Spider pig spider pig does whatever a spider pig does!

Hello and welcome to the death defying adventure we had (ok a little overstatment but it was pretty scary).

We got up the usual 7am time and packed our bags because we had to move rooms. We ate breakfast and all last night i kept dreaming about rock climbing and wondering if i was mental for wanting to do this.. i tossed and turned alot and then dreamt about work YUCK!

We were at the green discovery place for pick up at 9am to start the day. It was just the 2 of us and our guide who spoke good enough english better than the kayaking guide whos name he said was porn star. We had a quick stop to get our climbing gear , harness, really incrediable tight shoes (normal climbing shoes), chalk, ropes, helmets and caribeeners. Then it was about a 10 minute ride to the drop off point from which we had to walk half hour through a riverbed that didn't have any water in it and then the intense part came. We had to pretty much scramble up through thick jungle and big rocks up to our rock climbing part it was about a 15 minute climb and already i was crapping my pants wondering how the hell i was going to get down with out killing myself. Finally we made it to our destination and the huge limestone walls.

We had a 10 minute overview of how to tie the figure 8 knot and how to belay although Tyson only had to belay the guide so that he could set the top rope up, other than that the guide belayed for the both of us (good thing cuz i was scared). We started with a 5a on the French climbing scale which is the easiest required rope in climb. Tyson went first cuz i wanted him to test it out to see if he would fall ... just kidding.. i was shaking in my shorts but looked great with my harness on. Anyways Tyson did the wall no problem he was a like a spider pig (simpsons reference) (Tyson: it wasn't that easy i got sorta stuck in one spot and needed direction on how to continue) But none the less he made it.. and back down he went safe and sound. Next it was my turn... the first attempt i made it to the little ledge about 30 feet high and then attempted to keep going but just couldn't figure out how to get through the tricky part (oh let us remind you that it was hot out and we were completley drenched in sweat even when not climbing) anyways i came back down... after sitting for a couple of minutes i tried again and got past the tricky part which was an adrenaline rush but then came to another tricky part and couldn't get past it. The hand holds were beautiful, but the feet ones were tricky and i had not mastered the push with your feet part yet so i was exhausted, but i got 3/4 of the way up and felt satisfied ... frick i was on a rock face in laos how cool is that? (tyson: I think she could have kept going, but after a couple of failed reaches looking for holds she got nervous, plus by not using her legs as much as she should have I completely understand how tired she was.)

The next one we went to was a 5b and the first part was tricky and a little wet from water dripping and wasn't completely covered by the overhang. Anyways Tyson went again first and conquered that one as well, he makes it look so easy and he didn't even really want to do it. I tried and got past the tricky part but then again with the lack of footholds got scared and got exhausted and had to come down.. but it was worth a shot.

The last climb of the day was staright vertical wall for Tyson he skipped 4 grades and was at a 6b and it was high and vertical. It was a long climb he says and took the full rope. I opted out I needed to eat the cliff energy bar by this point. He made it 3/4 of the way up and slipped (not like fall.. just got away from the rock the guide had him in lock). (tyson: what happened was I got to this section where only half the normal route was usable due to water and slick moss covering the other half. I couldn't find any good footholds or a arm hold that i could have used to pull myself up, so after hanging by my right hand for realistically 30 seconds I called for tension on the rope, and tried to move up but slipped and fell off the rock. After that I hanged for a bit to try and catch my breath, re-chalk and tried again, but failed at the same spot. At this point I was too tired to try again, and statisifed with my attempt. So I came down. The guide said that if the rock hadn't been wet, he thought I would have done it.)

Anyways it was kind of death defying and scary but fun at the same time. We wer both exhuasted once we got back to town after death defying climbing fdown the krast. It started to rain when we got down and then it poured and hasn't stopped.. we stopped at the bakery for a bite to eat thinking the rain would stop like it usually does but it didn't so we tried to make it back to the bungalow but the rain actually was cold to us... so we headed for the closest massage parlour and got massages with cream (more like tiger balm).

Death defying incident number 2:
The massage was going good, a little different than the first one we had in vientiane, the cream felt good but we were still cold so it wasn't as comfortable as it could have been but still really nice. A Lao massage is when they massage your muscles and Tyson thinks they push on pressure points but i disagree anyways they push and rub and chop on you.. and stretch you... then the scary part came which wasn't in the first massage.. all of a sudden my neck was being snapped like as if you were at the chiropractor.... and then she snapped my back.. and i thougth for sure i was going to be paralyzed no i didn't . i actually like the chiropractor but Tyson won't let me go anymore becuase he always tells me these stories about how they can paralyze you with one mistake especially with your neck. But it was already done and the guy did it to Tyson too. It was a little scary... But we're ok... with some lose necks.

After the massage it was still raining but not as hard. We went back to the bungalow to shower and change. We tried to pay for our bungalow but there exchange rate from KIP to US was outrageous it was 10,000 kip to 1 US dollar when in reality it is 8,500 to 1 US dollar. Tyson was mad.. and said he wasn't paying that because the room was in US dollars, so we said we would pay later once we found a good exchange rate in town. But we were hungry and needed food.

So dinner was had and then we found an exchange rate for 8,700 kip to 1 US dollar much better and Tyson is happy.

Sorry for lack of pictures it takes forever to download. I guess you will all just have to have dinner with us and see them then. Especially our wicked rock climbing photos.

Tomorrow we are off on a 6 hour bus ride (wish us luck) to Louang Prabang which is our last city in Laos before back to Bangkok. There we hope to explore the city and ride an elephant, and maybe kayak the mekong and maybe explore some mountain villages.

See you there.

Sara and Tyson