Back to Bangkok.

In two days I fly to New Zealand. Well, technically, I fly to Australia for a day and THEN New Zealand. Same same.

Tonsai and Railay were fun, but not what I expected. I finally made it out climbing yesterday after 2 days of being ill and another of heavy rain. Paid to go with a guide who was supposed to lead routes; figured it was a chance to meet others who would want to go out on their own. The guide was really kind, but took us to an overly crowded wall and most of the group were brand new climbers. However, there was another guy in the group who had brought all his gear and didn't have a partner, so we warmed up with the group and then broke off and went and did some harder routes on our own. Super sweet and funny gent from South Africa (Kevin) who had been vacationing in Thailand for a few weeks with his family and broke away for the day to try and climb. We ended up running into his wife and family on the walk to one of the climbing areas.

Definitely pushed my skill set and fitness level by following some of his leads. It's been a few months since I've climbed outdoors and was worried about the grip strength required for some of the holds and the overhangs. Kevin was a patient belay and a great coach. Really proud of the routes I completed and how far I made it on an especially challenging one that we finished with.

The day before when it poured, I rented a kayak for a few hours and explored the coastline. Absolutely stunning. The limestone drips off the hillside in impressive cliffs and creates cozy overhangs to rest under. As I paddled out to one of the islands, I saw a school of fish jump out of the water. After an initial moment of "OH SHIT SHARK", because that obviously was the reason why they were jumping, I realized it was a school of flying fish. They divided into 2 groups and leaped around my boat for a few minutes before a bird swooped in and chased them off. I ended up paddling back in a warm, light rain with the sun sinking into the storm clouds behind me.

Tonsai bungalow. 

Yeah, totally safe.

Oh! I hiked around the entire peninsula on the rainy day and ran into tons of monkeys. There are some adorable black ones with big, white raccoon eyes in the jungle but they were too far away to get a good picture. Instead, I offer you the sea-diving ones who lived near the resorts and beaches. 

And now I'm waiting in the airport to head back to Bangkok. There's more rain in the forecast here and I wanted another full day to wander around before leaving. 

I hope to return to Tonsai one day, but next time I would definitely go with a climbing partner. There are climbers everywhere, but they seem to be so into their ego. Just listening to a group in a cafe this morning made me want to laugh. I'm sure they are very kind people, but better for confidence and piece of mind to go with people on a similar level.

On another note, Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi is hilarious. It drips with sarcasm and goes into detail about trivial points that he knows are trivial, just to prove a point. One day, I hope to be clever enough to swear like a boatman and have the memory of a steamer pilot.