I have been back home here in Thailand for almost two months and have only gotten out to do personal climbing 3 days.......Luckily Katie and I have become great friends with Michelle and Janel. They both work as English teachers here in Chiang Mai, and have a great drive for climbing. We decided to make a two day climbing extravaganza out of it, staying one night at the Sam Kampheang Hotsprings. We were also joined by a Danish climber named Alex and our local Kiwi buddy Jens.
The first day of climbing was probably one of the better days I have had at the crag. I did a bit of instruction, a little climbing, and a little relaxing. I did drink an absurd amount of coffee that morning which made me move pretty quickly on route.
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| flesh wounds |
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| Jens is strange |
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| Hot spring time |
After a long day of climbing in the heat and drinking a beer it was time to sit in a hot spring with 50 Israelis For some reason, and I heard this before but never believed it, right around 6 pm a tour bus full of Israelis shows up and takes over the mineral pools. There are a few different theories for this however one is the most logical. Evidently there are tour packages offered in Israel in which the cost goes down substantially if you get 50 people to sign up, and one of the stops is Sam Kampheang hot springs. Very random.
Now here is my cultural sensitivity rant. In Thai culture most swimsuits are modest, in fact most people just swim in the clothes they are wearing. That being said, this tour group was filled with dudes in tight speedos and women wearing little to nothing. Maybe I have been in Thailand too long but this is disgusting.
Phew, anyway we ended up heading back to the bungalows, which have a large tub for personal mineral baths. We drank cheap wine and talked most of the night.
Woke up at the crack of noon and headed back to the crag. Hung in Anxiety State Crisis cave and helped Michelle get used to lead climbing. After lunch we headed down to Tamarind Village for some lazy climbing. It was a good day. I look forward to the next free day at the crag.
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| First 6a lead |
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| trying to meditate |
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| planking |
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| owling |
