Here comes the sun

So finally the sun is back in our lives. We are all getting our burns/tans back from thailand and enjoying the beach life. Were starting to not fit in our clothes because all of us have lost so much weight. Im just glad I get to gain it back with good chicago food when I get home. We are enjoying playing volleyball and have an intense match up of blondes vs. brunettes when we play and the teams are tied at two matches each right now. We explored the marble mountains for a day only to find that the land is a preserve and therefore does not have climbing. So in a couple days we will travel down to Dalat where we know for certain there is climbing. The neat thing when we were wondering the mountains was all the marble statues that people carve and the pagodas that scatter all along the mountains. Its no wonder that they dont allow climbing. If only i could explain to them that climbing is how i worship, we might have an understanding. Today is a bbq at Hoa's with some fish and seafood on the grill and then probably another volleyball match in the afternoon. Its peaceful here with a small group of people that have family dinner every night with tons of food and then we sit around the table and tell stories over a few drinks while discussing differences between countries along with past and future travel plans. Also I have been craving music and found that I have a 5 songs on my phone which I listen to everyday. They are all Incubus songs and I really enjoy digging into the lyrics as a way to inspire my day. The main song Ive been listening to is Make Yourself (acoustic style) and it motivates me to make myself every day that I wake up. Elvio left yesterday and we hope to catch up again with him and climb again in Dalat. O by the way ryan is winning best tan lines ever right now! I can tell I need to get back to climbing to clear my mind as its been taking a couple hours every night for me to fall asleep, trying to slow my mind down enough to drift off. Im not sure exactly what has been disturbing my sleep, but hopefully the pattern will break soon. O and for whoever is picking me up from the airport I request a Mama D's italian beef soaked to eat on the way home, ha. love and miss you all... go make yourself

Hoa's Place

Finally after a stint in the big busy cities of hanoi and DaNang we have made it just south of town to china beach to a place everyone talks about. Its called Hoa's place where hes been "takin it easy since 1994". Its a slower pace right near the beach man... where he has poker games in the afternoon and family style vietnam dinners at night where its as many plates of different food you can eat for 3 bucks. We sat on the beach yesterday and met back up with Albio for argentina and watched the waves crash and got some sun back on our skin. Its nice to be back where the sun is shining. Behind us about a 5 minute walk away is the marble mountains which are 5 sectors of beautiful rock formations with pagodas built into the mountain made of the marble from the mountains that they sit on. We caught a small rumor that there might be climbing there, but so far there are no documented routes anywhere online or from Hoa himself. So today is the day of exploration to the marbles where we will see if the rumors are true and the beautiful limestone is bolted. We are keeping our fingers crossed, because with the beach, the hospitality and the off the beaten path way of life here, climbing could keep us here for longer than we think. time to put the chacos in 4WD, grab some gear, and wander the cliffs hoping to spot some bolts to go worship. If anything there is beach volleyball, poker, body boarding, and cheap beer. so to say the least life aint so bad. O and me and sky are both on our second round of antibiotics because yet again in danang we both got sick and i spent a day in bed recovering with Mi Ga (noodle chicken soup) and HBO. But as it was last time, within a day or so we are back on our feet again. It helps you can walk in a phamacy and get antibiotics and IBU for 1.50 USD. Our health care sucks in that sense. well off to do some sploring!!

Linh Ung Pagoda in Da Nang

"During the Vietnam war, the city was home to a major air base that was used by both the South Vietnamese and United States air forces. The base was considered one of the world's busiest airports during the war, reaching an average of 2,595 air traffic operations daily, more than any airport in the world at that time. The final U.S. ground combat operations in Vietnam ceased on 13 August 1972, when a residual force of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade stood down in Da Nang." 

Vietnamese Coffee

The hunt is on, we have finally found heaven, and it's in the form of the most amazing coffee in the world.  Having gone without coffee for a month in Thailand.  Coffee in Vietnam is absolutely amazing.  You only get a about 6 ounce of coffee for about 10-12000 dong which is about $.50.  We have learned that Vietnam is the second leading coffee producer in the world, and it won't be long before their first.  You are served with a normal drinking glass, and a small metal filter is added to the top where the coffee drips while you wait.  Its literally about 2 large swallows, but you savory every bit of it.  Adding condensed milk (my favorite) you create a kind of mocha latte type drink which is sweet but very very good.  We enjoyed a iced coffee with condensed milk last night, which again was amazing. We keep saying we are going to have more than 1-2, but none of us can sit still long enough to enjoy a third one.  Enough about coffee, we are off to the bus station to meet a Argentina friend by the name of Elvio, who we meet at in Cat Ba.  We are gong to explore more of Da Nang and Hoian.  Supposedly he has some connection down on China Beach for some rest day surfing.  Thats if it warms up!!!

Hanio to Da Nang

We had finally made up our minds to take the train from Hanio to Da Nang.  Da Nang is south, and approximately 700 km from Hanio. We hoped on the sleeper train at 1900 hours, and when i say sleeper train, i mean sleeper train.  There is nothing else to do.  You have a 30 inch by 6 foot bed along with four other beds filled by random people.  The room is approximately 5 feet wide and exactly 6 feet long.  Once you board the train, all you can do is sleep.  Oh, by the way this was a 1950's high speed train, reaching top speeds of 45 mph give or take.  This also depended on whether or not we where traveling up or down hill.  At any rate after a 15 hours, we arrived in Da Nang, Vietnam.  Home of the famous China Beach.  85 Degrees, Sunbathers, and good weather.  Oh...Just kidding, its still cold, overcast, and I had to buy another coat.  Our hopes are high, and we have been told the tempeture will increase the farher south we go, but until i feel it, or see the sun again, i'm not going to believe it.  This will be Oh.........day 10 or 12 without seeing the sun.  If nothig else we are seeing some pretty cools stuff and experiencing some neat shit.  Hope every one is doing well  

Straight South

Hanio has been an adventure to say the least!  We have experienced some amazing things here.  I wish i had some pictures to share, fortunately i have brought another camera.  I will be posting more pictures of Hanio and our train ride adventure to Da nong as we go.  Yesterday we went window shopping for a new iphone 4, and to my supprise found them in the price range of 18,000,000 to 19,000,000 dong.  This price is around $900-$1000 USD,  so..... i will not be getting another phone until i get home.  I think more than anything, having my phone stole is the least of my worries. The pictures on the phone is what i'm pissed off about.  Anyway you look at it, the pics are gone!  That female low life will never be able to take the experiences Jess, Sky, and I shared on this trip.  If nothing else she has enriched our memories, and made the experience of what we have done even more valuable.

One amazing night with a not so good twist in the end

So we made it back to Hanoi and into the old quarters district where the hostels and tourist stuff is all at. We got a room with a hot shower that finally works and walked around for a couple hours when we first got here to check out all the little shops. The stuff in the shops are more varied and cool compared to bangkok. After walking around we sat down in a place near our hotel to have some food and drinks. We met a really nice local named Lucky (which is ironic later in ths story). After sharing some neat vietnamese traditions and culture pieces we started talking about snakes. We had heard that there are places in vietnam where you can eat and drink snakes. Lucky was off work that night and said he would go with us to the place. So after a few beers we hopped in a cab and drove into a somewhat remote part of the city to this little house/business. They welcomed us with some soup and and drink as they prepared the snake. We walked over and saw the 5ft snake which both me and ryan held in our hands. Little did we know it was a cobra!!! So now we can say we held a poisionous snake in our hands. Sky, being afraid of snakes was timid to touch the live snake, but the fun was yet to begin. Then they grabbed the snake and with a knife cut out its heart, gave me the knife and i cut off its head. They then proceeded to drain the blood of the snake into a glass and then skin the snake. We walked upstairs as they cooked up the dishes. When we got to our table the heart was beating still on the plate as we each had a shot glass of snake blood and some sort of snake wine mix which was more like liquoir. We also had another shot of green liquid which lucky didnt have a word for it in english but we called it the bile. Me and ryan cut the heart in half, dropped it in the blood shot and all three of us and lucky shot the blood then the bile. It was interesting to say the least. Then there was a parade of dishes that they made from the snake, where nothing was wasted. We had food made from the bone, skin, intestines, and flesh. All 9 courses were amazing and were complimented by the snake wine. Sky tried some of the dishes and did a good job considering his intense fear of snakes. Nothing like eating your fear!! After that Lucky took us to a bar out on the water where I got my ass handed to me by locals in pool. It was cool being the only white people in that place. After going to another bar which was boring we all decided to walk home. This is where the story takes a twist. So out of nowhere a couple working girls started to hang on Lucky and Ryan. After walking for a block or so they just walked away, hopped on motorbikes with there guys and took off. Lucky said calmly, "check your pockets". This is where ryans face turned white. We had just been robbed, and not for money that can be replaced, but the most valuable item on our trip... his phone!! It had over 400 pictures of our trip and close to about 2hrs worth of videos, including our snake night. We all went home with our heads held low, justifying that we didnt have our passports or credit cards on us. BUT we are all still pissed off that we lost soo much documentation of our trip from one little sneaky thief. The mood this morning is a little grim and slow, not to mention the costly hangover from the sneaky snake wine. We are in need of recharging our motivation and understand that no one can take the experiences we have had away from us. In the moment it is still difficult to put a positive spin right now. We will spend tonight here again and then sunday getting on our bus or train to head south.

It's cold outside!!!

Well it has hit a point in cat Ba with no sun and cold temps to move on to southern warm goodness. So we travel back to Hanoi today and spend tomorrow going around the old areas until we hop on a long train ride down to the central coast with 30km of white sand beaches. There's some climbing and surfing with warm sunny weather. The stay in cat Ba was great because there is no one here and you feel off the travelers path, not to mention the climbing was great. We can't wait to earn back our tans and pack the coats away for the rest of the trip.

Driving rented scooters to the crag!!

Temple in china town, Bangkok

Jess' new tattoo from khao San

Cat Ba Bay

Pent house view of Cat Ba

Wild night on khao San

Sour clam soup

Skyler...very proud of his $1.50 steamer clam soup! 24 clams in one bowl.

O the places you'll go

So just to clarify here is the run down of getting from Khao San in Bangkok to Cat Ba. A taxi to the train, a sky train to the airport, a plane, a gangster taxi to the city center, a tuk tuk to the bus station, a bus to another bus, to a ferry, to a bus that finally landed us here 10hrs later. Not too shabby and we didnt get robbed or taken for any more of a ride than we needed to. Its a complete 180 from khao san to here. in bangkok you at dinner to the sound of 200 beats per minute techno and street vendors. But here in north vietnam it is the off season and around town is calm and peaceful with a consistant haze over the bay. Its a hard adjustment to the temps that are in the mid 50's and slowly getting warmer. We were scared when we got here because of the cold and the rain but there is some hope with a near clearing weather report coming our way. We went to the Slo Pony climbing shop and talked with the americans that work there and got some promising info on the climbing. it sounds like theres less than a dozen climbers in cat ba right now so we will have the crags to ourselves. Its going to be a slower pace way and if the weather holds and we adjust to the cold im sure we will have a promising stay here and want to stay longer. At some point im sure we will head south on some sort of train after climbing here. i dont think we will be doing any DWS (deep water soloing) here because the temps but any tan that we got will soon be gone. Good thing being light skinned is a sign of high ranking in asia. Some people even go as far as lotions and dyes to color their skin white. We are getting good and haggling with people too. I bought a zippo for 3 bucks! And everything is really cheap here, even more so than in thailand. Its the only time in my life that ill be a millionaire. 20,000 Dong is $1 USD so trying to figure a bill out is confusing to say the least. Math is not my strong suit. One of our last nights in Khao san was a blast and we shut down the street partying with good people from Austrailia and England til the wee hours of the morning. I believe at one point in the night (my fav so far) all three of us danced to the mocoraina and other classic one hit wonders in the street. The next day we relaxed by going to chinatown about 30min away from Khao San rd. We were in a part of town where there were no tourists and stumbled across a small tucked back buddhist temple. we walked in from the load street to be greeted by a monk and sudden silence from street noise even though we were only 50ft off the road. We knelt down in front of about a dozen golden buddha statues as the monk lit a candle. He handed each of us an incense stick that we lit with the flame and then placed to burn as we sat. The monk grunted as he stood up and walked over with his achy body to get all of us water to drink since we were all sweating. He struck the dong bell as it rang through us as well as the temple. He bowed, smiled, asked us to please give some money which we emptied our pocket change into the bowl, bowed and left slowly feeling the cold tile on our bare feet. It was a moving experience and didnt feel touristy at all since it was a temple off the map. We told the monk we were from america and he smiled at us. Thailand will be missed as we reminised on it in the airport. But we are only halfway through our trip and have a new culture and country to experience. Ive also realized how much opportunity we have in the states and how much variety we have to experience right at home. I encourage all of you to not only travel outside of the country but find new things right around the corner. Take a new road, try a new restaurant go to a different religious temple or church. You choose your life's education. Peace and Love

Boats, planes,and automobiles

The last 24 hours, have been intense. We left Bangkok at 6am, and landed in Hanoi Vietnam at 8 am not having any idea on what to do next.  We were told by Kia and Lindsay to head straight for Cat Ba island located in Halong bay Vietnam.  After trying not to get screwed by the gangster taxi we dropped off some where in the Len Bien district of Hanoi, which was not a good idea.  Nobody spoke any English, and at one point we were surrounded by Vietnamese people screaming at us. After 5 hours and the amazing price of $7  or 170,000 dong, somehow we found ourselves Cat Ba. Cat Ba is amazing.  We have the penthouse suite on the 6th floor over looking the most amazing view of Halong bay for the whopping price of $3 dollars each.  This was after haggling the price from $10 to $9 dollars.  I'm definitely not prepared for the cold weather, i have a rain coat, and a long sleeve shirt.  I have had to buy gloves and currently looking for a good deal on a puffy coat.  We have planned for climbing here for at least 2 weeks, but i don't know if i can handle the cold. 

Back to Bangkok

Bangkok.......After leaving Tonsai, we again arrived in Bangkok.  We set our sites on khoa san road again, obviously not learning our lesson the first time, but we have five days to kill until our Vietnam visa is approved.  Khao san is right in your face from the time the taxi drops you off.  This has to be on of the craziest places I've have ever been.  The smells, the people, and the absolutely crazy shit that is going on all at once.  Its the only place you can get propositioned  for ungodly acts, eat, shop, watch street break dancing, and live in exciting little guest houses that bump to the sounds of American hip hop till all hours of the night.  Don't ask why we decided to stay, i guess its cheap.  We have learned for the second time not to trust anyone especially the locals. All in all we have meet some very interesting people.  Jess has had a very exceptional week, that's has included; getting his hair dreaded and has scheduled to have a awesome tattoo done on Thursday before we leave for Vietnam.  We will be leaving for Hanoi on Saturday, and will be ending up it Cat pa hopefully Saturday afternoon.  Hope everyone is doing great... Love you all!!!

Bitches Be Shoppin'

So we are in Bangkok now at our hostel on Khao San road. It is the craziest street weve ever been on with live music, bars, street vendors. It feels like a flea market for travellers. Weve found some cool stuff to do while killing time. Today we went to the Vietnam embassy and filed our visas to be picked up in 4 days so we will hang out in bangkok until they are ready. Our flight is booked and we leave for Hanoi Vietnam this weekend. Its crazy to see the difference in prices and accommodations compared to Tonsai. Its really no shock that I got sick there now that I see how different it is here. Saying bye to Kai and Lindsey was sad, but we will meet up again back in the states to climb again. We also met some cool people from switzerland that we hung out with when we got to khao san last night. Our room is clean with real beds, no bug nets, 24hr electric and fresh linens. Its a nice change up and i think we are all enjoying the rest. An example of how strong tonsai was on gear, my earrings rusted out and i had to buy new ones today. We also left one of our ropes with Kai and Lindsey to use until they leave tonsai and then it is getting donated to the climbing repairs and anchors there. In tonsai there is no sponsors to help keep up on climbs so every little bit that climbers passing thru can give keeps the dream alive for others. besides, we have another rope and mine was getting trashed. It doesnt hurt the pack weight either, haha. I also talked to a tattoo artist here and am getting another tattoo on thursday. ive wanted it for awhile, but never had the money. Good thing here its HALF the cost. O and last night walking the street i also got my hair dreadlocked, haha. now i dont have to worry about it being poofy with the humidity. Pictures will come soon as ryan is doing a great job at shutterbug duty (he just forgot his cord for the camera this session). The clean room and resting from climbing is helping all of us to feel strong again and able to be 100 percent. love and miss you all

Bye Bye Tonsai

So we figured out our travel plans. We leave on monday (its saturday right now) for bangkok. We are spending a couple days there to get our visas figured out at the vietnam embassy and then if all goes well we will be flying out around the 11th for hanoi and making our trek to hao long bay for more asia climbing. Not sure what it will turn into after that. Perhaps going down to south vietnam or taking a trip back over to chaing mai in north thailand. It has gone by so fast here and we have to soak up our last few days of climbing in tonsai. Its a good time for a few rest/travel days so we can be back in shape to climb in vietnam. our bodies are bruised bloody and sore, but this is what we live for...

Tonsai Tummy

Well ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I have survived the epic tonsai tummy. Apparently no one avoids getting sick. it was a hellish 24hrs. But i came out alive all thanks to some very nice people. Ryan went and got me water and crackers for my day after hugging the toilet oh so gently. Also Kai and Lindsays friend showed up and within meeting dan in 5 min he gave me a cycle of antibiotics that he had in his pack. I owe it to those meds and dan for making my hell only last one day. There s nothing worse that not being in your comfort zone in a dirty bathroom laying on the floor. On the plus side the next day i sat in the hammock pounding water and little bits of food and read my first entire book in one day. Its called Espresso Lessons and its the follow up to Rock Warriors Way. Of course its on climbing and the mental games and preparation that goes into climbing. The next day i went climbing again and didnt last too long before i ran out of gas, and again today i hit a wall around midday. Food is still hard to eat and Im trying to avoid thai food cause it makes me nauseous, which is fucking hard when your in Thailand!! Im sure the appetite will return along with the climbing strength to do it all day. It is a practice in patience, which is not my strong suit when i want to climb my projects everyday. We did climb a really aesthetically pleasing route this morning and it was just over 30meters long and your where prob another 60m on a ledge overlooking the ocean. it was really neat to find that area with such a hidden gem. After my scare with sickness sky and ryan spent little time debating and also jumped on the medication bandwagon. Sky spent a personal day yesterday at the bungalow and read a book and let the meds do some work on him. Ryan was iffy but still climbed. Were a little out of it still today and ryan and sky are on the computer behind me trying to buy our tickets to north vietnam right now. The visa to get over there isnt as simple as it is for thailand. We will prob leave tonsai mid next week before our visas are no bueno!! Its cool to hear all of you respond to the posts and i look forward to reading them before i write the next one. Ill try and convince ryan to post more pics, but its time consuming on a pay by the minute computer. Ill let him know to post more of sky. And im sure we will explode the computer with pics and video once we find a decent place to attach the iphone into. It sounds cold back home, we ran into a fellow st. george climber Gordon and his wife who said it was 30 for the high in st george and snowy in chicago. All of us are looking forward to cooler temps up north after being in upper 80s all the time. We even tossed around the idea of india after vietnam as opposed to north thailand. Its nice to not have a set plan and just go with the flow. o and everyone said that the accomidations and sicknesses were all worse in tonsai than other areas from people we talk to, so horray!! Ok time to research plane tickets. LATE!!!

Poor Jess

So...Skyler and I have been dealing with stomach issues, and diarrhea for about 5 days now. Sky and I have watched as Jess has lived it up eating what he wanted, why sky and I pee'd out of our butts for the past week.  Well.....Jess has finally went down with a horrible stomach bug.  Yesterday he started puking mixed with diarrhea.  Sky and I are hoping he gets better soon so he can get back to climbing.  This morning Jess was feeling better, but spent the majority of last night puking.  Get better soon Jess we miss you.