Up and to the airport at 7am, and flew down to Krabi. In the airport a German guy (GeGe) comes over and asks me am I going to RaiLay (it is a climbing Mecca after all) and so we teamed up and then found another guy – so the taxi ride was really quite cheap ($6 each for a 40 min drive..)

There we got a longtail (the wee boats) over to the peninsula.

I knew that Mandys friends Jesse and Aaron were supposed to be in a partic room.. so I went along and there was a note saying that they’d gone climbing to 1-2-3 Crag, so off I went to find them.

Actually, it was kinda funny, on the way I bumped into a face I knew (or thought I did) and yes, it was a lady called Rachel – who was a friend of Eliza Sprechers that I’d met climbing in Rumney – New Hampshire about 2.5 years ago now.

Then I did head on and find the others..

This was Aaron climbing a 7a. And from here the trip only got better and better. It was quite simply one of the best trips I’ve ever had. Definitely the best climbing spot I’ve been – at least sport climbing wise. The group worked together really well. We picked up an American (but a cool sort ;) ehem, Kyle. He’s a hiking guide mainly.. dream job – works hard for 6 months (with no accom costs, getting to eat posh dinners and stay in nice hotels, and paid well) and then free for 6 months to travel. Perfect. And totally sound. They all were.

So we did a few routes there, unfortunately not the easiest place to take pics from really. This one is of Scott on a 6b I think it was (really should have taken all the names down…)

So, my Thailand trip started with a wonderful flight up from Christchurch to Auckland.. The view out over Taranki (Mt. Egmont) was incredible..

My checkin guy had been really great – giving me a window seat on that flight, and then the isle for the long(ish) haul flight to Singapore.

Now that *was* a fun trip.. I was seated beside a beautifully dressed Indian lady. I think belching might be a sign of good manners over there. Will have to see when I get there. I was quite unimpressed with their choice of films… Wimbeldon I’d seen before (not an incredibly terrible film, but still) the others were ‘Princess Diaries 2’ – about a girl who ascends to the throne, and then suddenly has to choose a husband. The other was arguably worse, being Cellular. How that film got 6.5 on imdb I’ll never know – the plot being Kim Basinger is kidnapped, picks up a phone and randomly dials a number and gets the guy who pics it up to somehow turn into a super hero and risk all to save this total stranger (including getting shot at quite a lot).

Me, being far too cool to watch those films, settled to listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix read by Stephen Fry. A far better way to spend the hours.

Soon enough it was into Singapore Aiport. Definitely a good airport to have to spend a few hours in – free internet, films and Glynn tells me there’s a free swimming pool somewhere too. Guess I’ll just have to get back again.

Into Bangkok and tried to check into the airport hotel. Full. So took out my guide to find another place to stay. There was a hostel.. so took a taxi (he wanted to charge me 300Bat – far too much as it turned out – I got him down to 100 and off we went). Got all the way there, only to find that place was full. So I just asked to be taken back again (I was feeling swindled and tired and quite sorry for myself :) hehehe and was just going to sleep on an aiport bench… However, upon getting back to exactly where I started half an hour earlier, the guy in charge(ish) of the taxi rank asks me if I want a room … for 500 Bat (actually very cheap for the area).

So off we went down a little side alley in behind the posh aiport hotel, and there I found a place to sleep for 7 hours, and the decor was perfect. Mind you, it was a wee adventure and all the more of an authentic start to my travels I guess!

Hectic week, for sure for sure. Spent quite a bit of it working fairly hard finishing up a project, and also tidying up loose ends so that when I head to Thailand I don’t have to worry that things might break! (famous last words or what)

On Wed I think it was, met up with Mandy (the Canadian climber I met here that I’m heading to Thailand with, and her boyf Scott – cool guy – an engineer too ;) ) aaanyway – she’d been in touch with the red cross, and told them where we were going and asked what we could do to help.

They said, that if we wanted to, we could head to Paan mam khem (or something like that) it’s 50km North of Phuket…and help out. They also said that as they couldn’t guarantee water / lodgings etc.. that it was really up to us to see what could be done. They also suggested some things that we could usefully bring over to help.

So very much last minute we had a sausage bbq in work (which my friend Bex organised magnificently) and managed to raise $208.. which is pretty incredible really. I cycled off around town – and at most places I went (Bivouac 30%, High Country 20%, Simpsons Pharmacy (10%… hmmmm…) and the last one – who’s name I’m afraid I forget – had a *very* helpful lady, who rang the wholesaler (as I’d pretty much run most places out of water purification gear) and got their contents – or quite a lot – shipped over – and they gave me everything at cost price.. so that was great. Really, an incredible response.

Also – Maeve who works in the hospital managed to procure some odds and ends.. so you can see here what we ended up with.. not bad for 24 hours work really.

So it is all quite exciting… no idea what I’m really getting myself into here.. nor really how I’m going to meet up with my friends down in Krabi (I have a hotel address…) but I’m quite sure twill all work out. I definatly feel happier that we’re going to try to help out for a week (yes, will still climb for a week too). We may get there and find that they don’t need us.. but it’s right to try (methinks)

And then to make the week even better! A friend of mine from primary school (Linda Tormey) arrived into ChCh.. so has been just lovely hanging out with her.

Today we (Linda, Glynn, Emma, Dave, John and I) headed to boulder at castle hill, and we also took in Cave Stream – a fun 30 min caving trip – really nice on a hot day (which it was)

Here Glynn’s attempting a V4 I think (which John eventually got)

Anyway, that’s about all from me probably for the next fortnight.. but ‘cha never know!

So – a not quite typical day in the rundown mansion that is house 39. My friend Ruth arrived on her way back home from travelling in Asia and Oz.. she’s off to do a two week tour (never long enough) of the S.Island.

Absolutely lovely to have visitors out here.. we used to be next door neighbours when I was living on campus in Trinity.. And it was great to hear about her travels through Asia.. made me feel a lot more comfortable about travelling on my own.

But it gets better – she brought with her 1L of Baileys and 1L of Bombay Sapphire – which has become my favourite gin since my friend Mick McKenny (hopefully also visiting later this year) introduced me to many years ago. Now that’s always a recipe for the start of a fun night.. Warick then dropped over, he’d just been back from kayaking a grade 3 river (Opihi). It comes up with rain – and is only paddleable about 5 days a year! On the way back they’d spotted some huge wild mushrooms and stopped to collect..

So to go with our gin and biscuits and cheese we had wild mushrooms (which were absolutely fantastic)

And with Steve and Yvonne (other inhabitants of the house) it was a great little party. But wait.. there’s more ;) One of the other guys (Guy) was also around – and he’s just been on a week long cruise to the sub-antarctic islands. Guy is a photographer so was paid to go, so headed upstairs to see his pictures.. they were incredible..

So all in all, quite a fun evening!

At short notice decided to head to Wanaka on Friday to get some climbing done. The weather forecast from metvuw looked kinda bad, but we (Maeve & John and I) decided to head anyway.

Beautiful drive down, stopping for many ice-creams on the way. John defiantly winning the ‘who can get the biggest ice-cream competition’ by challenging the ice-cream-girl to see how much she could get on the cone. Neat trick. (Very Berry Boysenberry & Hokey Pokey coming out favourite). (Boysenberry is quite like raspberry ripple, and Hokey Pokey kinda similar to Honeycomb Crunch – for the ice-cream gurus out there)

We stayed that night at the DOC Campground just outside of Wanaka, a pretty nice spot down by the river.

Saturday dawned.. damply.. so climbing was out – but we headed to town and hired some mountain bikes, and did some easy trails. I called a halt early as the bike I’d hired was (in my opinion) a tad dangerous – seeing as I had no front brakes.. (no, when I’d hired it they worked fine :P but they were these fancy-shmancy disk brakes and had probably got some oil onto them to they no longer worked)

Here you can see a pretty fun movie (3 megs)of John cleaning off his mountain bike by cycling it into the lake..

That night though was the total highlight for me – we headed to the Wanaka Cinema. And it’s a total must do if you’re in Wanaka. Absolutely defiantly. It’s just the best place. It’s a single screen cinema.. they show all sorts of interesting films (as well as current ones). They have delicious home made ice creams (I had 3 – Passionfruit, and 2 of the yum strawberry and white chocolate). They have an interval (10 mins) during which you can buy freshly baked cookies (I think I’m going to mail them for the recipe). The cinema itself is a Wanaka institution I reckon.. the seats are all couches (and more) that people have donated.. apparently there’s a seat from a Japanese airliner in there – I didn’t look to see it, and no one knows how it comes to be there. Our seats – as you can see below, were in the back of a Morris Minor.

Honestly, it’s just the best place, really worth seeing.

Sunday – got up at 8 ish – still a tiny bit of drizzle, but we were determined to get some climbing done. Headed to ‘The Tombstone’ a monolith about a 10 min drive from town. We climbed four routes, this one a trad route (John leading) aptly named ‘The Crack’

And at 1pm the skies opened, but it was time to be heading back.