The second day of our Thailand adventure we took another long tail boat back to Railay to do some rock climbing. The area around Krabi has some amazing cliffs, so we packed our climbing shoes in the hope that we would get enough sunshine to use them. We booked a half day trip and ended up doing three climbs each - more than enough for our poor muscles to handle.
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| amazing cliffs to climb on |
The first climb had some decent holds and was a good refresher on how to use our legs to push up instead of our arms to pull up. Using your arms wears you out quicker, but it is a mental game trusting your shoes and the rocks enough to use your feet. This was Phil's first time outdoor climbing :)
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| repelling after the climb |
The second climb was easier in some ways because the techniques were fresh in our minds, but harder in some ways because those muscles we rarely use were starting to feel the burn.
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| Who knew I had muscles?!! |
The last climb we tried was much taller than the previous two. The first bit was a little tricky, but after that it got easier until we reached a nice large ledge. After taking a break here, Phil gave it several goes before repelling back down.
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| The crux of the climb - the hold on Phil's right was the key |
While we were watching Phil, the guide told me the trick with this climb was to get both hands on the hold on the right and use them to get all your body weight on the right and then up. When I got to the ledge I took a breather before trying it out. My first attempt was a failure, and on the second attempt I got a little farther. By this point it was really warm and we were in the direct sun so my hands were getting really sweaty. I leaned back a bit in my harness to give my legs a break and chalked up my hands, then gave it one more attempt. Somehow, I made it. Once I got past that move it was pretty easy to finish the climb. It was a great feeling getting to the top. I repelled down and told Phil he better have taken pictures because I wasn't doing that again. He said nope, didn't need evidence that I did it when he couldn't. So of course I had to write about it!
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| Diamond Cave |
After we were done climbing we walked back to the shops in Railay. On the way we caught sight of this amazing cave called Diamond Cave and took a little detour to check it out.
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| celebratory beer |
We had 45 minutes before the boat took us back, so we had a celebratory beer and ice cream.
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| storm rolling in |
While we were waiting, the storm that had been brewing all morning started to blow in. They rounded us up and got us in the boat a few minutes early, just as the rain started to fall. The seas were getting pretty rough, but fortunately we were riding with the waves so it was actually quite smooth coming back.
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| ready for a nap after our climbs! |
After lunch and a nap by the pool, we were collected and taken to Smart Cook Thai Cookery School to cook our dinner.
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| Phil in his pretty apron making soup |
They had the ingredients all set out prepared for us, so we just had the fun part of grinding the curry spices, smashing garlic, and mixing it all together.
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| cooking away |
We made green curry chicken, red curry chicken, spring rolls, banana spring rolls, pad thai, chicken with cashews, hot and sour soup, and chicken in coconut milk soup. They were all really good, and I think I found a new love for green curry and banana spring rolls.
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| enjoying our feast |
So who is coming over for dinner next? :)
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| lots of delicious food |
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