I will be on a blogging hiatus for the next month since I'll be heading into the hospital for my induction tonight.  If I can, I will update the Baby Blog within the next week or so.  Please feel free to visit me there.

We'll be back with more sports updates as soon as baby and I have settled into a routine.

Check this out:

Rock climbing in the Czech Republic

Unfortunately, it's not one of my own experiences, but that of a friend's.

CH was one of the climbers from Penang who would occasionally come down to KL to climb - which was how we met him.  He has since moved to Europe but has some interesting climbing photos on his website.

(N.B. Some of the photos are taken from various climbing sites in Malaysia.)

My first ever "roof" project was at Summit Gym.  I think this was one of the competition routes that was left up.  Thin Man, Holdbreaker, Simian Boy and I were working on it in December 2003.  I think Thin Man was the only one to red-point the project before the holds came down.

Roof climbs are great because you don't smack into the wall when you take a lead fall.  This one was also nice because the holds were so big, you could fit your whole hand inside them.

Check out the pictures which are unfortunately a bit dark because the lighting in the gym isn't great and none of us had a camera that could illuminate the gym effectively for a good shot. 

I was talking to an online buddy the other day about rock climbing shoes.  Coincidentally, I found this little piece I wrote way back in 2004 on the various rock climbing shoes I've tried and worn.  A lot of the shoes listed here are probably obsolete by now. 

No offense intended to the rock climbing shops here, but the people selling shoes don't really give much advice on what's a good pair for my feet.  They just give me what I ask for and usually I ask for whatever they have that's in my size.

My most recent pair of shoes is the Katana and I bought it by default - it was the only model in the shop at the time that was available in a UK size 2 and the next shipment of shoes weren’t arriving until ???

What else have I worn?

- Rock Pillar Fox (first pair)

- Rock Pillar Wall

- Boreal Zen

- Five Ten X-Ray

- Boreal Matrix

- La Sportiva Cobra

For the first three, I can’t say much because I didn’t know enough about climbing and what I was doing to have any real appreciation for my shoes.  The shoe with the best fit would have to be the Matrix, but the rubber feels really slippery.  Can’t do resoles here unless I send them overseas and by then it costs about as much as a new pair anyway (maybe even more).

The first shoe I really noticed a difference with was the Five Ten X-Ray.  Although it hurt real bad when I first got it, it stretched out really nicely.  The rubber was really sticky and it helped me learn how to use my feet.  The only problem with this shoe was that it continued to stretch and I had to pull the velcro flaps tighter until the side ripped (or perhaps it ripped from too many foot jams).

I had been eyeing the Boreal Matrix ever since we tried to get it for the Thin Man for his birthday but since the shoe couldn't fit and they didn't have his size, he had to swop for another shoe.  The Boreal Matrix rubber is very soft and not recommended for a beginner climber who has a tendency to wear down the rubber quickly from too many incorrect foot placements.  For that reason, I held off buying this shoe until I felt I was ready for it.

Aside from the nice snug fit of the shoe, I'm afraid I didn't think too highly of the rubber.  It was fine while it was still new but after a while, the rubber lost all stickiness.  Smearing on the wall was like ice skating.  I recall a mention that the Boreal's rubber formulation had changed and it was no longer considered very good by this time.  I do believe they've since changed the formulation and have heard it is much better now, although I never tried another Boreal shoe again after this experience.

When I was using the Cobra, I thought there was air in the heel because at the time I bought it, the smallest size they had in the shop was UK 2.5 and I really needed a new pair.  The Cobra was overall a good shoe and I don't really have much complaints except for the air in the heel (which seems to be a problem I have with a lot of shoes).  It was a slipper and the problem with slippers is that after they stretch, there's a tendency for them to slip off your heel.

I thought the problem would be fixed when I bought the Katana in a size 2, but that, too developed a bit of air in the heel after some wear.  I liked the Katana because the sole was stiff.  It was good for edging, but while it was new, I couldn't smear to save my life.

Generally I find that even if the shoe fits nicely in the shop, it always seems to stretch after a bit of climbing.  Even those that I bought that were really tight to the point of causing me pain will also stretch.  At least that's the problem with the all leather shoes.

I've been told that the synthetic shoes don't stretch, but I find that they still do to a limited extent.  I tried the Five Ten Anasazi (velcro) and V10 when I was shoe shopping in Singapore and felt like Cinderella’s ugly sister trying to wear the glass slipper. I wanted to cry from the pain and I couldn’t even stand up in them!

To update since I wrote that, I currently have in my cupboard:

- Five Ten Anasazi Slipper (UK size 2 which I doubt I can wear now that my feet have swollen to the size of elephant trunks)

- La Sportiva Katana (UK size 2, but it feels bigger than the Anasazzi Slipper size 2)

- Saltic Mamba (slipper - courtesy of BlocX)

- Saltic Vampir (velcros - courtesy of BlocX)

I was using the Anasazi for indoor for a while, but I couldn't get over the pain it caused to my heel so I stopped wearing it after a while.  I can't really say much about it because I don't think I really wore the shoe enough to get a feel for it.

I like using the Mamba for indoors and I found the Vampir great for edging.  After the increase in my foot size due to all the swelling, I think I may need to buy a new pair of climbing shoes if I want to get back into it again after the pregnancy. 

Even though my feet are supposed to return to its prepregnancy size after delivery, my friend PL says her shoe size now is still bigger now than they were before her pregnancy (her daughter is now about 15 months).  I guess it's wishful thinking to hope I'll be able to wear my old shoes...

Check out this link for fitting rock climbing shoes.

In January 2004, Simian Boy, Fearless Leader and the Thin Man took a trip to check out the boulders at Tebong Palm Oil.  It's located near the town Tampin in Negri Sembilan.  I didn't go along because I wasn't into bouldering at that stage.

Check out Simian Boy's TR on Tebong followed by some photos courtesy of the Thin Man.

Tebong was not what we'd expected. It wasn't that much fun for us. Lots of walking, not much climbing because everything was so difficult and they killed our shoes and we fell onto tall spikey weeds and slopes.

If what we experienced was representative of natural bouldering, then I have got to say that I hate (hate hate) bouldering. I guess maybe I'm just spoilt. It was really nothing like what we do in the gym – not unless you removed all the holds, stuck a few bread-crumbs back on using Elmer's paper glue, and used sharp rocks in place of crashpads.

God, I love limestone :)

I'm not sure about the current status of climbing at this place.  Here are the photos from Thin Man:

Thin Man caught in the act of stepping on a bolt, caught by Simian Boy.  The photo attached has been labelled "They Call Me Bolt Steppa" by Simian Boy:

My third trip to Krabi was about as eventful as the first.  During the first trip, SARS came up, but the entire gang still pressed on.  On this third trip, there were some twenty-four of us lined up to go.  We had rented two entire buses for our group to travel up to Hatyai.  Just as D-day approached, the news on the skirmish in Southern Thailand started to heat up and there were concerns about whether we should be going.

In the end, I was the only one who ended up going.  I took an Air Asia flight up to Phuket which was delayed by an hour (how typical of Air Asia).  It cost me 2000 baht to get a taxi to Ao Nang since there were no direct boats to Railay during the low season.  The cab driver was terrific - he made sure I got straight to a long boat.  I never realised how close Railay West was to Ao Nang - I was barely in the boat for five minutes before I started to recognise the familiar rock formations of Tonsai.

Excerpts from my journal:

Contrary to all the media reports, I encountered no incidences along the way.  The peninsula was as serene as I remembered, the cool breeze gently teasing the pages of my diary with a hint of the heat beating down upon the golden sands of the Sunset Beach.

I sent a couple of messages to Ken and gang but received no reply.  I guess they must be climbing.  I'm waiting for my banana pancake to be served but I think I'll take a stroll around after I'm done.

I found out later that they had spent the previous day climbing Humanality (which I have some photos from Ken in the slide show below).

My little stroll to East Railay cost me 1500 baht because I couldn't resist buying myself a couple of t-shirts, a pair of slippers, a mat and a new chalk bag.  Before I managed to do any further damage, I received Ken's message to join them out at Muai Tai Wall.

I caught up with them just as Ken was beginning to lead a 6A+ route called Nuat Hin (or Massage the Rock).  I seconded the route since it was my first outdoor trip in four weeks and I wasn't sure I still had it in me.  My feet felt a lot less steady than I remembered and the smooth, polished rock offered little grip to my La Sportiva rubber making me panic a little at the crux.

Ken lead another route called "Kratoy" (or Lady Boy).  It was graded a 6C and started inside a cave.  The route was fairly easy with some interesting stemming required at the crux. Coming out of the cave was also pretty cool but not as difficult as I had imagined it would be.  I took a leaf out of Thin Man's book and managed to rest on the crux with a drop knee to the right.

I was keen to climb some more but the guys wanted to break for dinner so we called it a day.  At least I got a couple of climbs in, which I didn't even think I would on my first day at Railay.

After a nice shower and dinner, I took a stroll along the beach and took some happy snaps of the sunset.  Dinner was a much anticipated Pad Thai noodles.  While wandering around in the evening, we bumped into Supermei, Lil' Mei and Kerk.  The evenings during low season are quite subdued so there's really not much to do except watch the movies they played or sit around the table and chat.

After Day 1, I had a few resolutions for myself:

1. Start training again to:

• improve my foot work
• improve my "overhang" climbing,
• gain strength
• overcome the fear of leading (which was progressing well until I had to lay off climbing due to work commitments)
• build my stamina
• regain my endurance

We headed out to Firewall and climbed the "Groove Tube".  Ken was determined to tick off as many recommended "must climb" routes as possible.  I seconded the first pitch and lead the second pitch.  Although it wasn't that difficult, it felt as though my familiarity and confidence in climbing has dropped a lot.  I think I'm too comfortable on top ropes and seem to have developed a reluctance to lead.  After nearly bailing, I made it to the anchor.  It was a nice climb over all.

With the sun heating up the wall, we quickly retreated to Tonsai for lunch and waited for the tide to retreat.  While having lunch, we watched a pair of climbers working their way up Humanality.  Before we could make it onto Cowabungalow, another group had beaten us to it, so we waded out to Dum's Kitchen instead.

Ken lead Schlinger Moritz - which I still had trouble with the starting since my upper body strength is lacking and I somewhat vertically challenged on this route to use height to my advantage.  The hand holds felt better than the last time I was on this route, though.  Ken also commented that my technique is there, but my power is seriously lacking.

Later Ken lead "The Lion King", a 6C+.  I attempted to climb it after him.  OMG!  What a pumpy climb!  I did some serious hang-dogging that would have made Fearless Leader's climbing on "Stupid with Manners" seem like a normal part of climbing. Ken had to "help" me complete the crux at the end with some rope assistance - thankfully he didn't have to haul my behind up!

There are some routes that you know are way out of your league and some routes you know you could eventually complete if you trained a little harder.  I think "The Lion King" is one of the latter.  It had some pretty funky moves and a beautiful flake for knee bars and laybacks.  I definitely felt that with a bit more strength and endurance, I could complete this route.

After a quick top rope on Schlinger Max, the rain came in, forcing us to take shelter at the Last Bar in Tonsai.  I think I must have been quite tired because I fell asleep while lounging at the bar.

Classic lines for the day:

David: Hey look!  Mist! (pointing into the distance)
Ken: (following David's gaze) That's not mist!  That's rain!

More resolutions at the end of Day 2:

• Take up Power Yoga for strength training
• Push ups to balance muscle development and avoid overuse injuries
• Crunches for upper abs, leg lifts for lower abs - which will assist in overhang climbing
• Chin-ups for upper body power
• Work on climbing more dynamically (my climbing is currently too static)

There is a book at the top of Ao Nang Tower that you can write in if you remember to bring a pen or pencil.  We unfortunately did not, so all we have are just photo memories that we'd actually made it up the tower.  The way down was an abseil on two 60m ropes all the way into the boat.  We were lucky that there was another group of climbers after us because they helped us drop our rope into the boat.  If it weren't for that, I'm pretty sure the ropes would have landed in the water.

We finished off the day with a couple of routes at The Defile Exit.  The first route I climbed was called "Monkey Goes to Heaven".  Even though I felt quite comfortable on this route, I didn't have the courage to go for the on sight.  I know it could have been an on sight and I'm a little disappointed I allowed my mind to give way.  I attempted to lead another route called "Baboon's Ass" but I couldn't make it past the start.  The rest of the route was well within my ability, though.  The third route I climbed, led by Ken was called "Baboon's Lagoon".  All three routes were graded 6B or 6B+. 

We lazed around at Prahnang beach before heading back for dinner at a little stall near Diamond Cave.  The night was wiled away with Lord of the Rings.  The plan was to hang out at the bars until late but the music wasn't too inspiring so we ended up at the bar next to Railay Village where I ordered a "Real Coffee" which tasted like any other coffee I've ordered before.

Here are the photos from the trip:

Interesting... I got a mention on the AXN Amazing Race Asia Sightings for posting an earlier entry about the episode in Railay.  Now I'm going to do a Gary and tell everyone about it on Multiply.

PL and JL were saying it would have been a fun race to do together, although the hubby was of the opinion that if they had been in the race, they wouldn't be speaking to each other by the end of it.  If hubby and I had been in the race, then I'm sure I definitely would have been the one to do the rock climbing task.  I would have had a ball of a time at it too.

I wonder if they'll run an Amazing Race Asia II?

All I can say is that it was a real pity those two guys were the last in.  I thought they were pretty amusing to watch...  The two Malaysian girls are pretty cool, too.  We like them because they're so slumber about the whole race.  While all the other teams are getting uptight about any delays preventing them from getting to the next clue in the race, these girls are sipping coconuts and hugging each other just for making it through a task.  Now that's the spirit!

I made a return trip to Krabi in the month of November with Thin Man, Joel and newbie LY.  A little wiser from Fearless Leader's experience, we took the bus from Kuala Lumpur up to Hatyai which took about 9 hours as opposed to the train ride which took about 13 hours.

My only gripes about the bus was the unreliability of the service.  We weren't sure up until the day we were leaving whether we were departing from Pudu Station or Jalan Duta.  If you know anything about the traffic between those those places at the hour we were leaving, you'd realise that if you're in the wrong station, there's no way you'll make it to the other station in time before the bus left.

There was a second group taking the bus departing after ours.  It was supposed to leave the station half an hour after us but by the time they started moving, we had already been on the road for a couple of hours.  So much for sticking to the schedule.  I still can't say which was better - the train that takes four more hours to get to Hatyai or the bus service that is about as reliable as our taxi services... 

When we arrived at Hatyai, there were no vans leaving so we had to wait a while before we could get one.  We took a short tour of the city which was still mostly shut at that hour and decided to make a breakfast of Bakuteh.  The van took us to Krabi town where we had to take a 45 minute long boat to East Railay.  This was a stupid move on our part because we were staying at Tonsai.  In low tide, it is a very long walk from East Railay to Tonsai. 

What we should have done was take a van to Ao Nang and a 10 minute long boat ride from Ao Nang straight to Tonsai.  Since I'd only been there once before, I didn't realise this was an option until I made my third trip out to Railay in February the following year.

By the time we got to our cabins, there wasn't sunlight left to do much but look around for places to have dinner and chill until the rest of the crew arrived.

During the November period, the high tide is usually in the morning and low tide in the afternoon.  Most of the climbing walls at Tonsai are not really accessible during high tide.  We headed for dry land at Firewall on our second day and did the classic route - "The Groove Tube".  A nice and easy chimney, it'll get anyone warmed up and in the groove.

I led two more routes in the area, both of which have no name in Wee's climbing guide book.  The 6b was poorly bolted because I found myself in a tangled web of rope by the time I got to the anchor.  There is a nice little head jam halfway up that provides a no-hands rest, although it's much better if you're wearing a helmet.  I discovered it by accident when I was studying the holds above me and heard the resounding echo of my helmet clanging against a hollow stalagtite just behind my head.

"White Hot Hernias" was quite a pumpy route, but I felt it was something I could have projected, given a few more attempts at it.

The highlight of climbing at Railay in November is the opportunity to see some really great climbers projecting routes in the 7s and 8s.  We saw an American guy working the "roof" routes at Tonsai and it certainly looked like he was eating the 7s for breakfast.  We saw him there again the next morning working on a project, which I think was either the 8b route without a name or "Old Chicken Makes a Good Soup". 

We joined the rest of the crew on Day 3 to climb at Escher wall.  There were a couple of interesting routes in the cave and a few easy ones along the main wall.  We had a mini accident when LY decked on his first attempt to lead climb.  Our mistake was in allowing a newbie belayer and newbie leader to be at opposite ends of the rope.  LY came out okay because he landed on BQ who didn't look so good after the fall.

When everyone checked out okay, LY asked Thin Man the name of the route he had decked on.  Thin Man hesitated, "Erm, are you sure you want to know?"  Since LY was insisted, Thin Man replied, "Er, it was called 'Short 'n' Easy'."  May it was better if he hadn't asked.

Escher Wall was also my first shot ever on a 7a+.  Joel lead "Don't Grab the Krabi" and left the top rope up for the rest of us to try.  Most of the route was probably about a 6b grade and the crux sequence was a few moves before the anchor.  WIth loads of rope assistance from Thin Man, I finally made it up my first 7a+.  It was a combined effort of my climbing and Thin Man's pulling.

After dinner, Joel and BQ made an attempt at night climbing on "Tidal Wave" at Tonsai wall.  I wondered at the wisdom of that considering it was a project route.  Needless to say, neither of them made it very far that night.  Eager to give it another shot, Joel woke up early the next morning but the route remained as elusive.  I think Fai was the only climber in our group that completed the route before we left for home.

Day 4 saw us climbing at Dum's Kitchen.  We did a total of about three routes (Schlinger Moritz, 6a; Schlinger Max, 6b; and a third with no name, 6c) before the rain came in.  We waited out the rain at the bar next to Tonsai (I think it was called The Last Bar) before tackling "Stalagasaurus", 6a+.  Last I heard, this route is no longer a 6a+ because the stalagtite that made it easy broke off while someone was climbing it.

This was probably the first day I noticed improvements in my climbing since I was last in Krabi 6 months earlier.  It had taken me forever to climb "Stalagasaurus" back then, and I had also cheated by skipping the overhang at the start.  This time, I did it all the way through and it felt "easy".

On Day 5, we climbed at Thaiwand Wall.  It was another exhilarating day for me.  "Circus Oz" that had freaked me out so badly the first time I led it, was a breeze.  I also managed to red-point "Primal Fear" which I wasn't even able to complete the previous trip because I couldn't make it over the ledge near the anchor.  It felt strange that I was now giving beta on this route.

I also top-roped the route to the right of "Primal Fear" called "Solution 41" and nearly free-pointed it if not for the final moves at the crux just before the anchor. "Solution 41" was a route I posed on during the previous trip, pretending to climb it when I was struggling to hold myself in position just for the photo!  To think I had improved so much during 6 months that I could now climb it!

On our last night there, we decided to check out the nightlife at East Railay.  The place had changed dramatically in 6 months.  There were new stalls and bars that weren't there the last time I visited. 

There was also a coconut tree climbing competition where you could win a free beer if you could make it up to the top.  A lot of people tried the "hugging" technique but didn't have the staying power to make it to the top.  Thin Man made it up using his climbing shoes and scored himself a free beer.

Here are the photos from the trip: