Climbing And Travelling SE Asia

Ok I'm finally climbing in Tonsei, everything is so expensive here
compared to the rest of Asia but still slightly cheaper than OZ
and glad I'm not here during the peak. But hey the climbing rocks.

Will be climbing here for the next two months if anyone feels the
urge to climb and has a little time, it's pretty quiet climber wise
so might be fun to come and play. Not that I need partners already
have a great guy to climb with, just trying to encourage those
that are getting a little bored with life in the cold and wet to come
and play in the sun with me.

I'll be climbing from now until about the 16th Jun and from the 30th
of June until August when I'm coming home to show you all how
strong I can get .

Take Care All

The last real update I basically said I was waiting for
a visa to Laos. I got that and then traveled south to
Kratie on the Mekong. A small one street town, much
less geared to tourists than Siem Reap or Phnom Phen,
no ATM's or massage places and very few places to dine.

This was the first time it rained while I was here, it rained all
night and I stayed awake just listening to it.

Not too much to do, except walk or ride along the Mekong.
I hired a bike to ride to see the freshwater dolphins 15km
north along the river. Well that was the idea, being back
on a bike was so much fun I just rode to the next town
and back ~60km. Bike was so bad though seat was way
too low and brakes barely worked, and ended up being
very sore for a few days afterwards.

The road to the dolphins they want to rename to the
'Road of a hundred hellos'. Might be more apt as
'Road of a thousand hellos' all along the road kids yell
out hello and wave it was a lot of fun but can get tiring
after a couple of hours.

After passing the dolphin watching location a lot of those
hellos turn into 'Where you going' as most people cannot
imagine riding a bike for fun and not have a destination.

Cambodia has a population made up of over 50% children
under about 10 years old. There are kids everywhere and
most don't seem to see the point of education. Many I spoke
to all wanted sponsorship, and many already had some form
of sponsorship and when asked if they went to school many
of them said they didn't.

Ok so I've been a little lax on the updates. I have actually been updating my travel map though as I've worked
out where I was going next. But the map seems a little hidden. Click my profile and then click the 'Climb And Travel SE Asia' link under Trips. Or this link might work

Map

Any way will probably do an update for the missing bit of the trip tomorrow or the next day while I'm in Luang Prabung including more pictures for you all.

In brief my trip has been hijacked by travel instead of actually climbing. A side effect of my don't plan anything plan for this trip. Bouldered three days ago and climbed for the first day yesterday in Vang Vieng with a Canadian guy and did a 7 or so climbs for the day including a 6b. But boy the limestone here is sharp and have blood blisters to prove it. Would have liked to climb another day there but lack of climbing partners and means to find them in Vang Vieng had a lot to do with that and the faster I moved the faster I'd be in Chang Mai. Plan to be in Chang Mai in 5 days or so for a much needed two week climbing break from travel. Pack weights about 27kg and is a bit of a pain to travel with. But the advantage is locals aren't often able to pick it up and run away with it

After Chang Mai it's into Vietnam for a while and then hopefully Krabi. Unfortunately Krabi will just have to wait until mid May - June, during the wet season, but might work in my favour as there will less competition for the good climbs

Ok, I'm not much of a bar hopper, even if beer is only slightly more expensive than
water .

Getting itchy feet, need to travel and or climb something soon. Am finding Siem Reap
lacking in things I want to do, and the prices of somethings way too expensive. A trip
to the Vietnamese floating village a two hour return trip is $32USD, and considering
the rest of my daily expenses is about $15-20 USD, seems a little steep.

Also the longer I'm here the longer I see the difference between local and foreigner
prices. Got on a Tuk-Tuk with a local, she traveled half the distance for about 25c
and I paid $5 USD or about X10 mark up. Oh well, I guess that's just the way it works,
at least here in tourist town.

I have a theory as to why Cambodia is so dusty, it's because of all sandstone carving
done for Angkor Wat and the other temples. The dust just hasn't washed away yet .

Two/Three more days and I'll be back on the road again.

What can I say that hasn't been said about Angkor Wat before, maybe 'Is that all?' but that would be telling a fib A truly remarkable place, easily on par with those temples I visited in Mexico years ago, but a little less creepy without those sacrificial alters.

The town itself is very much a tourist town (at least down town is), plenty of nice food and cheap drink. Time seems to go very fast here, arrived on the 13th and Thanh left for home on the 17th, and now, I'm going to spend the rest of the week waiting for my Laos Visa.

Have decided mainly because visas are a little painful to travel to NE Cambodia to visit some natural environment and to escape some of the noise a little, not that I'm finding it too bad. This means I'm putting off climbing for at least another 3 weeks, and start mid April for a month. Feel like I'm running out of time already, so good chance I won't be home for a good while yet

Will post some pics soon, I promise.