Our first day traveling landed us in Bangkok in a ghetto hostel - 2 beds resplendent with Styrofoam (polystyrene to us brits) mattresses. Not that G and I were complaining (being men and all that)...a solid nights kip saw us ready to complete the journey to the Phra Nang peninsula.
As we rounded the headland in a longtail boat the beauty of the place really sunk in - it seriously is up there with the most amazing places I've been. Palm trees framed the cobalt horizon above azure seas and striking outcrops of limestone and stretches of gleaming sand. (Sold it to ya yet?) On the boat ride, we chatted to a local climber dude, and subsequently met many more locals at the bottom of the cliff faces, urging novice climbers higher and higher and hanging out after hours at the beachfront. They all exuded an effortless cool. Imagine Bob Marley combined with Jack Sparrow and Chris Sharma and you just about get the picture.
This was my only lead climb of the week. All the stuff was pretty hard and since neither of us had been climbing for a while, we were rustier than the original bolts on Humanality. Still, despite humbly requiring some help retrieving gear on one occasion, we stuck with it and got a good few climbs under the belt. Awesome rock, fantastic scenery, sunshine, hairy millipedes hiding in holds and good banter with other international climbers. Just like a typical day at Auchenstarrie.....
