Rockclimbing+ …Friday, August 26, 2011

I am completely beat from today’s adventures. So, this post may be a bit shorter than usual. Although, I’ll probably think of too much to say and just keep writing hah.

Today was our first time in the mountains of Chiang Mai and they are absolutely beautiful. Todays activities included rock climbing, caving, and repelling. My group started with the caving. Last night it rained all night and continued into the morning for a little while. Needless to say, the mountains were particularly muddy and we weren’t sure we would be able to rockclimb because the rocks would be too slippery. Luckily, my group didn’t climb until the afternoon so it had dried up!

Caving was awesome! The caves here are unbelievable. Some we had to crawl to get in so we got REALLY muddy. It was awesome. The insides are very wet and stalagmites and stalagtites grow so it is very beautiful. We learned that during rainy season, monks would come into these caves to meditate for months on end. In Buddhism, it is very immoral and unlawful (?) to kill any living being. During rainy season, there are tons of bugs and critters on the ground. So through meditating in the caves during the months of the rainy season, they wouldn’t risk killing any living being. Sounds a little crazy to me, but who am I to judge?

After visiting some awesome caves, we were told we would be repelling ourselves down a 100 meter cave. I am afraid of heights so this was a huge accomplishment for me and my group was so supportive and motivating! We had to climb up to the top of the cave. Then we unhooked from the rope and got hooked onto another. When we reached the top, we could immediately see the drop. We were SO high! We then got instructions. We were to “zip line” across the drop (about 30 meters?) to the other wall of the cave. We were then to hook onto the repel rope and repel ourselves down to the ground. I almost cried. I was so nervous. But, it was AWESOME! I think this feeling of anxiety followed by an awesome feeling of accomplishment is going to be pretty consistent throughout this trip. My camera isn’t very good, unfortunately, but hopefully I will steal some of my friend’s pictures and post them up at some point!

After repelling, we ate lunch and then went rock climbing. Mel and I had to wait a long time for our turn to climb but it was worth it. We climbed a pretty hard route (can’t remember the ratings but they are different in Thai than in America). Mel climbed first and I belayed. Then it was my turn. I have climbed in gyms but never on real rock. It is way more fun. But also extremely nerve wracking. I got up most of the way, and then I got really nervous and fell. So after that, I started shaking and knew I had to come down because I would just keep falling at that point. I was a little bummed but realized that I had gotten MUCH farther than I ever would have at any other time so I am proud of myself for that. I am slowly conquering this annoying fear of heights! We are going to try to go back sometime to climb again. It’s a great sport and I think once I get passed the mental block, I will really enjoy it!

So, by the end of the day, I was exhausted. We had to hire a taxi/bus to take us home because the yellow ones in the market stop running at 6pm but it was great because I got home much faster. I was completely disgusting and just physically very dirty but we went straight to Meh’s house for dinner. I wasn’t hungry so I only at a little even though my aunt kept trying to make me eat more! Eventually they realized I was exhausted and sent me and Paw home so I could shower and sleep. So, now I am going to sleep! I still haven’t been able to sleep through the night! So I am hoping tonight will be my night haha. I am beat AND I have a fan! Life is good! J

Hope all is well at home! I check email pretty consistently during the week and my email address is caseysalexander@gmail.com. Also, if you want to send me mail, you can send it to:

Casey Alexander

ISDSI

PO Box 222

Phra Singh, Muang

Chiang Mai, 50205

THAILAND

Of course, I would LOVE to mail!!!