Vagabonding begins!

Still very little good solo climbing to be found here in Railay east so Im thinking of a move to TonSai which is north of here. Its a strange little beach that you can only walk to at low tide when the water is knee deep, otherwise you have to hire a longtail boat to take you there. I can see it from Railay West. There are a lot of tourists and couples doing coupley things here so I am constantly wanting to pull my eyes out when I see them googley-eyeing and PDAing each other everywhere. Ive got to get my hands on something dangerous!

I did luck out and walk into the “Last bar”, a good sized pub at the end of the path with pool tables,  and caught a free cobra show. They had a small boxing ring set up and a guy basically played with some very poisonous snakes for a while. They would strike at him, and he always managed to avoid it just barely….there were times when he had 2 snakes out at once and was kept very busy keeping them from crawling out of the ring or from biting him!  He even brought out a bloody huge king cobra that was as long as the ring, 7+ feet? and harrassed it into a fury for us. The cobra would make a quick dash for the front of the ring where the crowd had gathered and people would jump back, spill drinks, and stumble on each other trying to get away from it, then once he had regained control, they would creep forward again. The brave soul in the ring actually charmed it by rocking his head back and forth and eventually got close enough to kiss it on the top of the head. That put his throat in the snake’s face….absolutely mad. A guy in front of me said it was fake, the fangs were removed, but there was talk of the last show where a guy did get bitten and died in the hospital after the ingenius staff administered anti-venom for the wrong snake!  Even if they had no fangs, they never even gave the charmer as much as a dry bite so he was still very talented. Plus, they were playing DMX and other loud gangsta hiphop while he was messing with the snakes, which went with the adrenaline soaked atmosphere perfectly.
I did meet some very friendly English people and we played pool for money. I ended up down 100 baht but it was a pretty close game. Lots of people gamble on the games here, which would be a pools shark’s heaven.

Why do I write so much? One word…air conditioning! The internet cafe has the best aircon and its the only time I get such luxury. Sure…its 3 baht a minute, but I also miss computers and being near one is nice again. Can I be put back into the matrix now please?

Got up early today and hiked with my English friends to a place with a hidden lagoon and massive view of Railay. It was actually a great class 2/3 scramble to the top of this huge limestone massif in the water, then a hike on top of it to the view. The whole time we had monkeys in the trees above us following and watching us. Fortunately no one brought any food. It was a great climb down to the lagoon, the girls chose to sit it out because they didnt have proper shoes. The climb back up was a real solo, vertical, but short. Very good practice though. The lagoon was too muddy to swim but it was an adventure finding it and there were huge 6 ft long leaves on tropical plants along the way reminding us that we were somewhere exotic.

We came back, dripping sweat and decided to hit the ocean for a swim. The beach was incredible, with climbers bouldering and cliff diving right on the beach. We watched a brave monkey come down a wall beside a woman eating a corn on the cob and snatch it out of her hand..she held on to her food and he took his other hand and smacked her in the head until she gave up and let go. We were laughing our asses off! Lunch was food prepared right on a longtail boat, you walk out in knee deep water and they cook it for you on the boat. Was very good too! So so hot, I am burned to a nice lobster red but it was a great day overall.

Finished the day with a short exploration through a cave they have here. It was commercialized, 20 baht to enter, but had very beautiful limestone formations and lots of bats snoozing away upside down. I went back to my hut to get cleaned up for dinner and there was a wolf spider in my bathroom as big as my hand! I know they eat bugs, thats why I let the gheckos have free room/board, but my matress is on the floor and the idea of this hairy guy hunting on my stomach in the middle of the night freaks me out. I executed it with 2 stomps….it took 2! Got pictures coming soon.

Tomorrow, Im going on a 2 KM walk over the mountain to Tan Sai, a little nook in the north that is supposedly better for backpacking. Plus, they have moon phase parties there. Yikes…thought I left that in Ko Pha-ngan? Oh well, I could use some craic and R&R between the climbs.

The inevitable finally happened......but sooner in my trip than expected. The bastards stole my IPOD. Sometimes music from home that had memories attached was the only thing that kept me going. Now I have nothing. boooooo! Im going to go drown myself ... [Continue reading this entry]

I was reading, the word "travel" comes from an Old English word "travail" which means "hardship". When I make big moves, like ones that take 2 days and cross from the east side to the west side of Thailand, I can ... [Continue reading this entry]

As of today, I have been vagabonding around Thailand for 1 month. So so strange, it feels like three or more. I cant even remember a lot of faces or places at home in my mind. I am only homesick ... [Continue reading this entry]

I did my final two dives today and passed the final exam! I am now open water certified...woohoo! We were on the boat by 08:00am this morning, gear ready to go. It was so hot, in the 90s F by ... [Continue reading this entry]

I signed up with Asia divers in Sairee beach and began classes 2 days ago. Its a little strange to have to set an alarm (which I had to buy, sure as hell didnt pack one) and get up at ... [Continue reading this entry]

I got up early today and decided I was going to go check out shark bay and see if I could find the sharks. I went into a dive shop and spoke to a local Thai, he showed me on ... [Continue reading this entry]

I decided to explore the island today so I got up, put on my Keens, and started walking. I walked from the southern tip of the island to Sairee Village in the north. It is way more touristy than where ... [Continue reading this entry]

I got up this morning to a beautiful blue sky and packed up my things. As I cram things into my backpack, I can feel that old familiar vagabonding excitement creep into my stomach, the feeling of the unknown. I ... [Continue reading this entry]