climbing

Are we STILL in Thailand?  Good grief!  The boys absolutely had to try everything there was to do.  So, one morning, after mornings of trekking, surfing, snorkeling, kayaking, sandcastle building, swimming...they went ROCK CLIMBING!  They are drawn to sports with equipment and gear like months to a flame so this was a perfect sport to try.  They have been to climbing gyms but this holiday found us in one of the world's premier rock-climbing destinations, Railay Beach.

Love at first climb.  he's already hooked.

This is what the Lonely Planet says about climbing at Railay:  "With nearly 500 bolted routes and unparalleled cliff-top vistas, it's no surprise that Railay's dramatic rock faces lay claim to being among the top climbing spots in the world. There are so many climbing options, ranging from beginner routes to challenging advanced climbs, that you could spend months climbing and exploring - and many people do.

The newest buzz is about deep water-soloing where climbers free-climb ledges over deep water - if you fall you will most likely just get wet so even daring beginners can give this a try. Most climbers start off at Muay Thai Wall and One, Two, Three Wall, at the southern end of Hat Rai Leh East, which have at least 40 routes graded from 4b to 8b on the French system. The mighty Thaiwand Wall sits at the southern end of Hat Rai Leh West and offers a sheer limestone cliff with some of the most challenging climbing routes."

We did not to any deep water soloing but the men of family did have a go at some fun and challenging bolted routes.  As with most climbing experiences, it was exhilarating and I'm certain we'll all give the sport another go when the opportunity presents itself. Check out the mad skilz of my small progeny:

Fearless with my new camera body. It was steamy hot.

small boy, big wall

watching big brother get ready.

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Be Still

A batch of photos from the train.

Train Platform, Chiang Mai

sweaty, patient child

vintage train, vintage logo

 "it looks like you are trying to hide."  says TJ.  "yes" from the world.
we were so hot + tired and nowhere near bangkok.

Zipping

High on our to-do list was some sort of ‘adventure’ park -- there were many options.  (again, too many).  We found a great, small, village-based Ziplining/abesailing/trekking option outside of Chaing Mai that looked safe, friendly and...bookable!  So we got up early and headed into the Doi Saket National Forest -- an adventure in and of itself. This was one of MANY such operations.  And, while other people might be after the “Gibbon” parks where you are adventuring WITH the wildlife or taking elephant treks, we do not have the best relationship with Monkeys OR a great longing to ride elephants, so this ‘encounter-free’ experience was truly our preference.  Thing 2 does not have a good relationship with the primate family to begin with and having just had some unhappy rabies experiences in Zambia, I was eager to keep some distance between us and our not-so distant cousins. 

Notably, this day was the only travel day that the two of us prone to motion sickness suffered. Oh, we suffered. (Only on the way there; we mentioned the problem and our dread for the roller-coaster ride back thru the jungle and they put us in the front of the most comfortable, climate controlled van by ourselves with a driver back to the hotel.) It was great to get to see the gorgeous national park as the drive on our return trip b/e for sure the drive to the camp was a dark and unhappy blur. 

It was a pretty awesome drive.  We were again in sheer awe of the quality of the infrastructure that supports the tourism and travel sector and the quality and comfort of the modes of transport.  (In addition to being totally taken in by the 1500 year old rainforsts, we're not totally infrastructure obsessed, it the differences between Thai and Zam development is a wee bit ... tough to wrap our heads around at times.)

Team Jennings fell just within the weight limits for the park -- another factor that we had to take in.  TJ is nowhere close to the upper limit but MiniMe was JUST heavy enough and JUST tall enough. (some things we really wanted to do will will save for another day, another journey, b/c found we could not do for this reason.)

 
Gee, do you think we enjoyed ourselves?  Check out those smiles!  Good times.

more of 7-11

Age 7 + Age 11

We're still not sure what to make of these two characters after all these years.  They are brothers, they are the best of friends, they are their own two very different people.  We love them to pieces.

7-11

7-11 featured prominently during our trip to Thailand.  Half of Thailand's nearly 7,000 stores are located in Bangkok.  When we were stuck in traffic or just going anywhere...instead of 'slug-bug' or the alphabet game or something, we kept a running tally of how many 7-11s we saw along the way.  While Japan holds the "most 7-11s" title with over 15,000 stores, Thailand is #3 after the US (82,000).

Zambia has...one.  Well, this isn't entirely true.  They/We have one store that has a 7-11 sign.  Appropriately located in a strip mall of sorts on Alick Nikata Rd in Sunningdale/Kalingalinga it's a liquor store/bottle shop and bar not a convenience store and definitely not an official franchise, but somehow they have a 7-11 sign and when they have power, it's all lit up like a beacon in the night.

This is a very bad segue to the 7-11 phenomenon in our family.  The boys have been waiting a long time for this.  for 3 weeks of their life, between their two birthdays, they are age 7 and age 11.

Alas, these precious weeks have passed and the brothers are 8+11.  Unbelievable.  Here are some of our favourite snaps of these two clowns over the many years.  I"ve yet to click a snap of the two together this week but check back and I promise there will be one.

 

 

Happy Birthdays.

(I don't suppose you want to know what the below photo is all about?)