Tag: hiking

• Day 28 – Mt Batur’ped

  Today started with a nice stretch , and a beautiful bowl of Balinese porridge at the resort. From breakfast we met up with Rama, from Monk climbing and 3 other climbers. Rama picked us up in his white shit box with no suspension to be found and we sped off to the Mt Batur Caldera to do some climbing and visit some hot springs.

  

  

  20 minutes into our drive, Rama’s shit box blew a tire. Now with Brian, myself and the other 3 climbers, who all seemed like pretty capable men, the tire was changed in less than 10 minutes, and off we sped.

  

  

  

  

  Going into todays trip, All I knew of Mt Batur was that it was an ancient volcano and still is an active volcano, now the ancient Volcano is Absolutely huge. I mean it is like 4 or 5 kilometers across and several hundred meters deep. With the new Mt Batur poking up in the middle. I mean this place is incredibly beautiful, it was breath taking as we drove over the edge of the Caldera into the crater. The Caldera is just stuffed full of farms growing every fruit and veggie you can think of. And then there is the two massive lava flows from 1963 and 1986 , which were the last two eruptions. Huge black swathes across the caldera.

  

  

  We stopped at one of the lava flows for a quick photo, which was so cool, and then we headed through some farms to the basalt rock wall of the caldera to do some climbing. I’ve never climbed basalt before and it was a nice change from the razor sharp limestone of Thailand and Cambodia, It was not without its own challenges as it was very smooth and much slicker than limestone. So a move easy on limestone was hard on basalt. Thats a super fun part of climbing though, learning all the types of rock.

  

  We climbed a plethora of routes throughout the day of many different difficulties. The guides brought us a simple lunch of chicken and rice with a spicy sauce which was great. from the crag we went to a local hot spring for a relaxing dip, which in my mind is the best recovery after a big day climbing. We all were absolutely thrashed at this point and it was so needed.

  

  

  

  After the hour long ride back to the resort, Brian and I went to the pool and had a cocktail before dinner. We ate curry, nasi goreng, and mi goreng for dinner. It was lovely. I’m absolutely falling asleep writing this if it seems sloppy.

  

  

  Tomorrow we head back to the coast, and Brian goes back to continue his holiday with his parents in Uluwatu. Its been really rad spending time with him. Especially doing all the hilarious couple’y things we have done just for shits and giggles.

  Till tomorrow.

  February 7, 2025

  geology, hiking, nature, travel, volcanoes

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• Day 18 – Jumping Raccoons

  What a friggen day!, Today started early. Even for me, purposely getting up at 5am is a chore. If your dragged out of sleep for any other numerous reasons its not such a big deal, but doing it willingly. Bleggh. Anywho I quickly did my morning routine, as I was messaging my climbing guide James.

  

  20 minutes after our arranged meeting time, James arrived with his assistant bouhd, and the other climber who joined us last minute. Her name was Mai she’s from Japan. Originally this was going to be a private guided tour, but only because no one else was with me. So having Mai join us just saved me $80 American which is great.

  

  I hopped in James’s truck and off we sped about 1.5 hours north west of Siem Reap to a little town that I can not remember the name of. Breakfast and lunch were included in the tour which was awesome. We stopped at a locals restaurant and all us got a Cambodian staple of fried pork and rice served with clear soup and some pickled vegetables. It was delicious.

  

  After fueling up we headed to the first crag which was up on top of one of the small Cambodian mountains (hills). It required a short hike through some nasty thorns and very slippery dry leaves. When we got there, the crag was much smaller than I expected especially after climbing in Thailand. One of the walls we climbed in Thailand had 28 routes on it, And I believe there is only 25 bolted routes in all of northern Cambodia. The limestone here is incredibly sharp and ruins your fingers, but the climbs were very unique to the area. Which is exactly what I’m looking for as I climb across Asia.

  

  After 4 routes we headed to town for lunch. On the way to lunch James insisted on getting fresh coconuts to drink which I was all game for having not had one on this trip yet. We went back to the same restaurant as breakfast, I had Khmer fried noodles and an omelet with a grape Fanta to wash it down. It was also delicious.

  

  After lunch we went to a crag that not even James the guide had climbed before, usually he only does half day trips to one crag. I had requested a full day as I didn’t want to drive 3 hours and climb 3 hours, to me that made no sense. This second crag was actually right in a Buddhist temple compound, and it required us to hike up through the temple grounds to a bluff that hung above the temple. It was pretty unreal. So cool thing about climbing in Cambodia, basically no one does. We were as James put it, probably the only climbers to climb this crag in the last decade.

  

  We were joined by a rambunctious group of monkeys who desperately wanted the bushel of bananas we brought with us. Basically to me, monkeys are the raccoons of Asia. Opportunistic, smart as hell, and an absolute pest when you have their favorite food just sitting right there. To appease our friends we did give them some bananas. And it was adorable.

  

  

  After a few more climbs we packed up and drove through the Cambodian countryside, to try and catch the sunset at a viewpoint that James had told me the name of but I’ve forgotten. We ran out of time to go there and as a second option we went to the Bakar reservoir, that the Angkorians built some 1000 years ago. It is truly baffling what this ancient society was able to accomplish with the technology of their time. The reservoir is absolutely massive, and its connected to Angkor Wat and all the surrounding area by an intricate web of canals. It was an awesome way to finish todays climbing tour.

  

  James is actually a Canadian expat who’s lived in Cambodia for the past three years, so me and him talked all day long and it was nice hanging out with a fellow countryman for the day. It truly helped easy the little bit of homesick I’ve been feeling. We tried this Cambodian fried snack that came in a bag on the drive back, that looked like churros but was crunchy. That shit is dangerous, watch out. There is no nutrition labels and its a good thing, I could live on that stuff. We got these “sesame churro crunchy cheetos” I called them in a town that James calls “Chip Town”. Aptly named such as it seemed that every single stall on both sides of the road for more then a kilometer sold chips and fried snacks. Apparently its very common for artisans of a specific type to all be in one area here in Cambodia. There is also “Statue Town” which just sells statues of all shapes and sizes. Which also was over a kilometer of just statue stalls. Such a wild concept to me.

  

  I could write a giant book about the Angkor society, and its marvels. But alas, I am tired and having even wrote about what I had for dinner yet. Like most Asian countries I’ve visited, street food is very popular here. Tonight I had fried pork on rice with an omelet and the biggest fucking coconut I’ve ever seen. This behemoth held over a liter of coconut water. and it weighed about 6lbs. For dessert I had mixed fruit, It was all scrumptious.

  

  Tomorrow is Temple day 2 and I am armed with a bit more information than day 1. I am hoping to find some temples that have not been restored or cleared for tourists. James sent me some locations on maps so I am pumped. Till tomorrow.

  

  January 28, 2025

  adventure, climbing, hiking, rock-climbing, travel

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• Day 13 – Eat Climb Love

  Today is day 3 of my 5 day stay here in Railay beach. There is a definite reason I came back here. The climbing and climbing community here is just incredible. I truly do love it here, with all the tourists and shitty accommodations aside. This place is fucking paradise.

  

  I started my day with a wander down the stairs to west beach, which is a beautiful quiet 1.75 km walk early in the morning. I nice dip in the ocean really does fix a lot of ailments. After my morning routine I met up with my climbing crew, and we trekked over to Tonsai beach to sample some delights from the other side.

  

  Someway somehow I have become the “leader” of this rag tag ensemble, which is not something I planned nor wanted, but I guess because i am the guy with the equipment and the climbing book the decisions of where to climb and when have fallen on me. Today like every other day this trip, I flipped through my guide and picked a random crag wall on the map.

  

  Iguana park was the name of this particular crag, which sadly we did not see any iguanas. But it was definitely something, let me tell you the book does not accurately state exactly the approaches to these climbing walls (how to get there). Iguana park was situated up a sketchy 3m bamboo ladder, then about a 50 meter scramble up into the jungle off the beach. I cant emphasize enough how sketchy the approach was. I guess it pays to be adventurous sometimes because we were the only ones there, and it looked like nobody had been there for a while.

  

  It was secluded away from the crowds, out of the sun all day. And it had some really unique climbs from what we have already climbed here. we climbed for several hours there and were able to tackle four routes each, which is a really good number when you have 4 climbers to one rope. As an added bit of entertainment, if you took a fall you would swing into the trees . Which had us all giggling like children. It was an awesome little wall.

  At about 3pm we were all spent and hungry so we went down to Tonsai beach to the sea view club for some food, The food was great. I had a Drunken holy basil fried noodle with chicken, which has been my favorite dish of this trip. I think I’ve had it about a dozen times. From lunch I said goodbye to my friends and hiked the 3km back to my “hotel”. I’m gonna be a fair bit fitter after this portion of my trip, Hiking, climbing, and these fucking stairs are already having an effect on my body.

  

  After a brief reprieve in my room with the ac blasting, I went to mangrove restaurant for some BBQ chicken and a curry. Sadly they were out of chicken, but the green curry paired with fried roti was absolutely to die for. I’ve never had roti of any kind before, and this was an excellent first try. Although my food was super inexpensive, and super tasty, the portion was really small. So I left kind of hungry. Off a tip from a fellow climber I did something I swore to never do in Asia, I went and got a burger.

  

  A WESTERN BURGER, I pride myself in trying to immerse myself in the cuisine of the country I am traveling In. But sometimes exceptions have to be made, especially when you’ve already sat in a restaurant for an hour and just want something quick. The lady making the burgers was out on the path in front of her mini mart with a double burner and two frying pans. Lets just say I didn’t expect much from my beef burger with American cheese and a fried egg, which I paid 4 dollars for. Well shiver my fucking timbers, I’m sure it tasted good, because I inhaled that damn thing and almost went back for another. I am usually very skeptical of tips from other travelers as some people have absolute shit taste in food (especially Americans, no offense but its true), but this was a damn good simple as could be burger. AND she had mayo, which was impressive as its not a usual condiment here in Thailand. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm it was a great way to polish of the night.

  

  All in all it was a great day. Tomorrow I am catching a boat to Ao nang to climb the north wall which looks absolutely insane in the guide book. It will be the last day the four of us climb together as Andrew is leaving back to London on Saturday. I am very happy to have met him as I think we are going to plan a climbing trip to Madagascar next year together, and It has just been truly effortless to hang out with him. I am going to read a bit now and go to bed. To all my my four readers I wish you a great day, as I’m pretty sure the suns about to come up in a few hours back home.

  P.s The name of this post came from me starting to read “Eat Pray Love” today. Which has been great so far, you should read it.

  January 23, 2025

  adventure, climbing, hiking, rock-climbing, travel

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• Day 11 – Its a Good Thing I Didn’t Plan To Be In My Room

  Today I woke up realizing I may have been just a little heated to be writing my blog last night. Alas the past is past. By the way my room still sucks, but I digress. I came to Railay beach for one singular purpose, and that was to climb until my arms fell off or I died of heat stroke. And today I completed day 1 in a fabulous kind of way.

  

  

  Back in Vancouver 11 days ago I met a stranger walking through the international departures waiting area with a pair of climbing shoes hanging off his bag. My spidey sense tingled a bit as I imagined the only place he’d be going to would be Thailand so as I had some hours to kill I went up and started a conversation with him. Ends up I was right on the nose. His name was Kal and he was from Toronto, flying to Thailand with no idea if there was climbing or where it was. We hit it off immediately and ended up chatting for about 40 minutes as we waited for our respective flights. I shared to him all the limited knowledge I had of the Thai climbing scene and we exchanged whatsapp info in the off chance our paths might cross in the future. Well sure as shit he happened to book a room in Krabi on my recommendation that it was the place to be for climbing here. Just a short ferry from me, in the same timeframe that I’m in Railay. he reached out the other night and we ended up connecting today and climbing a half day together. It was such a cool traveling happenstance and just another reminder that a stranger truly is just a friend you haven’t met yet.

  

  As I am traveling solo through SEA, I put out a bunch of feelers on multiple area specific Facebook groups when I was leaving Canada. That tree bore some fruit as a super cool gent from Poland Named Andrew sent me a DM and we also connected today. The 3 of us climbed together, which was totally epic. Andrew just happens to be in the Krabi area the exact same days as me so we are gonna climb together every day. Also he is almost the same weight as me which makes belaying much easier and safer for the both of us (its rare if I ever meet any climbers close to or the same size as me).

  

  

  Speaking of happenstance. I was walking to get some dinner from Family Thai restaurant tonight, and I literally bumped into Natalie. A super dope climber who I climbed with in Chiang Mai last week who is from the UK. We chatted for a bit and ended up grabbing dinner together. I seem to be collecting climbers as tomorrow is now a foursome. She is quite a bit below the level of climber the rest of us are, but that is the beauty of climbing and the climbing community. It does not matter your level its the joy of the sport that brings people together. Especially in places like Thailand where most people are who come to climb are solo travelling.

  

  I ended up climbing for like 7 hours, It was a fantastic day. I made new friends, ate some pretty great food (that I took no photos of) and almost forgot how much of a rotten fish dumpster fire my room is. One thing I got to say, which was unexpected. The 122 stairs to my “hotel” are a great warm up to a day of climbing. My ass looks great. I climbed that 122 steps like 5 times today.

  

  P.s Fuck this hotel, my room is totally infested with ants. I am going to have to cleanse all my gear and bags as I leave here and Travel to Cambodia.

  

  “when in doubt read the reviews and don’t get caught up in a shitty tourist trap, like a fucking dumbass” – Me

  January 21, 2025

  adventure, climbing, hiking, rock-climbing, travel

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• Day 9 – Waterfalls and Mountain Tops

  On my final day here in Pai, I really wanted to make the most of it. I started my day around the fire to warm up and then headed to Break The Fast for some pre hike breakfast. I had a Egg BLT as the menu said it, it was ok but was missing mayonnaise. You’d be hard pressed to find it here.

  

  After breakfast I rode 20 minutes out of town on dirt track to the start of the Hua Chang waterfall hike. Waterfall hikes are my favorite hikes. Lots of water crossings, missing trail and always very beautiful. This one was no different. I crossed the river no less than 45 times, and lost the trail some 10 times, and it was a beautiful hike. Even if you get lost, you are not really lost. Just trudge up the creek until you find the trail again. At the falls I had a snack and sat and listened to the roar of the water.

  

  

  When I came down from Hua Chang my heat rash came back with a vengeance as it was now midday, So I spent the hottest hours of the day just hanging out at the bungalows. I went back to the drugstore and got some cortisol cream which really helped with the pricklyness. My friend Kev from back home suggested I use some Tryactin. You know Tryactin like a man. Lol good one.

  

  After the Tryactin kicked in I got on my bike and rode 40 km up to Doi Miang and Doi Thong. Two mountains overlooking Pai, to watch the sunset. The drive was great and the views were incredible. I met some cool Canadians from the Yukon at the top of Doi Thong, and I was able to video chat home to my girlfriend and too a couple friends, that was really cool.

  

  

  

  

  

  From Doi Thong I drove straight to the walking street for my last meal of northern street fair, I was not disappointed with my “Bestseller” which is a funny bit of marketing and it worked on me, It just so happened to be the most expensive thing on the menu. That’s a baked potato, with beans, sour cream, Guacamole, and cheese. It truly was delicious.

  

  I’m absolutely shafted writing this so if it seems sloppy its cause I’m exhausted and currently covered in fruit ants. Tomorrow I do the big drive back to Chiang Mai and then catch a flight to Krabi.

  “When your in pain, remember this–bodily pain can’t harm your ruling reason. Most pains are local and limited. Let the injured part of your body voice its displeasure, but don’t let it dominate your thoughts and become the center of your attention. When imagination is added to pain, it seems infinite and everlasting.” – Marcus Aurelius

  January 19, 2025

  adventure, hiking, travel, waterfall, waterfalls

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• Day 8 – Prickly Heat

  Today started off quite cold. As I now believe is customary here at Bannamhoo I met a few other travelers around the morning fire for a quick warm up. When I was sufficiently toasty I hopped on my bike, and headed off for the morning’s adventure.

  

  There is something about hot springs here in Pai that I just love, I’m truly not sure if its because its so relaxing to just soak in natural warm water while your traveling or because of some magical mix of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals in the water here. Regardless, last year and this year I’ve gone to a hot spring here every day.

  

  Before long 2 hours had past in the crystal clear pools, I was graced by some great conversation from a couple of fellow Canadians. By fluke coincidence they just so happened to live only a city over back in Canada. Conversation came easy and many topics were covered, hence the 2 hours in the pools. I was grateful for it as its not the most common thing to meet people of a relatable mindset here in Asia. It was really starting to be an amazing day.

  When I got back to the bungalows it was near midday, and it was starting to get quite warm. I noticed a kind of a prickly sensation starting on my arms and face and neck and back. I thought maybe it was from not rinsing from the hot spring, so I had a hot shower. What a mistake that was, then I noticed I was covered in itchy, prickly red spots. Heat rash, or as they call it in Thailand prickly heat. I’ve never experienced heat rash, by golly gosh it truly fuckin sucks. My whole day was basically canceled at that point. Any time the sun touched my skin it felt like I was being burned with a laser.

  

  I tried my best to enjoy the nicest parts of the day, Going for lunch at a very authentic Thai restaurant called Noppakao. I had some simple stirfried vegetables and a fried egg on rice. It was pretty damn good for $2 cad with a drink. After lunch I went to go check out the Saturday community market at a local park. Where I had one of my favorite beverages in Thai land, Thai tea. As it was the hottest part of the day and there was almost no shade at the park I realized I needed to cure what ailed me. From a short text conversation with a friend back in Canada and some google searches I figured out what I needed and set off to get it. Thankfully pharmacies here in Pai are well equipped and well versed in dealing with travelers, cooling powder and antihistamines apparently is the ticket for heat rash if you didn’t know.

  

  

  

  I ended back at the bungalows waiting for the sun to go down as I was in a fair bit of discomfort, once it was low enough I ventured back out to get some dinner. After trying to use maps and going to 6 different restaurants that were either closed or out of business, I finally ended up at Khao Soi Pai. Which by the way is a definitely a contender for best khao Soi I’ve had here. It was great but the portion was small so I wandered off to find another local spot. I ended up in a restaurant I don’t know the name of which served me a very unique looking panang curry That was a little touristy but very good.

  

  

  On my way back through town I found a nice scarf that will complete my Thai Cold weather scooter suit, I’ve been apparently buying. It was kind of a tough day, But traveling isn’t always easy and you wouldn’t learn to be an independent person of the world if everything was always smooth as the silk of my new scarf. The view of the night sky as the last light of the sun faded was absolutely stunning from where I parked my bike. I really hope the antihistamines do their job as it would be very inconvenient to not be able to enjoy the sun tomorrow.

  

  “Everywhere and at all times, it is in your power to accept your present circumstances, be kind to those around you, and cultivate true and useful thoughts.” – Marcus Aurelius

  January 18, 2025

  food, hiking, thailand, travel

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• Day 5 – Epic Crag Day

  Todays Post will be pretty short, Its all in the title. I am absolutely knackered. This was my final day in Chiang Mai, one of the biggest reasons I came back to Chiang Mai was to climb The Crazy Horse Buttress and more so to climb Crisis Anxiety State Cave, This cave is something else its about a hundred feet in diameter and several hundred feet high inside.

  

  Today I linked up with a rag tag bunch of climbers from all over the world and I got to complete the mission I had set out on to climb in this cave. we started our day at reunion wall and smashed out a couple awesome routes there as we were all getting to know each other. When the sun was reaching its peak and it was becoming uncomfortable to climb, we moved into the cave and it was spectacular I led 2 routes and they were both very fun technical climbs

  January 15, 2025

  adventure, caves, hiking, nature, travel

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• Day 3 If its Broke Fix it

  What a day today has been, an expensive day, A day full of involuntary expenditures, but with so good times and good food too.

  I started the day with the realization that I wasn’t having issues with my Esim, Its just that my phone was well and truly fucked, Thankfully phones are relatively inexpensive in Thailand. After a couple hours at a phone shop I now have a brand new phone fully cloned from my old one, YAY! Problem solved. No more brick of lava in my pocket that went from 100 to 0 battery in less then half a day.

  I was able to find the type of scooter I needed to do the mountainey road to Pai that I will be driving in a couple days (one of the most curvy sections of highway in the world) 300 corners in 50 kilometers here I come. And I got it for a great price, much better then what I was quoted yesterday. Almost half the cost.

  I was able to pop in to Kats for any early lunch as I was pretty hungry after a morning of spending most my Thailand budget, and the food did not disappoint. Who would’ve thought a fried egg salad would be one of the highlights of my day, that and the fat noodle pad Thai I had were both sublime and totally budget friendly, washed down with a sweet lemon tea and a video chat from my partner, I will definitely be back there.

  

  

  

  After lunch I made my way up to the Crazy Horse Buttress, (The whole reason I came back to Chiang Mai) to do some climbing. The climbing partner i had arranged bailed as I was enroute so I showed up solo which to my surprise was not a problem at all as I met a small group of awesome climbers on a wall called the furnace, aptly named as it was in the sun and hot as hell. I climbed 2 routes, a 5c and a 6a, Both were super fun and flowy with lots of cool limestone features. when I attempted my third route of the day (6c+) I slipped on the crux and realized I had blown out my big toe of my left shoe. On the FIRST day of a climbing trip, You gotta be kidding me. I attempted the route a few more times but with my left shoe mangled it was not a fair fight. So I said goodbye to my new friends and went off to find a new pair of shoes. With some information from my ne friends, I was able to find my same shoe and right size for cheaper than in Canada at this awesome little climbing wall/store so that was cool. I cant wait to get back out to the Buttress tomorrow and tackle the main wall.

  

  

  To Finish off my day I decided to go to a slightly fancier restaurant called Dash then id normally go to as I try to stay away from places that really cater to tourists, And I was reminded why I stay away from places like It, The food was mediocre at best, the bill was 3 times more than id pay from less touristy restaurants and all the people seated around me sucked. That’s my bad for not sticking to holes in the walls. My meal wasn’t the best BUT, THE MANGO STICKY RICE DUDE. That shit was FIRE, best I’ve ever had. most expensive I’ve ever had but Definitely the best.

  

  

  

  After the day I had today I am beat, but not beaten. Heres to hoping I’ve gotten the biggest pains out of my way for this trip and its smooth sailing from here!

  “Be the stone cliff against which the waves constantly break, standing firm against the fury of the sea. Am I unhappy because of what happened to me? No. I remain happy because regardless of circumstances, I am free-neither crushed by the present nor afraid of the future. Storms befall everyone; but not everyone can stand firm against them.” – Marcus Aurelius

  January 13, 2025

  adventure, climbing, hiking, rock-climbing, travel

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