[Houdini]

"Bring in the Lush!"

"The Lush's sleepin'."

"Well... Wake 'im up!"

[chappers]

on the island right now.
james seems to have "disappeared" according to these two thai guys living down the gong valley. and it doesn't look like he will return........

it is hot. 5:30 starts.....

[Houdini]

Excellent Chappers,

I hope this will be the start of many reports from Our Man in the Jungle.

[chappers]

report on the way....

paul i have bumped into some sweedish guy who claims to know you i think he said his name is Conny?? anyhows he didnt show when we arranged a sesh in the frontyard.

with some strong swiss types at the moment. they are also great photographers.

the jungle certainly got the better of me on two evenings so far....

i have run out of skin.

[Houdini]

I have some amusing footage of Connie on "Pauls' Boutique".

He mentioned something about English pain tolerance...  He's clearly a glutton for punishment.  I thought he had gone back to Tonsai ages ago...



Stick with it Chappers.  There are wonders to be discovered.  If they're biting, apparently the expensive Belgian product works best.

One time I found myself on a 2k run through one of the zillion weeny paths through the jungle...  singing Run Through The Jungle by Credence Clearwater Revival.  Try it!  You might like it!  And more Mantis piccies!  So great, this problem.  PS  Check your hotmail account.

[Houdini]

Still there Chappers?


I hope your silence isn't because you've met John the opium dealer...

[chappers]

still alive.
sorry, been in malaysia. tao was great, i will attempt to get some pics together and write something...

[chappers]

well then i have been back for too long now, but i have just got myself organised. so here are some of my photographs. the swiss have more so i will email them when i get organised.

the frontyard boulders

session in the backyard




"evil empire", jan som bay


watch out for that HOT thai food word.


once again, tao is an amazing place, read back in the thread for details. go there...

[Adam Lincoln]

Hey guys, i am on Ko Tao at the moment, and in desperate need of finding some of the areas. I cant get hold of the guide as James in in cali, and have driven around a little bit.... We dont have a mat either.

anyone give us some pointers in the right direction. Found K150, dubbed the best problem in Thailand. Yes its pretty good, but a bit scaryy without pads and massive reaches!

Anyone!?

If anyone has the guide pdf, could they email me? Tried contacting james but as i said he is away.....

Thanks

[Adam Lincoln]

found some stuff now up around zen geckos place.... mossie hell though....
any more stuff guys?

[Adam Lincoln]

Some pics from a recent trip. (Also in quality bouldering pics, but thought they would be useful in here too)

Click for large versions

Kate Mills on a random problem, about V9ish.


Me on another random problem, about V4ish.


Kate on same problem.


Kate on the island classic, M150, supposedly graded V10.


Me also on M150

[Houdini]

Kate Mills on a random problem, about V9ish.




This problem is on the Big Brother Bloc in the Frontyard area, and is called Othello; it was given V10 by the 1st ascentionist.  Did you get it?  You might have the 2nd ascent.  Mantis to it's left is outrageously fine - hope you did this, it rarely gets climbed.

Did you climb M150?  I don't think it had seen a repeat when I was there.
Sorry I couldn't help with info while you were there.

[Adam Lincoln]

Ta for reply. No didnt get any of the hard stuff at fontyard, midgies were insane! M150 me and Kate both did to the lip. But as a new bungalow was just built it really dangerous now. Would be easy to just jump for pinch, but not now.

[Adam Lincoln]

Oh and i know Sharma has been out so would have thought most stuff now has a second ascent.

Oh and to help out on the bug front. There are no poisonous snakes on Koh Tao, was told by a very informed person..... Just pythons, and boas, etc etc. Saw a 15ft python crossing the road. Was before i knew about lack of deadly snakes so didnt get any pics.

[Houdini]

Not even Shamra managed everything.  Mantis; Othello; The Relic; Dengue Fever SDS; Skyla - (the list is vast).  They concentrated mostly in the Sai Tong area, which you missed out if you didnae make it.

Janes' Arete, Sai Tong.


Did you climb this arete opposite the Third Way traverse in the Frontyard 

If you did, how hard you think?

[Adam Lincoln]

ahh i see. We didnt have guide so didnt go to that area. Howd you get to it? No didnt do that prob eithere! Gutted....

[Houdini]

Sai Tong (between Mae Haad and the Tao Tong peninsula)  Kinda enter the jungle (yeah, I know that sounds dangerously vague!) by walking to the end of Mae Haad and bust out rightwards before reaching the Tao Tong.  Or go to the Sai Tong by taxi boat, mooch around and it's all there.

It's a shame James has been lazy with his site and the pdf guides...  Which would all be woefully out of date now, new areas have been discovered and developed in the year I have been back from Tao.  real shame you didn't have a guide or a human guide as there are a bajillion problems on Tao.

I think it's great a few people from here have found the time to visit... 3 days is nowhere near enough!  I frequently wish I was there...   Man, those chicks...

[Adam Lincoln]

Well, i am going to go there on the way home. Ill take a pad this time and spend longer there. Hopefully have a guide by then. you got one you could mail me?

Cheers for all the info.

Hopefully get more people going out if we keep putting up pics of place.

[Houdini]

Does Chappers have a guide for Tao still?  I have one more but it is the 1st Ed and not the more up to date Ed, it's also in Germany and not Wales (where I am now).  I'm loathe to give my last copy away.  Badger Chappers.  Failing that we could, via the power of the internet, and a drug-addled memory, provide you with directions and beta to the places you should visit.

How about I get my secretary to photocopy you one?  How could she get it to you?  Our scanner is fukt so that's not a goer.

[Adam Lincoln]

hey, chappers is doing the honours. He is going to copy it, bind it and give it to Kate when she comes out to Oz. Then when we head home we will go to Thailand again. Plan.

[chappers]

the goods are now in preston, and have been to blackburn once but didnt see kate. ill try again, if not ill leave it with ian for her. good time in ozzzz?

[Houdini]

There is a recently developed new area on Tao called 'The Secret Garden' - by all accounts it's very worth a visit.  My spies are collating information as I type, with luck I'll have info before you get there, Mr. Lincoln.

Also.  Hin Wong Bay.  It's easy enough to find, there is an absolutly fabulous line (arete, naturally) to go here.  Really really superb, tres steep - I'll trawl my memory, might have a pic, not sure.  Either way, go to Hin Wong Bay.  If you are lucky I may have scrawled (on Chappers' guide) directions to the Dengue Fever area, which is not in the guide.  Where lines such as this are left to go:



It's huge.

[Adam Lincoln]

the goods are now in preston, and have been to blackburn once but didnt see kate. ill try again, if not ill leave it with ian for her. good time in ozzzz?

Yeah, give it to Ian, he can pass it on. Nice!

Oz is good, just trying to get fit, and some balls for Taipan wall!

[Will Hunt]

I went to Tao as part of a "Biology Expedition" (whatever that means) earlier this summer. A truly awesome place. Unfortunately because the trip was school run I couldnt get off and explore any climbing and I was kept pretty busy with the diving. Looking at those pics I wish I had been able to get out climbing, the only thing I found was the most painful handjamming crack in the world which I got halfway up in sandals with the aid of sambuca before it got a bit tough and i started thinking about how the fuck I was going to get down. That was on the beach just outside Mae Haad (I think) were all the cool hippy vib beach bars are.

Highlights of my trip:
Seeing the annoying dog who lives outside the Crytal Dive School getting a boot.
Spotting the rarely seen (and only) turtle that lives at Twins Dive Site.

GO TO TAO. But by the sounds of Houdini's report then you'll just want to go for the diving.

[majk]

hi all I'm going to Thailand in October. thinking about going to tao, (it's not only a climbing trip. ) is it absolutely necessary to have a mat at tao,and how much does it cost to rent one at tao? and allsow do any off you have some god tips off other bouldering areas in Thailand,Myanmar,Cambodia,Laos or Vietnam? thanks/mike