Bangkok & Nam Pha Pa Yai

Bangkok

When it was Bri's time to leave and the end of my visa was near, it was time to move on to Thailand.  I flew from Da Nang to Bangkok on Nov, 16 and spent a couple days exploring the city before moving on to Nam Pha Yai Climbing Camp to meet up with Jojo and friends (who seems to know every climber in Thailand). I had a great opportunity to see the sites that make the city famous and get myself familiarized with the city.  I know it is a place I will be returning to for years.

A teacher during program had told me about ghost tower, an abandoned high rise apartment complex that was free to explore. Unfortunately, that was not so. The government cracked down on security after a tourist was found dead in recent years. Pretty creepy stuff.

Thai boxing.  I'm not sure what is more amusing: the fight or the wild betting locals. 

Wat Pho Buddhist Temple.

TV repair shop.  On the way to the temple, I passed a series of people working on old electronics on the street.  They would be working on anything from an old hairdryer to an ancient CRT TV(seen here).  They would do everything from wrapping the coils on electric motors to soldering entirely new circuit boards.  If a part brakes on these old models, there is no replacement part and a new one must be created.  Super impressive and talented work, but I do not understand where the goods are sold to or if it is just a hobby of sorts.

 Nam Pha Pa Yai Climbing Camp

This amazing place is just north of Bangkok near the town of Saraburi.  This was the beginning of my Thailand climbing experience and also the place where I was introduced to all of the people who I would be climbing with in Tonsai.  Amazing experience.

The tent bungalow that I had for the week.  They were very clean, spacious and comfortable.  Actually, they are better than most of the housing I had been offered recently.  I can't wait to return someday.

This zipline is the only way to access the crag.  Multiple times a day you go back and forth between meals and breaks.  For any climber its very fun and convenient, especially when you consider the alternatives.

Yashin and Howard( the Doctor) on the last day of camp doing a nice long multi-pitch traverse, right before Howard got himself stuck on a hanging rappel.

Final pitch of the traverse.

Lunch at camp! Everyday the climbers would retreat to have lunch, hide from the sun and regenerate before hitting the crag again in the evening.   

Jojo was nice enough to let us stay at her place for a couple days while Yashin and I waited to catch a bus to Tonsai.  She also has an owl sanctuary!  Here is Jojo and one of her pet owls.

Owl selfie.

Shakespeare!

Vietnam Travel With Bri

Hanoi

I left Cat Ba to meet Brianna in Hanoi (Noi Bai International) for the New Years.  It was the first major city I have visited in Vietnam and it was crazy.  Wild traffic and something going on in every direction.  I thought that new years would be even more so.  In reality, it turned out to be the quietest new years celebration I have ever seen.  New years hit and there seemed to be silent celebrations all around.  Pretty Strange compared to the usual chaos.

We spent our couple days exploring the Old Quarter of Hanoi.  It is made up of various shops and very tight overcrowded streets that make up for some wild traffic.  A fun place to spend a day or so.

The only photo I have of the wild streets.  I wish it could do more justice.

One of the many fakes.  Total rip off of Aquafina, but totally safe to drink.  We saw four different variations of this bottle including the original on this trip.

Bri and a popular bun bo restaurant Anthony Bourdain and Obama visited on an episode of Parts Unknown.  The restaurant was quickly revamped and renamed after his departure.

Bri and a take of Stop and Shop all the way in Vietnam.  Who would have thought.

Egg coffee from the famous Giang Cafe.  A delicious tiramisu like coffee made famous during a milk shortage.

Return to Cat Ba

After our couple days in Hanoi we made our way back to Cat Ba!  It was nice to be back and I had the opportunity to check out a lot of places I did not get to see the first time.  Also, where I first met Jojo and Bee, who I would end up staying with and meeting up Thailand!

Our driver on our way to Moody Beach.  These boats are made of essentially a large basket coated in tar to make it waterproof.  They are very loud and all vary greatly from one another.

Bri climbing on Moody Beach in the bay.

Hey!

Pet wild boar! 

View on top of the cannon fort, an old Vietnam war fort built to help protect the harbor.  Now its a great place for tourists to explore the remains and catch an awesome sunset.

Another sunset view from the cannon fort.

Ninh Binh

From Ca Ba we took a bus directly to Ninh Binh.  An area similar to Yangshuo with many Karst peaks and great views.  Unfortunately for us, it was not the right season and very rainy.  We only had a couple days to explore but we did get a chance to check out Mua Cave!

Taxi ride into camp after a couple motorbike taxis attempted to drive us to a wrong location and have us pay for it.  Definitely the strangest and sketchiest thing that has happened to me so far in South East Asia.

Pretending to climb the top of the Mua Cave peak.  No ropes but don't worry, the ground is only a couple feet away.

First accent! super easy climbing on very stable rock!

Poor picture, but this is the inside of Mua Cave.  If you look closely there is a flooded foot path that was probably once above water level.  We took off our shoes and walked to the end.  I usually love caves but this was pretty creepy.

Da Nang

The end of our Vietnam Trip ended in Da Nang were we visited the beautiful Hai Van pass by motorbike, spent time on the beach and visited Carmelo, a good friend from back home.

Background image of this Blog!  This is a photo at the peak of Hai Van Pass.  You can see our bike on the right and an old military bunker in the distance.  One of my favorite pictures yet.

Another awesome view at the peak of the Hai Van Pass.

We took a trip to Randy's Book Exchange in Hoi An.  This tourist location is located about 40 minutes from Da Nang and the purpose of the trip was to get an e-reader.  I think Randy might be the only one to sell them in all of East Asia.  Not only does he sell e-readers and self printed copies of every best seller, he also claims to have been a drug dealer.  This book was about his crews first arrest of over 400 kilos of cocaine? I wonder.

Bri on the beach!

Cat Ba, Vietnam

I was super fortunate to travel to Cat Ba island with Noel.  He has previously worked with Asia Outdoors and knows an awesome network of people there.  I spent the time climbing Butterfly Valley and getting to know the crew before Noel left to Tonsai, Thailand for the holidays.  I decided to stay in town so that I could meet Brianna in Hanoi for the new years.

The Asia Outdoors team treated me well.  I managed to have climbing partners every day and I even managed to join the crew for their holiday parties.  It was the first time I was traveling alone and it felt great to have such good friends right away.

Noel also knew the owner of a hotel.  We got the view for under $10 a night!

Butterfly Valley.  Most of my days were spent climbing here!

Sunset on the dock. 

Our Captain while on a deep water solo trip with the Asia Outdoors crew.  

Floating city in Ha Long Bay.

Noel Crushing A deep water solo traverse.  Deep water soloing requires no ropes and is a super free way of climbing with water as protection.

A picture of good and bad bolting practices.  The one on the right is what a proper bolt should look like.  Unfortunately, nearly all of the bolts in the valley look like the left making for some slightly sketchy climbing.

Noel cheering on Vera during a DWS route.

Kids in Vietnam tend have have a lot of freedom.  This little guy is no exception.  He walked down the street and joined me for dinner while playing with his toy cars.  I saw his mom watching from a distance.