Vietnamese Pagodas

In Vietnam they call Buddhist temples pagodas (the term temple is reserved for worship of ancestors or heroes).  So today, during a typhoon, I visited a pagoda.

It got a little bit sketchy when on the way back during the hour long rowboat ride down the river the rain was so bad we had to scoop water out of the sheet-metal row boat using water bottles cut in half.  Oh Vietnam.....

But the pagoda itself was really cool.  It wasn't what I was expecting at all as all the shrines are in caves, the deepest being considered the most important.  The picture above is the view out of the biggest caves (none of the pictures I took inside the caves are light enough).  Really interesting place, just a shame it was so wet.

Luckily my plane is still on schedule for tomorrow, so by tomorrow night I should be in Mumbai, India.  Then off to Hampi for a month of bouldering.

Photos of Vietnam

So I finally have access to a computer, and here are all the good photos I took on Cat Ba:

I took those three on the day I motorbiked around the island.  The picture below is one of those crazy Vietnamese things that just makes you look again and say, "What!?"  There are tons of these cement boats in the bay, and I have no idea how they float but apparently they work fine.  Another one of those moments was when I saw two scooters riding next to each other in town with four adults on each.  Below the boat are more pictures I took the days I went deep water soloing.

You can see one of the "basket boats" the fishermen (and climbers) use in the foreground, and the guy on the left is Dave, one of the guides who I climbed with on his off days.  He's going back to California (along with another of the guides Sander) before spring.  Hopefully I'll be able to meet up with them and have some partners for California.  Maybe Joshua Tree!

The Vietnamese guy in the last photo is Vu.  He is the best Vietnamese climber and climbs harder than me on ropes.... barefoot.  He's sent 5.13c and is one of two Vietnamese climbing guides on the island, the other being his little brother.  He climbs better barefoot than in shoes, but tries to use shoes as he thinks once he learns how to use them he'll be better with them.

So those are all the Cat Ba pictures worth posting, hope you enjoyed seeing them :).

Leaving Cat Ba

Tonight was my last night on Cat Ba, and I have thorough enjoyed the last few days. I went deep water soloing today and the day before yesterday. Climbing over the ocean is a little committing at first, but after a couple of falls or jumps it just feels like bouldering. I climbed some awesome features and routes, and I have great pictures on my camera, but unfortunately I won't be able to upload anything till tomorrow evening or the day after. Until then here are a trio of iPhone shots:

This is basically deep water bouldering I'm so low. It would be a V6 or 7 if it went but a couple or moves after this one the holds just stop and there's nothing but blank face. The hold I'm reaching for in the picture is an awesome mono (one finger pocket), then you throw for a crimpy (small ledge) side pull pocket. Really fun climb. The two below this are of the same climb. They call the feature I'm hanging off the diving board, but unfortunately it's super dirty and the first time I climbed it two days ago wet. It's actually really tricky to get on to, so I was pleased with the bottom picture. As you can see lots there are lots of tufas (vertical pinches, like stalactites against the wall) and pockets in Vietnam. 

Rest Day on Cat Ba

Here are a bunch of iPhone pictures I took today on my scooter ride around the island today (my rest day from climbing). I was riding around for close to 4 hours and went all the way to the port on the opposite side of the island, taking the inland route on the way there and the coastal route on the way back. Outside of town the island is stunning, and when I have the chance I'll upload the photos from my proper camera, but until then these capture some of the beauty.

Climbing on Cat Ba Island so far

A thirty minute power outage on the island delayed this post a little, but it was cool to see the streets and the bay in the dark; normally there are artificial and neon lights everywhere.

So here are some pictures of where I've been climbing the last few days. It's a 10-15 minute scooter ride through the countryside from the town I'm staying, and is called Butterfly Valley.

Unsurprisingly given the name there are a ton of butterflies. You can see in the lower photo how the cliffs back onto the farmland surrounding a very small village. You pay $2.50 if you come without a guide from the climbing company on the island and that money goes to the family who owns the land. They also make money by selling water and other drinks to the climbers, enough so that they're currently building a new and much bigger house. Luckily for me all 3 days I've climbed so far I've been with guides on their day off so climbing has been free. It's really interesting to see a part of the island and a village you wouldn't normally visit, and the scooter ride (I managed to get a lift on the back of a guides scooter the first day and today but the second day I rented one and drove myself) is a very good way to see the island. Riding one is definitely part of the Vietnam experience :).

As to what I've climbed I got on a 12c yesterday that climbed diagonally through a 45 degree overhang to a pumpy (endurance intensive) face. Really cool route, got through the crux (hardest part) relatively easily but after the roof I was so tired because of my total lack of endurance I had to go bolt-to-bolt (climbing from each spot I could rest on the rope to the next) for the second half on the climb. That's what I get for bouldering too much I guess haha. It'll be cool to see what I can do on ropes if I do start to work endurance again. 

Other than that the only other noteworthy climb was an 11d I got on today. I onsighted it (climbed it first try with no falls), but close to the top I honestly wasn't sure of I'd make. It was a continuous overhanging dihedral (corner) that went on for over 25 meters, with a really good rest spot in the middle.

Cat Ba Island

After a tiring trip here from Hanoi yesterday I thoroughly enjoyed my first full day on Cat Ba Island. I arrived late last night and after finding the office of the climbing tour company I booked a hotel room through them and met some climbers who I climbed with today. The rock here is limestone sport climbing (which is what I'm used to in Austin), and is really fun long routes. After warming up I flashed a 12a then onsighted another easy 12. Apparantely I can still sport climb after so much bouldering haha. It feels a little wierd climbing long roped climbs after so much unroped bouldering.

I thought Hanoi was cheap but Cat Ba is half price again. For less money then a 6 bed hostel room in Hanoi I have a room to myself here. A delicious cooked dinner that I could barely finish cost me the equivalent of 4 dollars. I originally planned for four days in Hanoi after leaving the island but I think I may cut that down to two and spend the extra days climbing here.

So while the roped climbing here is great I really came for the deep water soloing. Deeping as they call it here is climbing without a rope over the ocean so that if you fall you splash safely into the water. At the moment the tides aren't great so it's only possible to do half days of deeping. But later in the week when it's possible to do full days (for the same price as the half days right now) I'll do a lot of climbing in the bay over ocean, which I soooo look forward to.

I left my iPhone charger in Melbourne but I just picked up another one up so I should be able to blog pretty regularly over the next week. Free WiFi is so easy to find, you just walk down the waterfront in front of the hotels and use theirs, and now I don't have to worry about phone battery. Expect updates on what I've climbed :)!

Hanoi, Vietnam

Arrived in Hanoi this afternoon.  Bit of a stressful trip from the airport.  The cab driver attempted to rip me off but luckily I had looked up what the trip should cost from the airport before hand.  He was a little surprised when I bothered doing the simple arithmetic to work out how much it should cost based on the average speed and cost per kilometer too.  Moral of the story, agree on a price before the trip starts, as I was told but forgot.  Still ended up overpaying but barely.  Not a good start but once I got into the hostel I'm staying at my day improved significantly.  Everyone is friendly and everything is so cheap, especially compared to Australia where a pint of beer costs 10 dollars :|.

The weather forecast isn't great for the next week but there's days of sunshine in between the rain so I'm still gonna travel up to Ha Long Bay to climb.  Not sure how much internet I'll have there so this may be the last post for a week.

Thanks for reading!

Singapore

I'm sitting in Singapore Changi Airport right now. I got here just before 6 this morning and 5 hours later there's still another hour before my plane departs. Unfortunately my connection counted as second booking so I had to go through Singaporean immigration, and then I couldn't re-enter the departure area until 2 hours before my flight. So I spent 4 hours napping in front of the check in desks. I took a step outside and the oppressive humidity reminded me of Houston. But now only 4 hours and I'll be in Hanoi. Then tomorrow I take a series of buses and a ferry to Ha Long Bay for another week of climbing :). 

I had an awesome time in Perth with Kat and Alex, the siblings I stayed with. It was great to relax and not to have to worry about anything after 3 weeks of camping and rationing food from grocery trips haha. I also hung out with the Kelly's, some old British family friends from Houston. They were kind enough to invite me for dinner and drive me to the airport on my last night. 

I also caught up with the news as I had free time and Internet. Interesting to see how much Romney caught up after the first debate, though I think most pollers still give Obama an advantage in the electoral college though; 62 to 38 or roundabouts were the odds I read. We'll see what happens after the second debate though. 

Final Weekend in the Grampians

Another update from Horsham Public Library.  I just ate possibly the best roast chicken sandwich and sausage rolls I have ever had, though the fact I've been living off dehydrated rice and pasta meals probably helps haha.

The image above is me climbing the highball V4 called Volume 1000 I mentioned in my previous post.  The highest wall you can see in the background is Taipan Wall, which has been described as the "mythical life blood of Australian climbing" by Julian Saunders.  Readers of Rock and Ice magazine in the US will recognize Dr. Saunders from the "Ask Dr. J" columns.  I've learnt on this trip he was actually an Australian professional climber who helped develop the Grampians in it's early days as a climbing destination.

So today I'm just resting and recovering for a final weekend of climbing here.  I climbed Rave Heart 3 days ago, which is a V8 in the famous Hollow Mountain Cave.  The cave is a ridiculously improbable feature near the top of a mountain.  It stretches for around 60 to 70 feet and is probably more than 30 feet wide at its widest, but it never rises more than 6 feet off the ground.  The crazy part is there are climbable features throughout the cave from one end to the other, and every individual portion is very difficult.  So much so that climbing the whole cave was for a long time the hardest boulder problem in the world, called The Wheel of Life at a grade of V16.  If there was even one 4 or 6 foot section that was blank The Wheel of Life would be unclimbable.  Rave Heart is one of the easiest climbs in the cave, but I was still psyched because it is my hardest climb of the trip so far, and it's just super fun movements.  I also slipped off the finishing hold on Cave Man which is a V9 in the cave and the middle section of The Wheel of Life.

I head back to Melbourne on either Monday or Tuesday depending on whether I decide to get a ride back with some climbers driving on Monday or stay an extra day but be stuck with public transport on Tuesday.  I'm leaning towards the car journey (it's shorter) but if I have unfinished climbs to do I might have to stay to climb them.  On Wednesday I fly to Perth for just under a week there before flying to Vietnam and Climbing in Ha Long Bay :).

For those who are interested there are more pictures from the Grampians on my facebook page.