Rest Day

We're finally tired anough to take a rest day. Kayaking, climbing, swimming, jumping off, and getting so scared, all in the same day, takes a lot out of us! After the last couple of days, we almost master the gettiung out of the boat part: stand in the kayak, grab on to the barnicles, pray for them not to brake off before the kayak is out of your way, and climb on! Deep water soling is super swcray, but it's awesome, and pushes your limits either way: whether you decide to go down and jump off the cliff, or go up and keep climbing, it feels like an accomplishment! (just remember you'll have to jump off at one point!). Yesterday after having Brendan probe 3 times, and deciding I was clear, I was getting ready to jump off. I was totally afraid, because I was jumping out of a cave (~30ft) & Brendan, helpless in the kayak at the bottom said "sometimes it helps if you scream when you jump". "Don't worry, I wasn't planning on keeping quiet, but thanks" and I jumped :) Brendan said he was scrared too, but I don't know if I believe it!
Today we're hiking to a lagoon which is a shrine for a Thai princess. Our cultural knowledge gets better every day, and we realized that it is not who you talk to, but who you are, that changes what you say. So Brendan and I have to say thank you differently... Since we're on the cultural topic, here is a bribe of discussion on the kayak:
-"I think I'll buy some Thai pants"
-"The 'it looks like I shitted on myself' pants?"
- Pause. "Woe. You're culturally sensitive. Yeah, these!"
-"What?... I'm just stating the obvious :) Besides that, they look great and they look pretty hip around here."
-"good eye"
I think I love traveling witrh Brendan...!!!! :)))))
I'm making fun of him, but he's pretty up to speed with the life her3e: he negociated a deal on the kayak rental with the Thai owner, and he had some coconut curry lats night...
So yeah, all is well on our side, and the plan fopr today is to rest, and tan on the beach :)

Ca fait longtemps que je n'ai pas mis de petit mot en Francais, alors en voila un pour la route :) J'espere que ca va les mots en anglais, je ne peux pas traduire a tous les coups, parce que ca prends trop longtemps. Tout va bien ici, on fait beaucoup d'escalade juste au dessus de l'eau (deep water soloing) et on commence a maitriser la sortie du kayak!! Pas facile, et les especes de moules accrochees en bas sont une purge pour commencer :) Aujourd'hui on se repose, et on va aller se balader voir un lagon mythique, ou une princesse thailandaise a supposement fini sa vie... On fait beaucoup de kayak, car c'est le seul moyen d'arriver au falaises, et entre ca, les pompes d'escalade mouillees, et toutes les baignades, on a jamais les doigts de pied qui defrippent, ca fait vacances :))) Grosse Bises, et a bientot!

Water!!

Real big deep water soloing day today... lots of water up our noses! We both have enough water up our sinuses, to drip every time we bend over! We can't really get to the climbs without a boat, so we are kayaking a lot too! We considered swimming out with fins, but there's nothing to stand on to reach the first few holds of the climbs, so you really need some sort of boat out here. Basically, to get to the climbs, walk on the beach, walk in the jungle, watch out for monkeys, who can't help themselves and throw things at people (!), get to another beach, rent a kayak, paddle, and climb!! Or, sit & watch, shout some beta, and take some pictures. Even after today, I'm still scared, but I took some 30-35 ft falls, and it feels much "better" :) Brendan is rocking, and he's ready to get on some harder stuff. He finished a lot of the climbs, threw his chalkbag down to me, got applauds from spectactors, and jumped off. Two ladies got so involved watching they forgot about the rest, and flipped their kayak! This is how good Brendan looks on that rock... The camera makes awesome pics, but the connection here is too slow to do anything with them. Connection are slow slow, and I use emails to write to you. Hope everybody is doing great. We are having a blast, got more local knowledge, and it makes it that much better. I eat squid and tropical fish just about everyday. Brendan ventured into Thai food, and sweated over his curry with me tonight :)

 

First day of climbing

We saw our first monkey!!! The guy climbing next to me said "watch me, there is a monkey throwing leaves at me" to his belay partner, and indeed! mmm...cute. This morning we climbed at the beach, right by where we're staying. The room we have here is basically 2 beds, with a giant bug net over both of them, a toilet seat  in the back, a seat cover, but no flush. A big bucket of water and a faucet next to it: the idea is the higher you throw your water from, the more powerful your flush. Pretty cool set up! After luch, --Brendan dared to order some spaghetti bolognese!-- we rented a kayak, and went around the beach corner, to check out some deep water soloing stuff... oooohooooo! Too cool, but I'm totally afraid of falling. I'm at the turn around and jump stage. Brendan said it was normal...! Nice coach! He went pretty high and jumped too. And then, a crazy tropical rain started coming down, so we played a little more, and paddled our butts back to the beach. It's still coming down, but it's so warm. Love all the comments you've been posting... keep them coming! Tonight Brendan said he was ready to try some local food... oh oh oh... we'll let you know how that went :)

Much Love,

Chloe-

 

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From photos to predictions, The MSN Entertainment Guide to Golden Globes

From Krabi

Wow!!! We thought that making it to Bangkok was a big part. No. It was just the start! Since most flights were super full, we decided to take the bus to Krabi. 15 hours in a bus. In a Thai bus :) no food, no water either... let the adventure begin! It was a lot of fun, and it was super chaotic too. The police stopped us too, the whole deal. I can now say thank you, and south terminal in Thai. The rest, I'm still working on it! We got super lucky, and found a bungalow on Tonsai Beach, 500 bahts a night ($13) for two. We'll take pictures, but they don't know usb on the island, so you will have to wait til we get back to see them. Everything is awesome, amd today will be our first day of climbing. Internet was down here, because of an earthquake in Taiwan. Life is too good! Talk yto you soon~~

 

On vient de trouver un petit bungalow sur la page a Tonsai Beach, pour pas grand-chose! On est arrive ici par bus, bateau et bateau-taxi. On prendra des photos pour vous montrer tout ca. Les plages sont super, tropicales, et les locaux sont trop geniaux. Je sais dire 2 mots en Thai, le reste c'est pas evident, parce que ca change si on s'adresse a un mec ou a une fille. Hier on a explore, aujourd'hui on va grimper... SE baigner fait partie des choses quotidiennes ici. Grosses Bises.

 

 

Landed in Bangkok

Yeah!! we made it to Bangkok with both our bags! China Airlines' food is terrible, but it was so much fun to eat it with Brendan: "this looks supremely disgusting" he said :)
Everything is good, and we are on stand-by for 2 flights to Krabi, one tonight, one tomorrow morning. We're both totally excited... it is our first time in Asia!

On est bien arrives, et nos bagages aussi! La bouffe dans l'avion n'est pas toujours super, mais sur China Airlines, c'etait une sorte de sommet... Brendan a adore! On est en stand-by pour notre vol jusqu'a Krabi. La suite au prochain episode, j'ai plus de pieces!
Bisous--

Let's see about a picture

This is Oregon salmon! I just want to see if I can put a picture on the blog...

Via email?

And it works by email too : )

Now we have a blog

Testing the blog to see if we can go on a trip...