Rock Climbing 101

I actually didn't really envision myself doing any climbing when I went switched to the east coast of Thailand. Even though Krabi (Tan Sai Beach in particular) is famous for it's picturesque limestone cliffs with routes for climbers of all abilities, I'd been rapidly burning through cash and needed to slow it down a bit. Krabi isn't the place to do it. For one thing, on the beaches where everybody stays there is a scarcity of accomadation owing to tsunami when all the buildings were damaged if not completely destroyed so rooms were pricey, at least by Thailand standards. And for another thing there is nothing else to do there really.* It does look like this though so you can see the appeal generally:

So, with some time to kill and since I was there, finances be damned!...I took a three day climbing course.

The course focused on basic safety techniques and how to spot someone else when they are climbing, what knots to tie etc.,

with minimal concern for how high you actually went, and since most of the beginner to intermediate walls have adequate hand and foot holds you could get way up there.

The course then went on to teach lead climbing, (taking the rope up and setting it up in the anchor) and then multi-pitch climbing and abseiling down.

It was a real thrill though to climb up and meet my instructor at the 'top' only to continue on and lead the rope up the next 'pitch' to another anchor and then abseil down. It was really cool and you can see how climbers get addicted to it.

It was amazing. My muscles weren't ready for three straight days of that though and I could barely make it through the third day.

I took a well deserved rest day. With the beach and sun, Tan Sai is really a good place to chill out. It is the type of place where the worst thing that happens is the sort of thing that was posted on the message board:

Then, on my 2nd rest day I was out taking some photos when I bumped into a guy I'd met a few days earlier named Mike. He really wanted to go deep water solo climbing. It's climbing over deep water with no rope so if you fall you land in water.

The idea is not to fall but to climb as high as you can or as high as you feel comfortable, then jump into the water. In fact Mike wanted to go so badly that when the place said we needed three more people or else the outing would be cancelled he ran up and down the beach recruiting people and as luck would have it, it was an easy sell.

Some of the guys were absolutely outstanding climbers, and could comfortably climb up the wall until they got so high they were scared to jump (around 23m). I got the one guy jumping from around 23m on video and it is truly impressive. I, however, am still a novice. Though growing in confidence, most of the techniques I mastered in the course related to knots and use of clips and ropes and whatnot so that was of very little help over open water.

Still, I managed to get up to about 12 metres or so but then got a bit stuck. The trick was to swing one leg over to the stalagtite and then transfer the rest of your body weight over. It's easier said than done for a short guy like me and I was not at all confident I had the leg span to make it. So rather than risk it I decided to just get myself in the absolute best position before trying.

It's a difficult thing climbing. There really is no one best position. Sure some are better than others but you have to keep going. If you're stuck, you're stuck. Just admit it and enjoy your jump into the water. But if you've read my Aconcagua blog you'll know that I don't concede defeat easily whether it is to a world class mountain or just some rock face in the middle of the ocean. So I powered on trying to slowly move into the best position. The chalk had worn off my hands and so had the reserve chalk that i chalked up on my arms (climbers like chalk) so my grip was starting to fade. But if I can make this one last.....ooops...... SPLASH


OW!

I landed on my left side. I gave the boat the 'i'm ok' line but I wasn't really. I was quite sore . Still, we moved to a slightly less challenging wall and I successfully did that 2 times so it's all good. My ribs still hurt 2 1/2 weeks later but i'm sure by the time I get back to London I'll be tip top.

Photos: 1) Learning to climb. 2) View of Tan Sai and East Rai Lei beaches. Hidden from view west Rai Lei beach. 3) Self photo having reached the top of one of my first lead climbs. 4) My excellent doubled up figure 8 knot. It better be excellent. My life depends on it. Needless to say I spent a lot of time practicing. 5) View from about 20 or 22 metres depending who you believe. 6-7) Showing off some mad skills. 8) Abseiling down all by my self. 9) Monkey theft advertisment. 10-11) Deep water soloing. Starting out well. 12-13) Making the move across towards the stalagtite. 14)Note the splash in the last one -sideways for some reason but don't have time to fix it for now.


*Why did I go then? I guess subconciously I wanted to learn to climb. I met people who were serious climbers who loved it there but I just thought it was also just a cool place to hang out. It is but really only if you are a climber.

Underwater Photography 101

Back on December 25th I unwrapped possibly the best Christmas present ever; an underwater housing custom designed to fit my digital camera. It just looks sweet all on it's own as most dive gear does:

But a few weeks into the new year I was tired of just looking at my precious gift and showing it off to strangers everytime a random backpacker I met mentioned diving, so once I got to Ko Tao, a small island off Thailand's west coast remowned for it's diving, I was more than ready to take some kickass underwater shots. I was so excited that I didn't even care that the proprietor of the dive resort made me do a scuba skills review even though I have over 400 dives under my belt and I had been diving as recently as October in Madagascar and I've had my PADI Advanced certification since 1995.*

Anyway, skills review quickly dispatched we still had 1/2 hour of bottom time left so I spent the time furiously taking shots. Here are some of the early ones,

Actually these are the best of my introductory bunch which had a lot of flaws it must be said. It seems I have a tendancy to overuse the flash which led to a lot of particles showing up in my photos despite the awesome flash diffusion screen on the case. I am also inclined, probably as a result of taking so many landscape shots in the past few months, to zoom out and try to capture the entire scene which doesn't work too well underwater especially when the lighting or visibility is poor.

I did learn a few things by trial and error though. Sometimes the flash can work in your favour. Even though everything may look grey/brown as in the next photo, once a little light, or in this case a bright flash of light, is introduced into the equation you see the true colours of the undersea world shine through.

Still my shots were inconsisent at best and as the lighting conditions kept changing I was forever tweaking the settings never really confident that I knew what I was doing. Even my successes like this one,
or, diver from below


were basically good luck. For the diver from below I don't even think I was looking because I was concerned I would surface underneath him. I got to talking about some of the challenges I was facing with some of the divers on the boat** and it turned out that one of the divemasters, Chris, was teaching the underwater photography specialization and gave me a few pointers.


Later when we were talking over beers for 5 nights straight he suggested that I might benefit from the course and I told him that ever since PADI refused to recognize my 20+ logged wreck dives and declare me a 'wreck diver' I don't put too much stock in holding a specialized certification. The quality of the photos will determine whether I could call myself an 'underwater photographer'. But I had to admit that I could use some practical tips so I settled on a one day workshop.

This would explicitly help me overcome one of the biggest obstacles to good underwater photography: being rushed. For normal recreational divers the tendancy is to see as much as possible but in order to get some of the better shots (the same goes for land based photography it could be said) you have to have a lot of patience to wait for the right conditions and for the fish to come to you because chasing fish around is fighting a losing battle.

I recieved a lot of pointers about depth of field and manipulating the amount of light you let in the camera. One of the biggest pointers though was to be sure to calibrate the white balance at depth by taking a clean white slate because how your camera interprets white will influence all the other colours.Another awesome tip was to explore the effects of what on land would be an extreme close up. The effect is remarkable and some of the patterns in the coral are really unique and cool (as above) and some of the shots up close of fish are also quite cool (below).



I still need lots of practice but I've got a much better idea about what makes an interesting photo and it doesn't help to have a bright sunny day either!

Photos: 1-3) Try as we might we couldn't get the bubble ring entirely in the full frame. The challenges of a moving target while the photographer is also swaying with the waves. 4) My new toy. 5) Showing off the skills. There's really not much to it. 6) Me UW self portrait 7) Crown of thorns. Enemy of the reef. 8) Not bad for a first attempt. It looks like they are hiding. 9) Diver and reef. 10) Hey, this coral is actually red!!! 11) I like how the eyes of all the fish came out in this one. It's busy but there is still a focal point. 12) Kind of cool looking silouette from below. 13) Chris. Truly a crazy and unique individual and excellent underwater photographer. 14 -16) Coral close ups. 17-19) Fish close ups.

*Ok it sort of bothered me I mean give me a break man. It doesn't really help that I stopped keeping logs after hurricane Ivan got mine all wet and so have no actual proof of any of my alleged dives
**It is a pretty big boat and on any given day there are beginner classes, specialty classes and just recreational divers.

Dave on the River Kwai

One of the great things about travelling without a set itinerary is the amount of pleasant surprises that you encounter along the way.* For instance did you know that the river kwai and it's historic railway bridge and related WWII historical site is located in Thailand? I didn't. But I was pretty excited to find out that it is just a short two hours bus ride away from Bangkok in a sleepy but cool riverside town called Kanchanaburi.

The movie The Bridge on the River Kwai is a classic Gerhard favourite and even though none of the filming of the movie was done in Thailand and the wooden and bamboo bridge that the forced labour of WWII prisoners of war built in the movie and then later blew up looks nothing like the current concrete and steel bridge (Kanchanaburi is an actual place after all so the bridge was rebuilt after the war), it was pretty cool to see.

I'm not going to lie to you, I made a video of myself walking across the bridge whistling the renowned "Colonel Bogey March" that is forever associated with the movie and goes something like:

x

Whoo whoo. Whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whooooo. Whoo whoo. Whoo-whoo-whoooooo-whoo-whoo-whoo. Whoo whoo. Whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-who. Whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-who-whooooooooooooo. (repeat)

Unfortuately the video is about 10 minutes long so is both too big to upload and too long to be particularly entertaining (10 minutes of me whistling is pretty much unwatchable even if it is in picturesque Thailand on an historic bridge) but it features some interesting moments like:

1) Me side-stepping other tourists who were hanginging out on the bridge (it is pretty much the only tourist attraction in the town**)

2) Me whistling slightly quieter whenever I would pass said tourists in an effort to not get their reaction in the video but also in the hope they wouldn't notice what an immature idiot I was being.

3) Right at the moment I crossed the bridge and was about to dramatically emphasise it by zoomig in on the historic Japanese rising sun emblem on the bamboo watch tower they put on the opposite side some dutch tourist comes up to me and asks me if I know any good hotels or possibly somewhere to have dinner.

x

4) Almost as soon as I told the dutch guy to 'F$%! off and stop ruining my kwai river bridge whistling video'***, the guard started blowing his whistle indicating that the train was coming. I mean it was near perfect timing, which was lucky because train and bus schedules and schedules in general are more just suggestions in Thailand so I couldn't have planned it that well. So I ended up getting the train crossing the bridge in the video as well which also took an excruciatingly long time since it had to slow down or stop often to allow all the aforementioned tourists hanging out on the bridge to get to the saftey platforms.

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Once I get back and edit it I think I can probably turn it into a pretty entertaining 2-3 minute clip. Too bad you already know the best bits.

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Right. Kanchanaburi itself is a generally relaxing place (though if you stay too long a slightly boring one). In particular, the guesthouse I stayed in had a massive riverside garden and hammocks and deck chairs which was great for,you know, relaxing by a river in a hammock for instance.

x

The city is also a great jumping off point for doing activities like elephant riding, rafting down the river or checking out the Tiger Temple.

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The Tiger Temple has an awesome sounding name conjuring up images of tigers and monks living on a mountain-top, but is actually just a zoo. And not even a very comprehensive zoo with just a few animals other than tigers.

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Although there is a temple thee it isn't particularly historic, is made of poured concrete with pillars tall enough to allow the monk's 4x4 pickup to be parked underneath and had a satelitte dish so the monks can presumably keep up do date with news from the dali lama or just watch the Simpsons in HD, whichever strikes them.

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It also wasn't so much on a secluded mountain top as it was in a field. The field was secluded though. Although by secluded I mean inconveniently located in the middle of nowhere requiring a long and expensive journey from Kanchanaburi. Speaking of expensive, I didn't mention the outrageous entry fee of about 500 bhat. Which may not seem like much (it's about GBP 10) but this is Thailand and, I thought was supposed to be a temple, but I guess satellite upkeep, 4x4 fuel and insurance and tiger food is pretty expensive these days.

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This brings me to the tigers. Real live tigers (although not particularly ferocious as they are prone to sleeping during the heat of mid day and are kept well fed and are used to the attention that hundreds of visitors a day bring).***

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The tigers weren't near the temple though. For saftey purposes they were in the viewing valley a few hundred metres away where, for the price of admission, you could line up, hand one yellow shirted unsmiling worker your camera, where another would hold your hand and lead you around to where the various tigers were sleeping, while yet another would be sure to stand directly behind you so that you have an authentic yellow shirted tiger temple employee in all your photos of authentic, aweomely powerful, amazing, full grown, giant tigers who are sleeping.

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There was also an authentic monk there but you had to pay more for him to appear in your shot.

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Still though, tigers are cool. Especially big ones with big pointy teeth who even with their chains on and sleeping could easily rip your face off so being up close is a thrill and something you couldn't really do in a westernised country.

More adventures of Thailand to come....

Photos 1) Bridge on the River Kwai. The real one. Not the fake movie one. Which was blown up at the end anyway in a great movie ending. 2) DG crossing back over the river. Note the bombs that they placed on either side to emphasize the authenticity of the WWII site. 3) Some guy riding an elephant. 4) DG at the 'Tiger Temple'

*Incidently one of the worst things about doing that is missing out on stuff that would have been easy enough to see 'if only I had known sooner'

**That is if you don't count internet cafes, massage parlours and the awesome tree fort bar that I got ridiculously drunk at with my two Sedish friends Matilde and Emma on 'bring your own vodka night'

***Actual words 'sorry mate I can't help you out I just got here this afternoon myself but most of the restaurants and stuff are on the other side'

****Also, allegedly, they are not drugged according to the volunteer english speaking staff. Did you get that? A tenner a head AND you don't even have to pay your staff. These monks must have gone to Harvard Business School or something.

New Beard's Eve - Because All Good Beards Must Come to an End

Some people loved my beard. I know because they would say things like "Hey, love your beard!" or "Great beard man." Other people had not so much love for the beard and they would say things like "Your beard is silly"* or "Dude, your beard is getting a bit out of control".

In fact, towards the middle of December, once I passed the 4 month milestone I had to agree that my beard was starting to look a bit er..unkempt. But I was allowing it to become so because I had already determined my exit strategy from bearded life. I decided to host a new year's eve beard shaving party at my parents house near Toronto where I had scheduled a 10 day stopover for the holidays on my way from Argentina to Bangkok.**

In early November I set up an event page in facebook for a new year's eve party and, so people might feel more involved, invited anyone who wanted to to grow a beard which they could likewise shave off on what I was calling 'New Beard's Eve'.

The main reason I set it up so far in advance was that I was due to be travelling in South America and specifically trekking in the Andes for a few weeks ending in mid December which I figured might be a bit late to schedule a new year's eve party. Since I also knew that access to the internet would be sporadic and I wouldn't be able to answer questions and generally keep up the hype I appointed Matt as administrator of the event in my absence. Initially he was less than enthusiastic***, but once he came up with the title 'Beardministrator' which he could use when referring to himself in the third person (eg. 'The Beardministrator would like to remind everyone...etc.) he was ok with it.

Not only was he ok with it he took to it like a duck who was growing an awesome beard would to water ( basically such a duck would take to water the same as a normal duck but would be more cool due to his wicked beardedness). In the 20 days that I was offline trekking in the Andes, he continually hyped up the event and generally raised the 'beardthusiasm' to incredible levels. Not only had he and my other brother Steve started growing beards but so had my good friend Sean from high school.

There were now going to be four of us shaving off our beards on New Beard's Eve. And the lads were exchanging notes about how their beard growing was coming along and transformed the event from just a vague concept that I came up with one day while wondering how long I should keep my beard, to a ligitimate 'Event' that now even had an acronym: NBE.

Evidence of the enthusiasm include the following magazine covers:



and:


And to top it off, my bearded breatheren****had even gone so far as to order NBE hoodies that even said 'STAFF' on the back and VIP shirts for the ladies which all came out on Christmas morning after I unwrapped mine.


Having a custom made NBE hoodie really fired me up and looking back it's hard to say which was more fun, the final planning stages or the actual event.

Planning was excellent becuase it gave us a chance to flex our creative muscles a bit. Like creating the Beard Trivia Game or Jeap-Beard-y using the latest PlayStation 3 quiz game that lets you upload your own Q and A like: Q: "Who wrote the line: To Beard, or not to Beard, that is the question?" A: William Shakesbeard. We came up with 31 more just like it!

We also created the Great Hall of Beards featuring great beards of history so people would know they entered the right house:

There was also the NBE Guest Orientation packs which included a fake beard for all those who did not or were incapable of growing their own beard:

The fake beard came with graphical instructions for how to wear it similar to the lifejacket instructions on airplanes. "Don't forget to secure your own beard first before helping others."

The night itself was really good fun and I got to catch up with great friends who I don't see that often. Not eveyone could stay late due to the fact that their small children require a lot of attention and have more enthusiasm for the snack table than the official NBE Beard Shaving Centre but it was nice to see them all the same. Still, I declare that NBE 2008/2009 was a big success. As a group we went from looking like this:

to looking like this:


Passing through various stages like this:

this:


and this:


Until the result was four clean shaven "gentlemen".*****

I would like to point out that for me, growing a beard while travelling was easy and fun and all part of the adventure but I think it took real guts for Matt, Steve and Sean to start growing beards in Mid-November with the sole objective of shaving on NBE all the while still working and living their 'normal' lives. Thanks guys! It was a fun night, and going from this guy:

to this guy:


on NBE wouldn't have been the same without you.

In the end my 2008 beard travelled with me through 8 countries and lasted from August 15, 2008 until the wee hours of new year's eve which, if you're counting, and I am, is 140 days assuming you count Friday August 15th as day 0 which I do. Whatever the count, it shattered my 2007 Project Chabal/Beardvember beard which only made it to 67 days but was still pretty impressive.

The clean shaven adventures of Dave continue. Next stop: Bangkok!

Photos: 1)DG having just applied mousse to the beard to y'know make it stylish and whatnot. 2) Hanging out chez Gerhard with a nice xmas nogg doing some light beard related reading 3) Matt taking care of some last minute Beardministrator business. 4-5) Magazine covers made by the Beardministrator 6) Beardthusiasm at its best with the new NBE shirts. 7) Sean and Matt in the 'Great Hall of Beards' that's Darwin in the background Al. Samuel de Champlain was the other one you couldn't guess. Excellent guess on Czar Nicolas though. 8) Matt demonstrating proper fake beard technique. 9-10) The beards before and after. 11-13) The 'durings' 14-15) more before and after.

*Sounds better when coming from a Malagasy girl in french 'votre barbe est drole' or something to that effect.
**Some may not consider this to technically be 'on the way' but it was the way that I took
***I think his initial reaction was something exactly like 'Wait a minute, how did I get to be administrator. I am not a beard Curator by anymeans I am still a beard noob. I am only 3 weeks and 1 day into said beard and it does not warrant any kind of administrator privlidges. oh.. I;m off to climb a mountian.. can;t talk now have great bearded adventures to take part in. well yer not the only one thats busy.. in fact as you have so previously pointed out you are probably the least busy as you are on yer vacation'
****Matt came up with that handle. Further evidence of his outstanding performance as Beardministrator.
*****Technically 3 since Matt didn't finish the job until the next morning and was actually passed out sleeping on the couch while we were saying final goodbyes to our beards. But hey, as Beardministrator he's entitled to do what he wants without people giving him grief about it eh?