The time we spent in Tonsai was so fun, joined by our wonderful friends, Mac, Steph, Lydia, and Madge. We arrived a few days early and sussed out the situation and knew that we had found paradise. We greeted our friends with smiles and laughter (and holding up a sign with their names on it at the Krabi airport) and settled into a blissful rhythm of sleeping, eating, climbing, swimming, slacklining, and climbing some more. That place is pretty much everything we were looking for in a destination. Definitely a place to spend some serious time.
Highlights from our time there are (in no particular order and I'm definitely forgetting stuff):
- Climbing incredibily polished limestone sport routes, protected by rusty old bolts and threaded slings
- Guiding Mac and Steph to our secluded beach at night by longtail boat from Ao Nang
- "Chicken Street", great cheap food and drinks, one minute away from the beach climbs and the water
- Jumping off the longtail boat into a school of colorful fish
- Watching a banded sea snake swimming and coming up for air
- Late night pizza picnic on the beach under so many stars, watching fire dancers and being joined by an uninvited crab on the blanket
- Monkey and people watching
- Watching a pair of snakes mating beside the path
- A monkey playing with a dog
- Climbing with the legendary Leonard Coyne and watching him get tattooed
- The cave that goes from Phra Nang beach to the Thaiwand wall, complete with utter darkness, windy corridors, spacious caverns, sketchy bamboo ladders, and the biggest bats we've ever seen
- A stealthy macaque sneaking up to the crag to steal bananas from unsuspecting climbers only to get shut down in a frightening confrontation by a very bold girl who swung her bag a him and she only came away with a scratch
- Eating lunch from a longtail boat at Phra Nang
- Approaching climbs by wading through the water at low tide, or by a longtail boat at high tide to a deserted island
- Watching the first raindrops we've seen in a long time fall into the sea and staying dry while climbing the very steep walls
- Climbing at Tonsai beach and watching the sun go down over the Andaman
- Our little bungalow and all the animals that lived there with us that only came out at night
- A snake falling out of a tree and landing on Anna's shoulder
Whew. That place is unreal. I think we'll end up going back there.
We reluctantly packed up and made our way back to Bangkok via Phuket and then on to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. We knew that this place would be different from the very start. But we are very glad to have come. The people are incredibly friendly. Once again, we are so happy to see what a smile can do. It builds a bond and crosses the bridge of a language barrier like nothing else. After landing in Phnom Penh, we caught our first Tuk-tuk ride to a hotel. The city is relatively small, but it is frenetic. So many people and cars and motos and tuk-tuks and bicycles and carts. The traffic follows pretty much no rules, except more-or-less sticking to the right-hand side of the road. Cars here are both left-hand and right-hand drive. Intersections are chaos. Our first experience crossing the busy road on foot was to hold hands and sort-of wade across, walking very slowly, fighting the instinct to run to safety on the far side. The vehicles will eventually start to flow around you, but really, the only way to cross is to walk slowly. We have seen and heard accidents, even on the road that lead into town from our guest house. But the evidence of trauma lies just below the surface of this country so recently set so far back by the insanity of the Khmer Rouge. First we visited Siem Reap and the Angkor Wat, which was full of temples the likes of which we've never seen. 800 years old and still standing tall, although nature has taken an interesting toll on the walls. In several places, tree roots slowly and excruciatingly separate the blocks and destroy the works of man. It is reassuring to know that despite all our work (or mischief, as the case usually is), nature will eventually reclaim everything, break it up, absorb it. But the distant history of Cambodia calls less urgently than the recent history and, still, the present. We visited one of the donor-supported Kantha Bopha hospitals in Siem Reap and were touched by the vibrant cello music and personality of Dr. Beat Richner. The health system here is in tatters, to say the least, and he works his single-minded ass off to gather donations for the 5 Kantha Bopha hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. So many things here conspire to destroy good works and good intentions: endless disease and poverty, corruption, landmines, accidents, and the list goes on. I (Tony) hope that maybe by going on and doing this medical education, I can make an impact in a positive way. There are many places in the world in situations similar to that of Cambodia. The world needs help.
Upon returning to Phnom Penh (and saying farewell to Lyd and Madge), we visited the Tuol Sleng Prison site and the Killing Fields at Choueng Ek. This experience was very heavy and moving. It was impossible to fight back the tears. So many people died for no reason here. The fact that Pol Pot was able to come to power and hold his position for so long and never come to justice is sheer insanity. But it is an important and shameful part of our world's recent history that everyone should know about.
Tomorrow, we go back to Bangkok and will make our way back to Tonsai. We just can't stay away...
Until next time. Thanks so much for reading and keeping in touch. We send our love to you all.
T&A
