Tonsai, Thailand

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog.  I wish I had a famous quote to sum up my feelings on that, but all I can think of is this: when you're in paradise, you don't really want to do anything other than what you want to do.  Let me explain.

I spent a few more nights in Cameron Highlands and took a bus to Penang, Malaysia.  Penang is a pretty big city with not much to do, but has tons of travelers for one reason: Thai visa runs.  Besides the French guys I came there with, everyone I met there was just extending their Thai visa, then going straight back to wherever they were.  I didn't feel like exploring Penang really, but did find some good Indian food and a little street vendor selling some bomb pancakes.

We took a "bus" from Penang to Thailand, which was more like a large van with way too many chairs crammed into it.  We stopped in some town near the border to get onto an actual bus that took us to Krabi Town.  We arrives in Krabi Town around 2 AM local time and went to a pretty crappy hostel.  I decided to take a little 2 AM poo poo and, surprise, they don't use toilet paper in this country.  The replacement?  A little water gun attached, like the ones attached to kitchen sinks.  Like Dr. Malcolm said in Jurassic Park, "when you gotta go, you gotta go."

The next morning I took a longtail boat to Railay, a beach peninsula which I had heard was beautiful and affordable.  As soon as I got off the boat, I realized it definitely wasn't going to be affordable.  I mean, I could afford it no problem because it was still cheaper than most New Zealand hostels, but I wanted the cheapo backpacker places.  So I asked some backpackers where to go and they pointed me to Tonsai.  Remember that stuff about being in paradise?  That's exactly what Tonsai is.  No roads, no cars, no ATMs, access only by boat and jungle hike, and the number one rock climbing destination in Asia.  I got there and instantly fell in love.  I didn't take a single picture for three days, because I didn't feel like it - that's how chill this place is.  The blend of each, bro, and rock climbing cultures make this place mad chill and subsequently reek of weed.

I stayed in Tonsai for eleven nights.  Here's a quick rundown of what I did: hang out, rock climb, take naps, rock climb, play poker, chill, climb, poker, chill, climb, poker, chill, slackline, chill, climb, poker, deep water solo, chill, slackline, and more climbing and poker.  Every day I would wake up, eat at Mama Chicken's (the best restaurant in Tonsai), chill at the beach, climb, eat at Mama Chicken's, sit around, slackline, eat BBQ (chicken, baracuda, and tuna), then play poker until like 1 AM.  For 11 days.  Tonsai is small enough that I saw the same people every day, watched them leave, and met the new people.

I stayed in a rat hole bungalow for $5 USD a night that definitely pushed my limits.  The half inch thick "mattress" was covered in dirt, sand, ants, mosquitos, and my own sweat while my lower ribs hurt from when I slept on my side.  It was miserable, but it was awesome.  I don't know why I stayed there for 6 nights, but it was an experience that I wanted to have.

I took a two day rock climbing course in Railay - one day of lead climbing, which I haven't done in a long time, and another day of learning how to multi-pitch climb, which I've always wanted to do.  I also got to do some deep water soloing (climbing above water, no ropes) on an island, as well as climbing with randos.

I could go on forever about the people there: Elan the 44 year old Israelite who's been to 150 countries and traveled for 24 years; Dominic the 18 year old German on his gap year; Wauter the 18 year old who bicycled toThailand from Belgium over 9 months; Luke and Eliot the Californian super-bros; and how they all smoked weed 24/7 and how I cleaned them out playing poker.  I won 1700 baht ($56 USD) from playing poker with stoned fools.

It was hard to say goodbye to Tonsai this morning, but I definitely want to go back - next time with tons of climbing gear and climbing friends.  Next up, a 15 hour bus ride through the night to Bangkok.  It's kind of like the bus to Crooked Creek or Frontier Ranch, except I don't know anybody, everyone smells, and I don't speak the freaking language.  I've heard disturbing things about Bangkok which I won't even go into, but hopefully I can take some cooking classes and buy some random stuff super cheap.  

I had a lot of time in Tonsai to reflect on everything that God has been showing me the last two months.  God gave me answers to some questions I had been asking for a while and gave me some serious peace about things for when I get back home, like school and younglife, etc.  Actually, now I'm kind of out of questions.  It's kind of this directionlessness that I'm really excited about.  My job now is to just seek Him out and listen to "great and unsearchable things you do not know," to watch for "things that you would not believe, even if you were told."

I'll put these in the right places with captions later, but I need to go quickly to catch my bus!

Also, when I went deep water soloing, we had a filmmaker with us - and here's his film.  See if you can spot the pale bearded man (me)!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76285COQryc&feature=relmfu

Thai passport photo... yesss (can't rotate)