BKK, Bangkok International Airport
arrived at 0045. gathered bags from baggage claim. i got 10,000 baht from an ATM machine. jlm also got 10,000 baht. there was a service charge of $6 ATM fee. i need to verify legacy bank refunds the $6 usd ATM fee.
taxi from the airport to the journey hotel was about 500 baht (50 baht driver fee. taxi fee was about 300 baht. toll fee was 125 baht). he liked country western music. he sang along to john denver’s country road take me home and merle haggard. gave him a 50 baht tip.
we took a shuttle bus from the journey hotel.
slight delay because of kinza’s set her alarm for the wrong time zone. we paid $5 usd per person for the shuttle bus.
lounge pass the Don Mueng Airport (DMK), Bangkok’s domestic airport was great. had hot food, nice assortment of hors d-ouveres. coffee was excellent. not crowded. nice ambience.
at DMK, met up with Steve, Shaheena and Mariah.
The AirAsia flight to Nahkom Phanom (KOP) took about an hour. We were served breakfast which was yummy pranang curry with fish cake and rice. fd3398 landed in nakhom phanom 10am local time. Shaheena had previously setup a shuttle bus service from the airport to GCH, $100 usd, split among us so $12 per person. Our driver, Wen, and a minivan to picked us us up at the airport. Crossed into Laos thru the Friendship Bridge. A friendly Laotian, Mr Phoneathai, helped process our visa, which cost $35. We arrived at Green Climbers Home, just outside of Thakek, at 3pm.
climbed in the ‘Elephant wall’. i led the 510. SinTerOrgy, Ramboy, Jungle Drum, Das Geschwur (TBD)
monday:
we woke up early and had bangbang
then slept again. woke up eventually at 9am.
had a quick breakfast. had the omelette. very tasty. the bread was good. discovered later that i
climbed in the ‘canyon’ area.
it was a sketchy 5.4 free climb up the side of this hill… pretty sketch. it took 15 minutes to climb to the canyon area. its a beautiful slot canyon with 6 routes in the left and right walls. I led the 5.9 route on the right called moormead (?).
Met for lunch at GCH1 although we were running late due to long approach and Jess needing to clean route at the Canyon. Made it by 1:30 — Shaheena and Mariah were already having lunch w/ Jack, an Aussie they met in China. Alex and Kinza came around 2pm after their multi-pitch. We had more Lao soup with egg, Jess (and jml) had two BeerLao and of course, the BengBeng which resulted in many laughs and jokes…
In the afternoon we climbed Smaland/Highland area. Jess led a 6a called Krawallurste and jen led after (so draws were in but still jml’s first 10a lead). Later we climbed Pomme Schranke which was a super-long route, the rope completely went end-to-end, 70m. Longest jml has climbed super-fun toufa 3D climbing. It was getting dark by the time Jess climbed and Stephen ended up feeling well enough to borrow jess’ shoes and harness to clean the route in the dark.
tuesday.
we woke up early. started to rain.
had a big friends breakfast.
discovered that the pat of ‘butter’ with the homemade bread is actually a pat of margarine. met josh, from seattle. he was staying in the tent. he’s travelling on to yangon later.
had lao sweet coffee.
hitchhiked into thakek. found an internet cafe to get some momentary wifi.
we met two german teenagers hitchhiking their way thru southeast asia. they have been on the road for 3 months with 3 more to go. They took a gap year before university. one of them contracted dengue fever while in cambodia. they just have hammocks and ask around if they can hang their hammocks.
met michael, one of the hired ex-pat help in gch2, he’s from orlando. long haired surfer dude.
met ‘wan’ one of the hired help in the layback bar (the bar in gch2).
‘kopchai lai lai’ is lao for thank you
Met Josh, from Seattle. Just came to GCH from Tonsai where he did not love the heat and humidity and slippery rock.
had the fried fish special. it was fried with ginger and garlic. served with potatos and veggies, tasty!
shaheena and kinza sent chinese new year multi-pitch
steve picked up the flu or a very bad cold
wednesday
it rained a lot in the early morning hours. steve and mariah sent chinese new year multi-pitch
went to the practice multi-pitch in the xxx wall. jenn did her first belay from above, and also practiced cleaning a route.
i tried 7a ‘cheeky fucker’ in the roof cave area. steve and kinza tried route as well. kinza had her pull up bar accident.
jenn lead honeymoon — a 5.9 in the honeymoon wall with shaheena. As Jenn was belaying Shaheena on the same route, the goats started to gather round… first the bigger ones filled into the cave areas then the mommas and babies came onto the rocks. I enjoyed watching them lean their heads back to scratch their necks and backs with their horns. The little black and white baby was full of energy playing on the rocks — as I made little goat noises it repeated back to me in a higher pitch. Super-cute… I may never eat cabrito again…
After watching Jess on Cheeky Fucker for a bit, Jenn lead a 10a with a creepy second-to-third bolt on “Full Metal Jacket” (two whipper falls on the third bolt… almost gave up due to danger of decking) but got it on the third try with Kinza and Shaheena cheering on. Finished as sun was setting, then cleaned it in twilight. It was only my (jl) second time cleaning a route. I was so adrenaline-pumped I think my ears were ringing… cleaning in the dark with so much exposure made me really nervous but focused on the task at hand. I don’t think I realized how proud I was that I finished the route until about halfway back to camp when the high started to fade and I felt exhausted.
met the brand new baby goats. jenn had fun with them while they hung out with them during their climb session.
While walking back to GC2, I made Jess stop so we could take it all in one last time as the light faded. Bitter sweet as our time in Laos at GCH was coming to a close but adventures in the south of Thailand await.
walked by starlight to gch1 to watch a bit of ‘dawn wall’
The stars were amazing and bright – the silhouette of the mountains around us framed the milky way.
We ordered one last bowl of Lao soup — with two perfectly cooked fried eggs on top. I will certainly miss this simple delicious meal — huge chunks of ginger and one tiny thai pepper made it spicy. A pile of butter lettuce, thai basil (tiny leaves with a licorice flavor, purple and green) and fresh green beans we got used to chopping up and stirring into the soup. Thin phad thai noodles and pieces of chicken…so good. Two more BeerLao and I was pretty buzzed. We packed up the best we could before making our way out to GC1 for the Dawn Wall.
Jess woke me up around in the middle of the night as I was kicking and making sleep groans. Apparently someone else in our camp was beng-beng-ing so loud Jess mistook it for screams of terror at first. He could hear Becky and Alex giggling in the hut next door. I slept through this… amazing as I was wide awake at 3, then 5 am.
Sending Love & Rocks 