach.
Yesterday was a rest day for me...I slept in, layed around in my hammock for a bit, and then finally found a nice shaded spot on the beach to plop myself for some much-needed Vitamin D. While lounging on the beach, I met Leoni, a friendly Canadian who was on a short holiday from work. I invited her to dinner, where we joined the other members of our newly-formed "posse" and made plans to climb today.
Therefore, this morning, Leoni, Tom, Julz, Chris, Rebecca, and I, loaded withour gear, waded around the rocks of Tonsai to Eagle Wall (the one and only site of my late-night, lost in the jungle without a flashlight incident back in January). We had a wonderful day of climbing in this remote spot, and we enjoyed a packed lunch of fried chicken and sticky rice mid-afternoon. Finally, just before sunset, we hiked out of the jungle, had a refreshing swim on our "private beach," and hailed a passing longboat to take us back to Tonsai.
In order for a change of scenery, a few of us are going to take the ferry to Ko Phi Phi tomorrow. The boat ride is pretty expensive, as are accomodations, food, and most everything else in Phi Phi, but I have always wanted to check out this little island that was devastated by the tsunami, as well as try some of the climbs.
posted by Tiffany Joiner at 1:52 AM
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