Laos Climbing Update

After climbing the wild limestone of Tonsai and Railay beaches, I was pretty sure that I had experienced the best climbing of the trip. But that was not the case!

We arrived in Vang Vieng after spending 6 sleepy days in Luang Prabang recovering from our Thailand climbing. I was pretty amped and ready to climb again! The day we arrived we went to the offices of Green Discovery which is a company that offers guided climbing lessons as well as simple "delivery service" to the crag. We were informed that they leave at 9am each morning and with that we were all prepared to go!! One small problem though....

Around 5am the following morning, I woke to the pattering of rain drops on the roof of our bungalow and although it dampened (no pun intended) my spirits somewhat, I held on to the hope that it would end before sunrise and dry quickly. NOPE!! Instead it just rained harder and harder and by 8am we had pretty much written the day off!

The next day though, we were off with Green Discovery to our first crag of our visit, Sleeping Wall. I had an awesome time on the roofs of Tonsai and was quite excited to see an incredibly steep roof with a number of routes available. Overall, Sleeping Wall is really good place to go with beginner climbers as there are a number of routes in the 5 and 6 range (french grading) in a corridor to right of the roof as well as a newer crag 200m to the left of the roof. Those who want more of a challenge on the steep stuff can be entertained for a couple of days on the roof .I was interested in a 7a called Spiderman which is a super-steep affair with awesome tufa pulling action!

Quick shake on Spiderman (7a)

Unfortunately, the crux was right at then end and I went for a couple rides throwig for the jug! At the end of the day, the routes had pretty much kicked my butt and I had to hang my head and walk away.

Our third day of climbing (yes I'm skippin the second day as I'm saving the best for last) was more of rest day for me. Robin, myself, Sam and Daniel (people we met our first day climbing and we climbed with most other days) went to Pha Dang mountain which has a great crag just on the left side of the mountain near the caves. The approach is a bit of a climb but the views are worth it! This is a beginner crag with fantastic 6a's and 6b's which are long and slightly overhung. Robin definitely showed her mad skills here by cruising the 6a and 6a+ and then came so close on the 6b! Although she hasn't been able to climb much on the trip, she still has fantastic technique which makes up for her lack of endurance. The tops of the routes provide breathtaking views over the valley and town.

The second and forth day of a climbing was a visit to the newest and by far the best crag that Vang Vieng currently has to offer! I will add that we found out about the other climbing outfit in town as well. Adam's Climbing Shop is a specialty company geared to towards climbers. There's nothing wrong with Green Discovery but if you're going to Vang Vieng with the intention of climbing hard, go to Adam's and they'll show you all you need to know as well as will hook you up with any gear you may be missing.

Pha Tang is a stunning chunk of limestone which lies 20 km north of Vang Vieng and is currently under the most development by a hardcore group of local and expat climbers. The current routes include anything from mild 5's all the way up to 8a+ but there is an endless amount of opportunity here! The rock itself couldn't be better! Beautiful tufas are all over the wall as well as bulletproof walls with only the slightest hint of an available crimp! The other highlight of this crag is the height. Multiple 30+ meter routes can be found in the 6c to 7c range which promises the enduro-crowd a good time. We enjoyed a couple of 5's and there is a fantanstic 30+ meter 6c which follows a perfect line on a slightly overhung face. Most of the routes are slightly overhung and require a bit more technical climbing than what is normally found in Tonsai. I played on another 7a and then a crazy long 7a+ (two pitch route but strung together with a 35 meter rope).

The 7a is a great line up a crack with multiple cruxes; one at the botton and one at the top.

Upper crux on ??? (7a)

I then tried what I was told was a 7b. This route had tons of "OOMPH" and had some crazy crimps as well as two dynos. Tried it a couple of times before I was completely spent! After we returned to Adam's we then found out that it was not 7b, but rather 7c+!!!! Actually felt better after that fact ;-)

Overall, I would definitely recommend the climbing in Vang Vieng to anyone who is thinking about taking a climbing trip to SE Asia. It is an awesome climbing environment and as Robin mentioned in a earlier post, we met some great people to climb with! With the development at Pha Tang, the routes at Sleeping Wall and Pha Dang, it is becoming a worthy stop. There is climbing in Luang Prabang too. One of the walls is one hour by boat along the river which has recently been rebolted and the other is a more beginner crag quite close to the town.

Stay tuned for more climbing updates when we hit up Ha Long Bay/Cat Ba Island around mid-March...

Adam

Lovely Laos

Ahhh, Laos. It's like a deep breath of air in chaotic south-east Asia. We flew from Phuket to Luang Prabang on January 30th, via Bangkok. From the moment we arrived in Laos, we were struck by how relaxed it is here. The airport itself at Luang Prabang is a throw back to a simpler time -- the entire building could fit into the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge at Toronto Pearson. We just walked off the small, prop plane and across the tarmack into the arrivals area. No security, no buses, just a nice saunter across the runway. Getting our visa-on-arrival was also painless, although I was a bit miffed that Canadians pay more for their visa ($42 USD) than anyone else, even Americans. (I wonder what our government did to deserve that honour.)

After collecting our baggage, we walked outside. I was mentally prepared for the chaos of an Asian airport, namely a barrage of taxis or touts wanting to take us into town. But no. Complete calm prevailed outside. And there were two smiling employees from Le Bel Air resort waiting to pick us up. It was at that point that I realized that our time in Laos would be starkly different from Thailand.

We spent a week in Luang Prabang, in northern Laos, and loved our time there. There is no other word for it. Luang Prabang is a beautiful, peaceful town, and the entire area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But a big part of the reason we had such an amazing stay was Le Bel Air boutique resort. It's a bit out of the centre of Luang Prabang, but within a reasonable walking distance and a very short bike ride. (It's a small town, really.) We made use of the complimentary bikes offered by the hotel and so sightseeing was a breeze. It was so nice to retreat back to Le Bel Air in the afternoon or in the evening after wandering around the town and seeing the wats (Buddhist temples). The grounds of Le Bel Air were immaculate, a beautiful oasis, and the beautifully decorated rooms (with sumptuous duvets and pillows) in a traditional wooden Lao house were a real treat after 'roughing it' on Tonsai beach while rock climbing. (I know I keep using the word "beautiful", but it really was beautiful ...) The staff at Le Bel Air were also incredibly friendly and helpful; they really made our stay. I was so sad to leave at the end of the week. Upon reflection, Luang Prabang doesn't have too many "sights", (although we did the temple circuit and walked up Phou Si mountain to check out the views over the town) but it is a really mellow, beautiful town that offers great shopping and eating, and pulls you into the s-l-o-w Laotian approach to life. You see a few sights, eat a lot, hang out by one of the two rivers (the Mekong and the Nam Khan) and voila - a week has passed.

From Luang Prabang we travelled by bus over mountainous, windy roads to Vang Vieng. Our amazing luck with buses continued; this time we were delayed during our lunch stop while our driver fixed something under the bus. I'm not sure what was broken or even if it was fixed, but after two hours we were on our way again. I don't really know what to say about Vang Vieng, but it's certainly an "interesting" place ("interesting" being the word I often use when I can't think of anything nice to say ....). It's an extremely popular stop on the south-east Asia circuit for young backpackers, and it shows. There are 20-somethings drunk or high, stumbling around town, often in their bathing suits, at all hours of the day. Most of the very average restaurants show episodes of Friends, Family Guy or the Simpsons all day long, every day. There's an odd 'zombie' like look on the faces of the many backpackers that congregate in these places. And of course, there are lots of businesses set up to cater to these partying young backpackers.

However, the countryside surrounding Vang Vieng is spectacular -- large limestone karst cliffs dominate the skyline. Adventure tourism is incredibly popular, and we ended up here to check out the best rock climbing that Laos has to offer. We were rained out the first day, but spent the next four days climbing at several of the nearby crags -- Sleeping Wall, Pha Daeng, and Pha Tang (20 km north of Vang Vieng). Adam will write a more fullsome post about our rock climbing there, but for now I'll say that I was impressed by the quality of the rock. The crags are new (the routes at the best area, Pha Tang, are only about two years old) and there aren't that many climbers, so it's very different from Tonsai. Sure, it doesn't have the amazing beachfront seating of Tonsai, but the jungle and rice fields are nice to look at. (But watch out for those leaches on the approach!) There's so much potential here, both for new routes on existing crags and for entirely new crags. It will be very interesting to see what climbing in Vang Vieng is like in 10 years time. For the time being, it is easy to meet the relatively small number of other rock climbers who are staying in Vang Vieng, and I found the comraderie among climbers to be even greater here than at Tonsai. Spending our evenings with them made this bizarre little town bearable.

From Vang Vieng we took a mini-bus to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. It's probably the world's smallest and quietest capital city. I think it gets a bad rap from travellers, who say that there's nothing to do here. It's quite new (largely planned and built by the French in the early 20th century) and very different from Luang Prabang, but it has a charm that grows on you. Life is slow and relaxed here. There are lots of temples to see, albeit fairly new, modern ones lacking the kind of history of those in Luang Prabang. And there's a great food scene. The Lonely Planet Laos states that dollar-for-dollar, Vientiane might have some of the best food to offer in the world. And while I haven't been here long enough to confirm that view, I certainly haven't seen anything to refute it.

You will probably not be surprised to hear that food has formed a integral part of our travel experience. We are travelling to see and do things, but also to eat and experience the local food. Personally, I find that a local eating experience is often also a cultural one. Nowhere has this been more true than in Laos. I think that Adam and I have both mentioned food in our previous posts about Thailand, and as Thai food is quite popular in Canada, most of you can likely imagine some of the wonderful dishes that we feasted on during our time there. There is also cheap, plentiful, and safe street food such as fried noodles, fried rice, noodle soup, fried pancakes (more akin to crepes), fruit shakes and Som Tam (green papaya salad), which is one of my favourite things about Thailand. Lao food is often confused with or lumped in with Thai food (and indeed, many Laos restaurants in Laos also serve Thai food, which only adds to the confusion) but its actually quite different. Lao food is fresher, uses less coconut milk (you won't see creamy curries in a Lao kitchen), and relies on sticky rice rather than the steamed rice favoured in Thailand. Generally, the dishes are drier, relying on fresh herbs and spices for flavour rather than thick gravies or sauces. It's quite healthy and very, very tasty. I've learned that I love Lao food. [For more information, try: http://www.tamarindlaos.com/lao-cuisine.html]

In Luang Prabang, we ate at Tamarind, a great little daytime cafe/restaurant run by an Australian and her Laotian husband, which seeks to offer tourists an affordable and authentic Lao food experience. It was one of the first places we ate in Laos and it was very educational, as well as fun. It was here that we were taught how to properly eat sticky rice (roll it into a ball with your fingers before dipping/scooping food; its very bad form to drop rice into the food). We enjoyed traditional Lao BBQ at a no-name place by the Nam Kham (river), which is kind of a cross of Korean BBQ and Malaysian meat fondue, and involves lots of fresh herbs and vegetables. Terribly tasty and satisfying. We splurged on dinner at L'Elephant, the best restaurant in Luang Prabang and perhaps Laos, where very fine French food was enjoyed at a reasonable price (along with a 1/2 bottle of Tattinger and 1/2 bottle of red wine ...) And of course, large quantities of thick, dark Laos coffee were enjoyed every morning at Le Bel Air with breakfast. There are lots of other great dining options in Luang Prabang, but I got food poisoning from a very bland and not at all authentic dish of gai phad kaphrao (chicken stir-fried with basil and hot chillis) that I ate at a very touristy pizza restaurant. I blame Adam and his pizza craving for that, but in any event, it put me "out" of fine eating form for several days.

Vang Vieng was a bit of a culinary wasteland, but we've made up for lost time in Vientiane. Our first night we ate at Makphet, a restaurant run by the NGO Friends International, which trains formerly homeless youths to cook and/or wait tables. A good cause and excellent food; highly recommended. The next day for lunch we had the best bo bun (Vietnamese noodle salad with beef) that I've ever eaten. It was so good we had to go back today and have more. And for dinner last night we had a truly Laos experience at Vieng Sawan in Chinatown eating yaw (fried spring rolls) and siin joom (thin slices of beef that we 'fondue-d' at the table in a cauldron of coconut juice and herbs) wrapped in various combinations of khao pun (fresh lettuce, herbs, sauces, sliced fruit, lemongrass, ginger, etc.) Super tasty, I ate so much that I practically had to waddle back to the hotel after dinner. We have two more nights in Vientiane and I'm salivating thinking about what and where I'm going to eat. There are so many options and so little time ...

We're almost done our time in Laos. We'll be flying from Vientiane to Siem Reap, Cambodia (home of the amazing Angkor Wat) very early in the morning on February 15th. From that date, we only have 5 weeks until our return to Canada!!! Where does the time go? I need a pause button for my life ... But in all seriousness, while Adam and I are very much looking forward to 5 weeks in Cambodia and Vietnam, it will be nice to come home, eventually. Just please make sure that you arrange to have some warmer weather by March 29th, okay? ;)

Robin (and Adam)

Climbing on Tonsai

Ah, how I've missed posting to the blog! ;-)

Since Robin's last post, we have been in Laos spending time in both Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng and are now in the country's capital of Vientiane. As per Robin's previous post I was supposed to do a climbing update and only now have I gotten around to it...

Tonsai! To most climbers, the mere mention of it invokes images of people climbing on crazy roofs on the beach or hugging tufas [types of stalagtites] 100 meters off the deck. But Tonsai Beach is so much more...actually, no its not! Tonsai (and we'll group Railay and Phra Nang in with it as well) is truly a mecca for the climbing oriented. Take a beach surrounded by soaring limestone cliffs, toss about 500 super fit people in the area and add a bunch of bungalows and beach bars and VOILA, you get Tonsai. We met so many great people and also bumped into a couple of people from home (Yuval, Nat and Kevin) which just added to excitement! I did manage to post a couple of pics a couple of weeks ago but no picture can do this paradise any justice. Happily, we were able to enjoy the climbing for just about 2 weeks but I could have easily stayed for 2 months! There are so many different crags to climb at and an endless amount of "classic" routes. I think the climbing on Tonsai brings out the ADHD in everyone! On the first day we arrived, we were off climbing within an hour or so and the day we left, we climbed until an hour before our ferry left! Two weeks of climbing allows for you to enjoy quite a bit but we only scratched the surface of what's available!

The moment we got off the longtail from Ao-Nang I was drooling at the crags on the beach, Tonsai Roof and Dum's Kitchen. Tonsai Roof hosts what is essentially a gym climber's paradise. Crazy steep climbing on pockets, jugs and LOTS of stalagtites! Some of the routes even allow for some crazy no-hands rests on the stalagtites (bring your abs)! I managed to haul myself up a couple of the routes but found myself a couple of pull-ups short on some others! Classic routes such as "Babes in Thailand" (7a), "Tonsai Playboy" (7a+) and Tidal Wave (7b+) are super popular and often have a crowd of climbers waiting for their turn, but there are sooooo many other routes available. The grades for the roof climbs start around 6c and go all the way up to 8b (5.11b-5.13d grade conversion) and as their are 40 listed routes, there's something for almost everybody. [Although Robin notes that this assumes that "everybody" is crazy strong .....] Dum's Kitchen is a longer crag found on the right side of Tonsai beach and this is where the hardest routes are found (8c\8c+) as well as some of the uber-classics such as "Lion King" (6c+), "Reminiscence" (7a+) and "Jai Dum" (8b). I will add that Lion King kicked my ass a good couple of times as the the last move is a desperate toss for a jug which for me resulted in some great lobs off the top. It was awesome watching climbers on Jai Dum and some of the other ultra-hard routes there. Long and technical routes on crappy crimps apparently makes for a good time! ;-)

Another favourite crag of ours was Thaiwand Wall. This hunk of rock is the most prominent crag in the area and is the first one visible from the water. It is home to some of the best long moderate routes as well as some great multipitch! We didn't do any multipitch so I can't really comment on any from personal experience, but most people found that the while the climbing was pretty good, the views were what made the experience worth it! But some of the long single pitch routes on Thaiwand had spectacular views of their own. "Lord of the Thais" (6a+ first pitch) was an awesome route to climb and then anchor in at the top and snap some of the classic shots of Tonsai and Railay Beach West. My personal favourite was "Equatorial" (6c) which is a 32 meter arete with awesome exposure all the way up and then a great cave at the anchors to sit and take in the view!!!!! Thaiwand Wall is a great crag to spend the day during the high season as it is in the shade for the entire day and usually has a nice ocean breeze. Unless you're a solid 8a climber or greater, there's more than enough routes to keep you busy.

Other crags we visited were Fire Wall, Cobra Wall, Eagle Wall, and Wee's Present Wall. There are about 35 other crags on top of the ones mentioned here so as I mentioned earlier, more than enough to keep anyone busy. We also visited Muay Thai Wall and 1-2-3 Wall but these are primarily beginner walls which are normally full with all of the climbing schools. Fire Wall has some great moderate routes including the super-classic "Groove Tube" (6a) (which Robin and I call "The Pinball Machine", as we saw a woman fall near the top and she rattled a couple of time off the sides of the "tube"). Eagle Wall must be visited either during low-tide or via a longtail, otherwise its a very wet and awkward walk back through the water. Lots of moderate routes in the 6a-7b range but becomes very busy due to its limited accessibility. Cobra Wall has some nice routes but the belay area [a super thin ledge) is super dusty and it can get crowded so I wouldn't put this on my "must visit" list. Wee's Present Wall also has some nice moderates and is in the forest so it stays nice and cool.

Accomodation on Tonsai (and Railay) is quite varied in terms of luxury (or lack thereof) and price. Railay West is the resort portion of the peninsula and is super expensive and full of tourists rather than climbers. Railay East is a bit more affordable, but instead of a beach, it has a mangrove forest which is a bit of a mudpile at low tide and there is some serious construction underway. If you stay off the main track of Railay East, there are probably some decent accomodations. But for those who want to climb, Tonsai is the place to stay. There is budget accomodation available (200-600 baht) and that will usually get you a decent bungalow with a bed and mosquito net, a fan, a cold-water shower and a toilet. In the 700-1500 baht range you can find a bigger bungalow with a larger deck, chairs, decent beds, a fan or A/C and either a cold or hot-water shower (A/C and hot water usually only at the higher end of the range). For those who require a bit more luxury, there is also Tonsai Resort which is 2000+ baht/night although the restaurant is quite affordable.

Food on Tonsai can also vary wildly. For cheap eats there are the "chicken ladies" and while this sounds like a terrible description, its the term everyone uses so can't really describe it any other way. They are found up the right side "road" heading towards Wee's and they provide the staple Thai foods such as Phad Thai, Pad Khao Pak, Som Tam (best salad ever) and Mango Sticky Rice (great breakfast option). For other meals we ate at Tonsai Resort a couple of times, Dream Vally Resort (once) and Cruie Thai. But almost all of our dinners we ate where we stayed -- Country Side Resort. We stayed here for 7 nights (after our break in Ko Lanta) and ate there most dinners and always had a great cup of coffee in the morning before hitting the rock. The owners are a British couple who are super nice and make sure that you are comfortable. Their staff also were great but we heard that they may have had some problems since we left. The food is well priced compared to the rest of Tonsai and their portions were more than adequate for a couple of ravenous climbers. This is a mid-range accomodation so anyone who plans on visiting and has the budget, we would highly recommend this place.

Overall, Tonsai made me a very happy person! Even Robin, who didn't climb as much, enjoyed it because as she puts it, "It's not the worst place to be a belay-bitch". Climbing on the beach in the morning is an unbelievable experience as well as going for that sunset send of your project after relaxing during the scorching afternoons. I was a bit sad to leave but made a promise to myself that I would come back here again and hopefully for at least a month!!

We'll eventually post some more photos once we've had some time to pick out some good ones. I also have an update on climbing in Vang Vieng but I'll do that in a couple of days once my fingers recover from typing this update!

l8r

adam and robin