On Tuesday morning we woke up feeling relaxed and refreshed. Like always we went for coffee and breakfast at the usual digs. When we got back to the Royal Guest House we packed up all our belongings, which was quite hard since we bought so much at the markets, and put on our rock climbing gear. We stored our packs and presents in the lockers in the lobby and loaded into the van for a day of climbing.
On our way we picked up three girls and a middle-aged man. A few minutes into the ride we learned that the girls were on break from teaching in South Korea. I have heard a lot about teaching there, but never first-hand from a current teacher so I had a lot of questions for them. They happily answered everything I wanted to know and shared their opinions of the school, country and situation in general. Overall they seemed pretty happy with everything. They get paid a great yearly salary, have health benefits, and have housing accommodations paid for as well. They work for a sister school of an international school in California so they have off school for all holidays and their school pays for a roundtrip flight home so they can visit their families in the summer. It sounded like a pretty sweet situation. Their main complaints were about the weather and their seclusion from the rest of Asia. They sounded envious when I told them I was teaching in Thailand, I think because of its close proximity to all the other Asian nations. I was jealous of them because of their hefty salary and lack of written lesson plans. Of every teacher I’ve talked to in Asia, none of them have to hand in as much paper work as I do at Anubanchonburi. While we chatted about teaching and traveling we were getting closer and closer to Crazy Horse Buttress, the rock face we were going to climb.
Once we arrived, Dave and I told the instructors that we had all of our gear except a rope. They handed us a rope and told us to go in a different direction than they were going. We were confused, as this was the first time we have ever climbed outdoors, so we told them we would stick with them for the morning. We hiked up the path a little ways and passed a few routes, the instructors were looking for a wall that wasn’t crowded like the others. We climbed a couple routes that had a few areas of difficulty, but nothing that strenuous. Then we moved on to another wall where one of the routes had a great view of the Chiang Mai valley. All the climbs were pretty easy though and I was bummed that we weren’t getting more of a challenge. After we each completed five climbs we stopped and ate lunch. I think Dave and I and the other man were hoping for harder, more exciting climbs after lunch, but unfortunately they were just harder, not more exciting and not pretty. Over all though it was a really enjoyable day of climbing and I think it was a great introduction to climbing outdoors. After we finished up for the day, Dave and I quickly ran up another path to take a look at the main rock face. It was enormous and breathtaking. I could tell instantly that we were both a little bummed we didn’t know how to lead climb because if we did we could have climbed that wall the entire day. We missed out on a beautiful rock face and the chance to watch more experienced climbers scale up it. I wanted to stay and watch others climb, but everyone was waiting for us back at the van, so we took a few photos and last looks and ran back to the group. A climbing rope, helmet and a set of quick draws are definitely on my shopping list once I get home. We quickly realized we need to become self sufficient so we can choose our own routes and go at our own pace. We will probably have to take another course or make some rock-climbing mentors so that we learn the ins and outs of lead climbing and rock safety in general. I made a few friends at the rock gym in Philly, but unfortunately I was only a member for a month before I came here. Hopefully when I get back I can link up with some of them and learn the ropes, literally.
Besides climbing, I think Dave and I took a lot from the day. I’m speaking for both of us, but I think the thoughts and feelings were mutual. We decided we have to own our own platform hut somewhere in Thailand so that when we come again we have a place to crash. We need to jump head first into climbing culture because we are both weirdly obsessed even though we know so little. We need to continue traveling, exploring and taking chances. I think that was confirmed during our conversations with Kat. You have to live your own life no matter how scary it may seem. What will you have to talk about when your ninety if you haven’t ever done anything extraordinary? I have a feeling Dave and I will still be having some good conversations, who knows maybe we will be in our Thai hut at the time.
