Thailand part I

 See the rest of the photos here!

Day 0 - Getting there

We took the plane to krabi and landed without issues (note to self: the visa on arrival queue is shorter than the other queues mwhahahaha). Bought taxi tickets and then asked the taxi to take us to the pier. This was cute but was WRONG: we needed Ao Nang beach not Ao nang pier (ao nam Mao), because the latter is the place where boats go to Railay, not Tonsai where we needed to be. The two beaches are extremely close to each other on the map, but are separated by a gigantic cliff in real life. No biggie, say we. We will carry all our bags over the gigantic cliff!! Finally reason won and we took a boat, and, three hours after landing we were in our room.

Of course, initially it was supposed to be a getting there day, but in the end I begged and asked and whined and so we went climbing at Tyrolean Wall: Missing Snow, 6b+. It is as beautiful and intricate as I remember it, a classic for the grade. Sandra of course flashed it, I wasn't so lucky haha.

We walked to Pra Nang beach to see the sunset.

Day 1: A date with a Lion
Perhaps it's not the best thing to start your trip with the hardest route you want to do. Also, perhaps it's not so good to not train lead falls...

Hm. Anyway. I got all geared up for the Lion King (6c+) and could not summon the balls to get to the first clip. After trying and trying and trying San took pity on my wussism (a newly defined religion, its followers are called wussites) and set up the route, despite mentioning many times that she would not do it for me... She was awesome, and I was so touched!!


I tried lion king for the first time in my life and I became hooked (hehe) on what is probably a lifetime project. It's beautiful and horrible at the same time, and I loved it.

I rewarded my adherence to my new found faith with a mango sticky rice, and we next proceeded to melting wall where we sent a variety of 6bs.

Day 2: Thaiwand wall
This day will mark our shift to weekend warrior status: we only did 6as (and pluses) with a VERY VERY nice 6b (solution 41) on top rope.

Notable also is Caveman, a very nice 6a+ .

The area is very popular for its amazing views! We were lucky with the weather and Thaiwand wall was in the shade but it didn't rain that much!

Primal scream - ran out of balls so San had to set the route (sounds familiar?) I notice that after setting a number of routes I no longer have imaginary stainless steel gigantic balls but they kind of shrink to imaginary raisins.

 It is also worth noting that these raisins are much louder in yelling their fear than the stainless steel ones are in stating their assurance (note to self: need to take lead falls)

We walked through the cave to Pra Nang beach, searched for chicken drumlets and watched the beautiful beautiful sunset.

(I'm only posting san's sunset photo because she is more photogenic than I am).
Now chicken drumlets DO NOT grow in the sand of thai beaches, but used to be sold there five years ago. Unfortunately, these, together with the marvelous duck noodles cart, are no longer available. As is natural, a large number of changes have occurred on the peninsula, but thank fuck these changes were mostly in Railay, which has become very developed and very very touristy. Weirdly enough, there are even non-climbers in Tonsai, probably attracted by the cheap cheap accommodation.

After sunset we went to eat and then started the long trek home: to get to Tonsai from Railay at low tide is easy and fun, as you see a lot of crabs, sea cucumbers and sea urchins. To get to Tonsai from Railay at high tide in pitch darkness is not so fun.

True friendship is ...

When your friend sets up a scaaary route for you just because you have been to fatt, too lazy, and too ball-less to be able to do it yourself.

Will blog about Thailand tomorrow! IT WAS AWESOME!!

One picture Tuesday

Nothing spells lurve than your friends staying up for you while your plane is SEVEN hours late, and waiting for you with the best food stuffs in the world!! Durian puffs, durian, mango, mangosteen party!! I love you bebehs!!

Nothing looks more like holiday than ...

I've been going through the pictures on my phone, deciding which one is the best holiday photo. A picture of a durian? sleeping cats? lavender fields? San's nieces? Jensen and his fake cupcake abs? D. all wrapped up because we didnt find the heater? In the end, I decided on the one below.

Three years ago, I stepped on you and cracked you*. I will see you again soon!

*because there's nothing that says fatt better than a cracked handhold.

Very important decisions

Because you cannot go even on a five day holiday without making sure that you have adequate reading materials, and because we know about the kindle's issue with indexing , I have been using my spare cycles for the past few days to think about what books to put on the kindle. They must be holiday books but also interesting books. Books to read on a beach waiting for the sunset but also books to read  in the morning before everybody WAKES UP already!!!

Me: "San, what books should I put on the kindle!!!!??!!!!! For the trip?!" 
San: "I don't know.. All?"
Me: "Cannot!"
San: "It's a climbing trip, not a reading club"

So finally, with no help from my friends, I have settled on twenty (TAHWENTY!) books from which I will choose something depending on my mood:

1. - man in the high castle
2. - american gods
3. - the dispossessed
4. - kraken
5. - iron council 
6. - dirk gently's holistic ...
7. - the city and the city
8. - wise man's fear
9. - and the mountains echoed
10. - the fortress of solitude
11. - infinite jest
12. - bloodsucking fiends (christopher moore - got this by googling funniest books list - we'll see where this gets me: either laughing like mad on a beach in Thailand or throwing my kindle overboard in anger: you never know with "funny" books)
13. - a dirty job (same as above)
14. - hard boiled wonderland
15. - brief wondrous life of oscar ..
16. - never let me go 
17. - mountaineering the freedom of the hills
18. - blood rites
19. - breakfast of champions
20. - name of the wind

Now of course, having just spent twenty minutes typing this, two hours searching for some of these titles, and ten minutes pestering my friends, I'll probably end up just reading the guide book. Snort.

I love Adelaide

For many reasons, one being that you can buy ghost chili pizza! Nothing goos about it really other than its inherent spiciness (went for the milk after the first slice if you must know :) ) - but still, GHOST CHILI PIZZA!!!

A cause for divorce

In our last Grampians trip, Marian sent his third V3 and New Years resolution, a problem called Lygon street massacre. He asked me to film him, as in his first attempt of the day he felt very good about it.

Take 1. He starts, gets past the crux and in the "omfg I don't want to fall here" section of the route. I stop the film and go spot him. I tell him as he comes down that I have failed, so he decides to do it again.

Take 2. He climbs it again but because of angle and tree-in-the-way issues, he decides to do it again.

Take 3. He climbs the route beautifully but the phone goes into hibernate. It's a new iOS version so I fumble with the controls and do not record half the climb.

Take 4. He starts the climb again, but is shaky, his foot slips and he bangs his knee on the wall. He's rolling on the mat in extreme pain, while I'm rolling on the ground pissing myself in laughter. Apparently my laughing does not have the desired effect and he gets really really angry. I find that terribly funny and continue to laugh. He is not happy!

Take 5. He climbs the route a fourth time, all shaky and angry, but this time, of course, I record it for posterity. Thank fuck he sent it, otherwise I think I would have done the stupid thing and laugh some more and then ... disaster!

If you've missed it, here he is on Lygon Street Massacre, V3, Grampians. I am only responsible for the bad shooting, not for the bad music.

One picture Tuesday

Ah well. I have not lost weight, nor have I increased my endurance, but this DOES NOT CHANGE the fact that one week from now we will (eventually) be here:

Skies will be blue (I hope!) and the sea will be green (I don't care) and the limestone will be beautiful (I CARE!)

I am fatter than I have ever been in my climbing life and I KNOW we will get trashed by the walls, so probably Lion King is not in the books this year

(especially since San has already sent it so there's no incentive for her to put up my draws cough cough)

And I also know that we will be emo and thoughtful, but hey! rest   pigout day in Ao Nang! Chillax on the beach! Climb till we can't open our fingers ROAR!!!!  San!! First day, we climb at 8am ok?!

Sigh. I need a holiday.

And for the reference, here's Jensen on Lion King (Jensen, you're the second hit on youtube!)

Zzzzzz

I've actively taken part in competitions ever since moving to Adelaide, even though I hate the damn things. Mostly to support the local community (especially the girrlz! go girrlz!) but also because they're fun and much, much less stressful than the Singapore ones - yes, not climbing in a team makes things less stressful, who would have thought?!!! Nothing at stake really either. I've finished on the podium (first and third) most of the time, and a career low was finishing outside the podium once. The field of open women is small and, when I move to masters in four years there will probably be just me and another varli varli strong girl in the entire category, so probably it will still be open women for me! It is not a fantastic achievement by any standards, but at least hey, I beat some of the guys!!! (On the one and only occasion when I came first, my score put me halfway on the guys' list - HELL YEAH!!)

We had another one of these beauties last night, at Vertical Reality Climbing Gym. It was awesome!! By far the best competition so far, there were zillions and zillions of problems and many many people trying them!! The problems were varied, both in the style but also in the types of holds, walls and surfaces they used, and, while the setters did not get very creative with the volumes, at least THERE WERE various volumes on the wall, which is a fucking achievement I must say. There were easy, medium, and very hard problem that kept people occupied, and at least thirty problems that I didn't even have time to try (for all of you Singaporeans out there, it was what we call a climbing carnival, like Climb On! -- they call it pumpfest here). Overall, I'm mildly psyched to get on them again. Unfortunately, this week I'm training endurance only as next week it's Thailand time*!!!

*Also known as "eat till you drop youwontfitinyourpantsanymore time!"

Grampians trip - numero 7

I am not sure if this is my seventh Grampians trip or my eighth, but I have decided that it's my seventh, for two main reasons:
a) seven is just so much better than eight
b) I feel much better when saying that I've done only seven trips to the Grampians (and still have not sent Master Bates) than saying that I've done eight trips and still have not sent it.

Anyway. This trip was part of what Marian thinks is my sekrit plan to kill him: it rained very heavily on the way in but then we had absolutely gorgeous weather: cold but dry and sunny!!!

We explored Kindergarten on Saturday where N. got on Spanking the monkey bars (V8) and I tried A Horse is a horse (V4).

It is a really really nice problem, starting waay low under in the little cave and then continuing with a biiiiig move to the left

followed by a hook match affair on this rail:

I nearly sent it, whereby "nearly" I mean that I did but I dabbed a bit as N. had lifted the mat to catch my fall.

I couldn't repeat it as it felt very tiring ...

The next day Marian sent Lygon Street Massacre, only six months after declaring it impossible! I got on the send train but got off before it reached the Master bates station ... Sigh. Nevertheless, the trip was a success: I got on Wimmel Friedof, probably the best V5 in the Grampians, I now know what i need to do for Master Bates, and I nearly sent A horse is a horse! Progress!! ROAR!!

One picture Tuesday

Probably the best picture of this grampians trip. The rock at kindergarten (a grampians area) is just beautiful!

Easily demotivated these days

Running wise, I mean. I was supposed to run a trail run this Sunday and I nearly backed out because running and I these days are having some problems in our relationship.

To be honest, running sucks. Or at least, it sucks to me. It's hard to get going and very easy to loose endurance with only a week of slacking off. In truth, trail running is THE THING to do, but the thing with trail running is that it tends to be uphill, so fucking hard to begin with.

To be honest, running is awesome. It takes you places. And, having run enough for the endorphins to kick in, the running high you get is kind of addictive.

I ran the Sea to Summit this Sunday. Unusual for me, I didn't run the main event (the 30 km run), but ran with the wusses in the 15 km run. Boy was it cold. And boy was it uphill - sea to summit, duh!! But boy was it beautiful!


I got to see parts of the Adelaide hills that one does not usually see on foot and also I got to find another training ground - training starts in July, after I get back from Thailand! I have a sekret plan that involves walking with a backpack on chambers gully and in belair park in the wee hours of the morning. This would train my cold tolerance and also my stamina. And, to further confirm to Marian that I sekretly want to kill him, I plan to involve him mwahahahhahaaa.

Anyway, coming back to the run. I can understand why Sea to Summit is a qualifier for the Six Foot Track Marathon. It's fucking hard, that's why! But that being said, I'm a bit apprehensive of the distance: 30 km is not 45 km and the elevation does not make up for the fact that in Six Foot you would have additional 15 km to run.

Regardless, I have just confirmed that I do qualify for the 2014 six foot track marathon, having ran the 2013 race. Hm.

Today's weather update: challenges aplenty but sucking at motivation.

One picture Tuesday

From phdcomics.

So what I'm doing is called channelling your inner three year old or CYITYO. 

La Sportiva Solutions

I used to think that Solutions were only for the V9+ climbers. That I, being old, fat, and, most importantly, WEAK!, do not deserve such shooz. And then I destroyed my second pair of miuras on Master Bates - they are still wearable (and I'll wear them for a long time from now on) - and I went to Canada.

In Canada I went to MEC, mostly to buy tiles for D. , but also to check out some shooz. And check them I did. I bought two pairs for D. and I bought a pair for me as well. I bought La Sportivas again, mainly because I think that La Sportiva (as a brand of shoes) is God's gift to climbers. And I bought Solutions, because the moment I put them on they went "Slurrp!" and sucked my feet in. My eyes bulged a bit (they were a bit tight), but the subsequent wear proved to me that I had found soulmates for my feet.

At the point of purchase, the Solutions were the most expensive piece of gear I had ever bought (with the exception of the tent) (Of course, I went on and bought a down suit so yeah, hm ...). I will probably never climb V9. And I will never do these shooz justice. I will probably, treasure and respect them as they deserve: I wore them twice and each time I brushed them before putting them back in!

Sigh

The end of the semester is upon us! Dear fuck, if I have to go through a semester like this one ever again, I will quit my job and start on one of my numerous backup careers. Or just go home and climb full time because FUCK THAT.

Here's to never teaching three courses at the same time, on top of doing research, admin, and supervising students.

One picture Tuesday

Sorry, I had forgotten it is Tuesday today, what with the long weekend and all that.

This is what I call a pre-commit in distributed systems terms. Or, in budget terms, THE MOST EXPENSIVE PIECE OF GEAR I HAVE EVER BOUGHT ZOMG*!!!

* and yes, it's hot in there.

Not a totally lost weekend

We were supposed to have a looong weekend in the Grampians this past long weekend but then fate intervened and my plane was delayed in Melbourne and then asbestos leakage was identified in the Grampians campground!

Marian decided that obviously this was a sign and we should spend this long weekend at home. I upped the bet and said that we should go to the grampians next weekend.

Marian's sekrit plan was to spend the looong weekend doing nothing but re-compiling his droid kernel - I put a stop to that immediately: we climbed at Morialta on Saturday, tried to boulder at Bachelor's Pad on Sunday, and climbed at Carcrash Quarry on Monday. This sounds good until you find out what we actually did:

1. Morialta
We got there a bit too late in the day and the most popular route was busy. I was sekretly planning to do laps on it, so I was a bit miffed when a top rope was on it but nobody was climbing! Fuckers!!! Nevertheless, I trad led an 11 and literally spent the entire climb shitting myself out of fear: the route was dirty and I had drank too much coffee before that. I set up a top rope and we spent the whole day doing laps on a 19 (I'm training endurance, hence all the laps). The surprise of the day was meeting the Motherfucker (aka Rose Petals) - what was more surprising was seeing him climb as bad as before: STRONG, POWERFUL, ROAR, but with shitty technique. Ah well, some things never change.

2. Bachelor Pad
It would have been a great day for doing endurance at a bouldering area had I not had a brain fart and taken my NEW shooz to climb: how can one do endurance laps (15-20 mins at one go) when one's shooz are soo tight? So, after hiking all the way up to bachelor pad with Stalin, we hiked down after 45 minutes of my eyes popping out of my head.

3. Carcrash Quarry
Again, getting there late in the day (there might be a theme here) meant that all the nice/easy routes were taken. We put up a toprope on a 23 and settled on it for the day. Dear fuck, it was hard!!! By our powers combined we figured out the beta after flapping around for about an hour. We got the entire sequence just right for all present body types, which were: tall & skinny; skinny & flexible; old, fat & weak (I'll let you figure out which one is me, pfft). I managed to give it three strong laps before retiring for the day - I felt good at the end and also felt I could do laps on it ad nauseam so I guess there is some improvement there.

Two years!

Today marks the two year anniversary of me joining the university. Wheeee!! Had my contract not been extended, I would be clearing up my office now, instead of being evil and harsh to students mwahahaahahahaha 

In other insignificant career news, two things happened today:

1. I have an email in my inbox from Bertrand Meyer, he of the design-by-contract fame (ignore this if you are not a cs person or you never took a software engineering course)

2. I have just been made associate editor of the most prestigious journal in my PhD community.

I have fooled them once more!

One picture Tuesday

Today's guest post is from Sandra, describing my favorite place in the whole wide world, ie a place where durians just fall from the skies!!!

Realization. Part 247

Last night I found my black alter ego. We were watching one of Whoopi Goldberg's first movies (Jumpin Jack Flash) and I realized that her number of swear words per minute roughtly matches mine! Here's one but you really have to watch the entire movie.

Now, if I'm even 1% as charming as Whoopi then I'm not half bad methinks :) Here's for the power of swear words!