Thailand
We have made it safe and sound to Khon Kaen, Thailand.. after a long, long flight over, we arrived in Khon Kaen Sunday morning at 8 a.m. to find the driver of our hotel waiting for us. We were whisked back to the beautiful Kosa Hotel, given a room, some food and a tour. We are being treated as royalty here, with all of our needs being met. We have explored the city a bit, though there is not much to see. It is not a city for tourism and very few white people can be found. Most that we have seen have been with their Thai girlfriends or wives. Very common practice here for older men to come over and marry young Thai women.. We, i guess if it works for them. I did however meet a man on our second morning, a retired dentist from Montreal who practiced in the Seaforth building (all you at MGH will know this). What a small world.
So, after two days of city exploring, temple viewing and fine dining and living, we set out for Phu Pha Man National Park, 1 1/2 hours north of Khon Kaen. The timing worked out that we headed out with all the executives and managers of this lovely hotel, to go camping in the park for 3 days and 2 nights. We wondered what camping with executives would be like. Well, our tents were set up for us, though not everyone slept in them. The campground was beautiful, grenery and flowers everywhere. There were showers and bathrooms (Thai style) and a beautiful roofed terrace where we all ate the meals that they cooked for us, with beautiful views of forest, greenery and mountains. Our first meal was lunch with the President and Vice President of the hotel, the director of the National Park and the Governor of Khon Kaen.. yes, we were amongst the important people. We are certainly being wined and dined. We are to everyone the climbers who have come to do what no one around here does, so a lot of curious people. And plus, everyone is so nice here and despite the serious language barrier, we have managed to communicate quite well.
After lunch, we took a hike to the viewpoint. Even from the campground, the cliff views are amazing.. Tall mountains of limestone, trees of varying types, majestic scenery as far as the eye could see. We checked out rock quality from the bottom of one of the highest cliffs and it appears solid, beautiful and fun to climb.. We even bouldered up the first 15 feet and had a blast.. That was it for the day, by then it was supper time (a late start for the executives that day) and we ate and went to bed early, still suffering from some jetlag.
The next morning we were up at dawn and watched the sun come up through the clouds from our tent. A quick breakfast and then the plan was to hike to the top of huge cliffline that we could see from the campground, and rappel down to check out rock quality. Well, Jake and I set off with 2 guides from the park, bushwacking and scrambling up the side of the cliff, where no one had ever been before. After about 2 hours of hot hiking, we made it to the top. The views were spectacular, amazing. It was breathtaking and to think, no one except a small tiger and deer (as evidenced by poo) had ever been up there before. As the guides said, a new survey team.. We wrote out names on some paper with the date, put it in a bottle and wedged it between 2 rocks. It felt great to have my first, first ascent. We have named it Egyptian Staircase due to the pyramid shape of the cliff.. Wow, what a high.
So, the next step was to come down. Well, we hiked along the top to where we though the cliffline was shorter, scrambled down a bit and then started setting up anchers to rappel off of trees.. 3 pitches later, 2 more scrambles, a short rope and some scary moments, we made it back to the bottom of the cliffline. The rock quality looked amazing, but very difficult to access or climb without doing some bolting. and by that time, we were so hot and tired, all we could do was think about getting back to camp which was still 20 minutes away. We had been hiking and rappelling for over 7 hours at this point in 90 degree heat.. wow.. I can still feel the high and the exhaustion.
We made it that evening to the Bat cave, where are 5:30 pm.., hundreds of thousands of bats fly out of the cave as the sun starts to set, and head for somewhere, to eat bugs we guess. Anyway, it's quite a sight to see so many bats flying in formation as we watch the sun setting.
Early to bed and rise again, though we were both so exhausted from the last couple of days that we only did a short hike to the base of another crag to see rock quality, only to find two buddhist temples in caves.. Access issues anyone? We thought so.. So, another quick drive to another cliffline, and found yet again, access issues.. looked like a 2 day bushwack to the base of the crag.. so, we headed back to the hotel, exhausted and dirty (forest fires had swept through the park a couple of days before and left us covered in soot). Exhausted we chatted with the director here, looked at some photos, had some amazing food and headed to bed. Today has been a rest day, starting with a 2 hour Thai massage - heaven - and then lunch with a glass of wine. We wandered around town a bit and now are relaxing before a game of snooker tonight at the hotels snooker club. We may also go for a drink at the beer garden, found right outside the hotel, covered in palm trees, a small oasis.
Alright, so now that I have made you all jealous, I will stop. I know that most of you are currently covered in snow and cold. For those of you who are climbers, I'm sorry, for those of you who are skiers, enjoy, I'm jealous.
Tomorrow, we head back to the national park, this time without the executives. We now have a better idea of what the hotel wants to do and so have a better idea of what we're looking for.
Pics and more stories to follow soon.
So, after two days of city exploring, temple viewing and fine dining and living, we set out for Phu Pha Man National Park, 1 1/2 hours north of Khon Kaen. The timing worked out that we headed out with all the executives and managers of this lovely hotel, to go camping in the park for 3 days and 2 nights. We wondered what camping with executives would be like. Well, our tents were set up for us, though not everyone slept in them. The campground was beautiful, grenery and flowers everywhere. There were showers and bathrooms (Thai style) and a beautiful roofed terrace where we all ate the meals that they cooked for us, with beautiful views of forest, greenery and mountains. Our first meal was lunch with the President and Vice President of the hotel, the director of the National Park and the Governor of Khon Kaen.. yes, we were amongst the important people. We are certainly being wined and dined. We are to everyone the climbers who have come to do what no one around here does, so a lot of curious people. And plus, everyone is so nice here and despite the serious language barrier, we have managed to communicate quite well.
After lunch, we took a hike to the viewpoint. Even from the campground, the cliff views are amazing.. Tall mountains of limestone, trees of varying types, majestic scenery as far as the eye could see. We checked out rock quality from the bottom of one of the highest cliffs and it appears solid, beautiful and fun to climb.. We even bouldered up the first 15 feet and had a blast.. That was it for the day, by then it was supper time (a late start for the executives that day) and we ate and went to bed early, still suffering from some jetlag.
The next morning we were up at dawn and watched the sun come up through the clouds from our tent. A quick breakfast and then the plan was to hike to the top of huge cliffline that we could see from the campground, and rappel down to check out rock quality. Well, Jake and I set off with 2 guides from the park, bushwacking and scrambling up the side of the cliff, where no one had ever been before. After about 2 hours of hot hiking, we made it to the top. The views were spectacular, amazing. It was breathtaking and to think, no one except a small tiger and deer (as evidenced by poo) had ever been up there before. As the guides said, a new survey team.. We wrote out names on some paper with the date, put it in a bottle and wedged it between 2 rocks. It felt great to have my first, first ascent. We have named it Egyptian Staircase due to the pyramid shape of the cliff.. Wow, what a high.
So, the next step was to come down. Well, we hiked along the top to where we though the cliffline was shorter, scrambled down a bit and then started setting up anchers to rappel off of trees.. 3 pitches later, 2 more scrambles, a short rope and some scary moments, we made it back to the bottom of the cliffline. The rock quality looked amazing, but very difficult to access or climb without doing some bolting. and by that time, we were so hot and tired, all we could do was think about getting back to camp which was still 20 minutes away. We had been hiking and rappelling for over 7 hours at this point in 90 degree heat.. wow.. I can still feel the high and the exhaustion.
We made it that evening to the Bat cave, where are 5:30 pm.., hundreds of thousands of bats fly out of the cave as the sun starts to set, and head for somewhere, to eat bugs we guess. Anyway, it's quite a sight to see so many bats flying in formation as we watch the sun setting.
Early to bed and rise again, though we were both so exhausted from the last couple of days that we only did a short hike to the base of another crag to see rock quality, only to find two buddhist temples in caves.. Access issues anyone? We thought so.. So, another quick drive to another cliffline, and found yet again, access issues.. looked like a 2 day bushwack to the base of the crag.. so, we headed back to the hotel, exhausted and dirty (forest fires had swept through the park a couple of days before and left us covered in soot). Exhausted we chatted with the director here, looked at some photos, had some amazing food and headed to bed. Today has been a rest day, starting with a 2 hour Thai massage - heaven - and then lunch with a glass of wine. We wandered around town a bit and now are relaxing before a game of snooker tonight at the hotels snooker club. We may also go for a drink at the beer garden, found right outside the hotel, covered in palm trees, a small oasis.
Alright, so now that I have made you all jealous, I will stop. I know that most of you are currently covered in snow and cold. For those of you who are climbers, I'm sorry, for those of you who are skiers, enjoy, I'm jealous.
Tomorrow, we head back to the national park, this time without the executives. We now have a better idea of what the hotel wants to do and so have a better idea of what we're looking for.
Pics and more stories to follow soon.
posted by Kim at 5:17 AM
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