deep water soloing

I have heard so much about deep water soloing, and this is a premier place to do it, so I payed up and got on a trip. We took a longtail boat to a nearby island and then canoed up to the cliff. There are rope ladders to help you get onto the rock, and then you start climbing. I loved it, but it was scary too. The highest I got was about 15 meters and I had a hard time jumping down from there. It was great value too, it cost about 23 dollars for the day and that included the ride out there and a delicious chicken fried rice lunch followed by some snorkelling. The day ended with a ride back on rough waters for added fun.
I also have some pictures from my trip so far:
Alex chilling on Ko Tao island, enjoying the few minutes of sun we got there.a sandcastle I built on the beach on Ko TaoSunset on Phra Nang beach at Railay. This is the most beautiful beach i have ever been too...so far.

Railay

A miserable travel day to get here, but it was worth it. We took an overnight ferry back to the mainland, taking 8 hours on the same stretch that we covered in 1 and a half hours on a high speed catamaran on the way out to the island. We met a bus and it took 5 hours to get to Krabi. Along the way Morgan realizes that her wallet is missing, oops. When we get to Krabi we have to take a 40 minute longtail boat to Railay beach, but we don't want to do the ride in pouring rain, so we have to sit at the harbour for a few hours. Now we are here and it is unbelievable. There are beautiful beaches and these amazing limestone towers topped by jungle. There is tons of climbing here. So far I've just done a little bouldering, but tomorrow I'll rent a kayak and look into the deep water soloing scene. We are still waiting for the sun to show up, but today it hasn't really rained much. Soon we will head out the Phi Phi (pipi) island, where the movie "the beach" was filmed.

Ko Tao

After a few days in Bangkok we took the night train down the coast, got an early morning ferry and found ourselves shepherded to a dive resort on Ko Tao island. Life is good here, although we have found out that it's still monsoon season, as evidenced by no less than 3 episodes of heavy rainfall today. It's a small island with some narrow beaches and steep hills topped by granite boulders. We have been here 3 days now, focusing on eating and swimming. Yesterday I woke up at 5 am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I went for a run and ended up running and walking along very steep paths through the jungle, trying to make it to the East coast for sunrise. I ended up at an abandoned construction site on the northern coast, oops and cool. Today Morgan, Alex, a swiss woman we met here and I tried to go to a beach on the east coast, but it started raining very hard. Luckily we were right next to a house and the owners let us wait out the rain on their porch. I wanted to continue on, but the rest of the group was less interested in getting soaked and hiking through the woods. I went up to the to the highest point and the rest of the team waited for a short break in the weather to head back to our room. Tomorrow I will get to the East coast, rain or heavy rain. More to come soon.

lots of love, Rowan

it's a little warmer than Bristol

Hot, hot, hot.

I am sitting outside of the hostel at midnight and sweating. This is a stark contrast to the down jackets and blankets required to stay warm in Bristol. Well, here I am, with all the other tourists, eating pad thai for a dollar and turning down offers for custom made suits every minute. It's great to have Morgan and Alex here already, so I can ease into things and don't have to start fending for myself right off the bat. We're planning on finding a place to have a real thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night and watch some football like good americans. Friday we head down to the island Ko Tao on the East coast of the panhandle. That's all for now.

Landed

I'm safely in Bangkok, now I will head into the city to find my cuz Morgan.
love to all

And we're off. I'm in England for the first time, staying with my friends Raf and Harriet. My first day in the UK was a beautiful, warmish November day and we jumped on it. Raf left work in the morning and we went climbing in a gorge just a 10 minute bike ride from Raf's house. It was the first trad leading I had done in a while, a little scary and a lot of fun.

Hello there,
I'm going to start up this blog again for my travels. Right now I'm still in Switzerland, but that won't last long. I'll keep people posted on what I'm up to. Feel free to read or not read it and feel free to share it with others who might be interested. The easiest way to get updates is to become a follower, all you have to do is click the follow button on the right sidebar.
lots of love to all,
Rowan