is there poodle in my noodle

I made a wager with Jem about two months ago that by December he would be sporting a ‘wrap-around’ of some description, to great protests of, “as if I’d ever wear a wrap-around, I’m not a total hippy” etc. Lo and behold, this evening, Jem presents.

I think it’s just for domestic use  👀

We hear the weather is really awful at home, so apologies in advance for a report full of sunshine and joy.

The last few days have been brilliant, mostly involving a 6.30am start, at the crag by 8am, and then in the bar by 4pm.

A couple of days ago, we went to a local lagoon; a very exciting expedition that involves some scrambling into the base of a crater.

We have spent the last few days looking for a clipstick as the first bolts on the routes here are generally high. On day 3 of the search, we found a local climbing store, and the Thai guy inside told us they wouldn’t rent or sell us a stick, but we could have it for free, as well as a guide book, and to make a donation to the bolting fund at the end of our trip. He was such a dude 🌈 total restoration of faith in humankind!

Climbing isn’t very interesting for most people, so without much explanation, here are some photos of stuff we’ve done:

The climbing is really unbelievable, and we are both completely psyched out of our minds . Almost as unbelievable as when a 5-foot Monitor Lizard ran up the beach yesterday just inches from us… turns out he was just one of a benign local lizard gang who swan about looking hopefully for leftovers.

In other animal news, we saw some Golden Orb Weavers, who are from the VIP area of the spider world, and make amazing webs that would be really terrifying to walk into at night.

And here are some monkeys

There is not too much more to report really. Miss you all at home, massive lobes to everyone! ❤️ 💙 💜