Had a fun last night on the island.. we headed climbing – just a few easy routes, and then there was a fire party over at Tonsai – so away we headed to see Job2Do playing (an excellent reggae acoustic type gig thingy!)

It was heaps of fun, and two things worthy of note – one was jumping though a fire hoop (not hot at all!)

And the other was heading out drinking with (and I admit I’d no idea who he was until it was explained) a guy called Tim Emmett.

He’s a world class (madman) climber / deep water soloer. This link is of Tim, Chris Sharma, and a few others deep water soloing in Croatia. Stunning pictures.

And that, pretty much, was the end of my time in Rai Lay. I will, without any shadow of a doubt, be back climbing there again within the next 2 or 3 years. Hopefully next year!

After the rest day it was back to climbing until I left. This is a pic of Kyle on a really fun looking 6C over on the Phra Nang side of the peninsula.

There was a certain amount of partying done too. It’s quite easy to have *slightly* too much, from time to time. But that’s ok ;)

But the highlight for me anyway, was when we went deep water soloing. We hired a long tail (boat) for the day, and a kayak – (well two of each) and 15 of us headed out. So off we went amongst the islands, and when we saw one we liked the look of we’d head over to it, get into the kayaks…

and start climbing straight onto the rock. When you got tired, or had enough, you just fall into the water. It was heaps of fun.

This pic is of Robert getting kinda high on the rock

and then jumping in…

Just so much fun though. Some of the starts were kinda hard. Often you had to grab onto stalactites straight off the kayak and start climbing. This was a little too hard for me (at the moment – but I will be back) – This pic Aaron having established himself on one of the stalactites.

Really was one of the best days though. We then went out for dinner in ‘The Banyan Tree’. A restaurant over on the Tonsai side. It was the best meal I had there, absolutely fantastic. Would highly recommend the vegetable tempura as being incredible value for money.

On the way home we went for a swim in the phosphorescent water. Just floating in the warm glowing water looking up at the perfectly starry night was an excellent way to cap off the day.

Then it was more climbing – this one a pic of me top roping some quite fun 6C on Tonsai wall. I really want to get back to Rai Lay when I’m climbing just a tiny bit better than I currently am (so next year ;) When I can really enjoy leading these climbs.

It was an incredibly scenic place to be though – this is the view from Eagle Wall (you have to get a boat out there – and then walk back at low tide)

There was some fun easy climbing on Eagle wall.. this is me leading the 6a+ (quite tricksy I thought). It’s a huge pillar.

So generally it was 3 or 4 days climbing and then a rest day (or two). On one of the days we headed to Krabi again (hired a taxi for the day) – and walked up 1237 steps (I think) up to a Buddhist temple. Great views out over the province – but it really was hot climbing up there.

L->R Aaron,Aaron(yes, another)&Heather;, Mandy & Scott, Simon.

Front – Me, Jesse.

The steps really were quite steep though. At some places it was more like a ladder than a staircase.

After that it was time to relax, so we headed to the hot pools (yes, still wonderful to relax in in hot weather!) It was great just soaking until the sun went down.

On the 21st (which happened to be my bday) we went off to Krabi – to see if we could help with the tsunami effort. We took a bus there (definitely the cheapest way of getting around)

Left to Right – (Mandy, Me, Aaron)

We got the address of the regional HQ (in a Chinese temple area) and off we went to find it. It was – disturbing – to see the boards with pictures of bodies recovered. Brings it all home a bit. You see, you’d *hardly* have known that anything had happened to the area. Well, where we were at any rate. There was some construction going on – but it wasn’t obvious that it was reconstruction after a tidal wave. It was little things – like one place we often went for breakfast (BoBo’s) only has 2 menus left as all the others got washed away.. But really, for the most part it’s just as perfect as ever it was. And it’s really sad for them as it’s the height of their high season and the numbers just aren’t there. Though it was heartening – in the two weeks we were there it was definitely getting busier towards the end.

So yes, we went to give them our water purification gear (which they loved) and medical supplies, and to see if we could help. Perhaps if we’d been able to help for a month or two it might have been different, but in the event they did not call us.

It took me a minute to realise what all the boxes piled up were for.

But on the whole everyone is getting on with it (as much as they can anyway) and really pitching in and putting it all back together again. All they need – indeed the best way to help is really just to go there and spend your money.

The next two weeks were quite a bit of a blur really… days mostly consisted of getting up at around about 8am (depending on how many buckets (Rum+Coke+red bull)) had been consumed the night before.

So generally there’d be a few routes climbed in the morning. This pic is me on a really fun 6a+ (I did write the names down, but seem to have lost the piece of paper). Had a really fun bouldery start, where you had to grab onto a big stalactite and then thug (if you’re me) your way up and onto the climb proper.

I’m just going to put a very few pics up on the weblog, but I will make a slideshow with all the pics (well a good few) later on.

This one is Aaron flashing (a climbing term ;) a 7a+ I think it was – on Dums Kitchen Wall (I think)

Then generally it’d be a break for lunch. Aaaahhhh the food, worth mentioning it really. It was fantastic all the time. Especially the lassis and shakes. Just the best coconut and watermelon shakes *ever*. Or pretty much so. I really am missing the food already. Fresh ripe pineapples and oranges… ahhh.

Clockwise from me is Scott, Jesse, Aaron and Kyle. (and yes, I am wearing a skirt, most comfortable things ;)

After lunch it was back out for more climbing.. This pic is of Simon (A Kiwi living in London that we met up with) I think it was a 6C on ‘The Keep’ wall that he was climbing.

The rock itself really was interesting. Limestone really is one of my favourties, as long as it’s not too polished from too many ppl climbing on it. But RaiLay was great, as it’s just so varied.. big juggy steep climbs, quite technical balancy pockety climbs, and then lots of stalactites to bridge off :) Fun.

This next pic is of Jesse, but not quite sure what he’s on.

Course it’s not all easy, there are times when you fall

So yes, that was pretty much the shape of most of the 2 weeks of climbing. Perfect holiday though. In the evening we’d come back, have a swim in the ocean, and then play volleyball / Frisbee / whatever before having a delicious dinner.