So I’ve realized that my English- not that it was decent before- has altogether gone out the window.

Between trying to learn Thai, attempting poorly to learn German AND Bavarian (which evidentally are different- testy Germans) and having been traveling for over three weeks now where I have only had contact with non-native English speakers, trust me people, I literally don't know what I'm talking about. During my time at Greenway, I was the only native English speaker. And this was at an organization which taught English. I’m definitely not saying this was bad, just . . . interesting. I have one memory of sitting in the middle of the kitchen table and having three South Koreans jabbering away to my left, two Germans chatting in the chairs across the table from me, and three Thais chatting away to my right. All, of course, in their respective native languages. I just sat there in the middle of all the language and smiled to myself. It was a great moment. But, unfortunately, not so great for my English. Inga asked me the other day what the English word for a telephone pole was, and I couldn’t for the life of me remember it. I thought, what is that thing that holds all those power lines? (Yes, I surprisingly remembered power lines.) Now, having situated ourselves in the mecca for rock climbing- Ao Ton Sai- we have befriended many more Germans.

(Ton Sai and the surrounding areas from afar. Ton Sai is the very last sliver of white sand to the left. Also, you’ll notice that the beach all the way to the right- Railey East- has no water. All the bays clear out at low tide and expose the rocks or sand or crabs or whatever hiding underneath. Long tail boats in docked at Ton Sai.)

So the Germans are awful for my memory of the English language, but wonderful for my rock-climbing skills. What, didn’t know I had any? Check these out: Can you see me? No? Oh, it must be because I’m too high up. Me looking like a pro. OK, OK, here are some true pros: Michael, one of the German guys, climbing what looks like to me to be a flat wall. Spidey, is that you? Here is what I did yesterday. I swear. And here is where the water meets the cliffs right on the edge of our bay. Beautiful.

Not far from our bay is a lagoon which we hiked to through the jungle, with these amazing palms, had to climb down three tiers of cliffs (with no ropes! And I know you all haven’t see me in a while, but just to specify, that not me, that’s inga), and finally ended here. All I can say is that risking my life on free-climbing those cliffs was well worth it. Check out more pictures: The lagoon and a palm, refelctions, and me in the lagoon.

Well, sorry folks, but I have to jet as tonight the party animals on Ton Sai beach are having another party, (how they manage to drink like fish and the next day climb like spiders is beyond me!) and as you can see from my pictures from the previous party, they are quite entertaining. Fire dancing, by the beach, and big swirls. I know “big swirls” isn’t exactly a technical term, but you should all be so lucky that I’m even putting sentences together at this point. We’ll see how much longer it lasts. :)

Oh, and for those of you keeping track, I'll be heading out on thursday (that's wednesday night for all you west coasters) and will be heading up to the ancient cities of Sukothai and perhaps Ayuthaia before making my final stop in Thailand at Chiang Mai for the last week or two.

Rat dee sawat ka OR Gootten nicht- which ever you prefer!