Last Night on Cat Ba Island

(Auckland, NZ CS Host House 4:50pm 10.30.08)
Next Morning (10.10.08 or 10.11.08 somewhere I lost a day?) I got up and went to work. It was my last day I was able to work for Slopony as I was leaving the following morning. Luke, Tim, Dinh and I set the ropes for the first climbs while Slo went to do the transfer. This free time allowed an opportunity for me to get some rock climbing pics of myself. Luke went up on the second route while climbed the first (super easy) route. The fact that the route was easy made it really easy for us to get some good pics. I had been telling Luke for the past week that he owed me since I got such amazing pics of him climbing. Well he finally paid up. Tim choreographed the photo shoot from below. “get a heel hook with your right leg reaching out towards Luke, now reach back with your right hand like you’re chalking hands and look up the route” Tim instructed. The result was some pretty sick pictures and if I didn’t tell you that they were all posed you’d probably agree. I came back down and somehow Luke and I got into a pushing match that quickly escalated into a full on beach wrestling match, complete with sand in my eyes and all over my face. Luke’s ribs will probably never feel the same after me blasting them soooo many times! A few minutes later I got Tim to play photographer while I snuck up behind Luke, wrapped him up and slammed him, simply for the photo. When Slo returned, Luke and I were sent to do the kayak tour. After the tour I took advantage of my last day at work and tried to climb a new route on tiger beach, well new to me. 3 of the guys tried the route and didn’t make it very far and after they were done I got geared up. Slo was belaying me. I asked him for advice on where to go and he simply said “straight up, then go to the left or right” I could tell he was gonna be much help. I began climbing and made it past where everyone was getting stuck and found a nice rest spot. I again asked Slo for some direction and I got the same reply. The next section was an over hang and you’re mean to make your way through it pretty fast so that the weight of you body doesn’t drag you off the face. The problem was I didn’t know where the holds were and I wasn’t getting much help. I tried and tried again, eventually my arms wore out and I could no longer grip the holds. Slo suggested I come down and try again after did it. I watched as Slo, who had probably climbed this route a hundred times, quickly made his way through the route with no delay. I again went up but had the same fate. When we got back to the Noble house I told Jess and Luke that I wanted to take them to Green Mango, an upscale restaurant and only restaurant with dessert on Cat Ba, for dessert. After Luke got his shower and was ready to go the tour group had already eaten dinner and was making their way upstairs for drinks, which meant I had to go to work. Jess ended up going and getting every dessert on the menu to go and brought it back to the bar for us. Our feast included: Crème Brulei, Sticky Rice with Mango, Fried Ice Cream, Lava Cake and Fried Banana! Since it was my last night I was really relaxed at work. I spent more time playing pool and sitting at the bar then I did behind the bar. I also showed off my signature bar move: “the one handed, hand stand, drink pour” I had learned it a few days earlier when I had a real princess at the bar being very particular about how she wanted her drink. After she apologized for being so difficult, I replied “no worries, if you want I can do a hand stand while I make it for you”. Stacey called me out and said I wanna see it!! So I walked out from behind the bar so I’d have more room and went for it. To my surprise I was able to do a hand stand, reach with one hand for the bottle (lid already off), poor a shot and put the bottle back down before loosing balance with my other arm! We closed the bar semi-early and went to the Blue Note Karaoke bar to continue the last night celebrations. Around 3 am I finally made it home. Next morning (10.13.08) I woke up at 7 am to walk my “very good friend” from the night before, back to her hotel so she could pack. I had meant to go back with the tour group back to Hanoi so I wouldn’t have to buy a bus ticket, but after the night I had I really didn’t feel like packing in a rush and heading out. All I wanted to do was sleep! I ate breakfast and said goodbye then retreated to my room for some shut eye. I woke back up around 1130 and packed my bags. I said all my goodbyes and gave all the Vietnamese girls at the Noble house their necklaces I had made for them out of “puka shells” and fishing line, just like the one I wear. Ms. Oanh told me to come back anytime to work and I told her I’d be back next year, same time, but for a lil longer and I walked up the road to catch my bus. It was the same route I had come on, only in reverse except this time the bus to Hanoi stopped, literally, 50 times to let people on the bus. What was supposed to be a 4 hour trip turned into a nearly 5 ½ hour nightmare. I was sooooooooo hungry when I got to Hanoi. I called Bethany, my host in Hanoi, and she gave a motorbike driver instructions on where to take me. We had dinner with “Be’s” roommate and friend, then went home.

Crazy Monkeys

(Auckland, NZ CS Host House 430pm 10.30.08)
Next morning (10.6.08) was another typical day; however I only had a one couple on the kayak tour. We went a way I had never been before and found a couple nice little beaches, well except for all the plastic, slippahs and medical waste that had drift up. We even found a syringe! After the kayak tour I was able to get 8 people that wanted a photo package of them climbing. Slo decided to let me “anchor” in at the top of the 4th climb using 10 quick draws connected to the U bolts at the top of the route. I was then able to move around just enough to get the angels I needed while the climbers came up. Climber after climber I shot the same shots over and over. Keep in mind it takes about 15 for each climber to make the route. So I ended up being up there for over 2 hours! For those of you that aren’t familiar with climbing…. Being in a harness for 2 hours is NOT comfortable at all! Not to mention I didn’t have any water and was being blasted by the sun the whole time. In between climbers I would retreat back into a small cave on the wall and sit for a minute until the next climber was on the line. After a long day up the air I was finally lowered down and we headed back to Cat Ba. On the boat ride back I began to feel a lil scratch in the back of my throat. Another night at the bar is what I had to look forward to as the scratch in my throat turned to a head and body ache. Next morning (10.7.08) I woke up in the afternoon feeling like shit. I had a headache, possible fever and congestion. I just sat around the noble house eating fruit salads, noodles and drinking water all day trying to recover. The fact that I was sick didn’t mean I got the night off, so at 7ish I was at the bar. However I definitely leaned heavier on Bear, my Vietnamese bar back, that night. The following morning (10.8.08) I felt a little better but was still quite weak and congested. I again just kept it low key until Slo told me that he and Dinh were going to the Harbor to climb if I wanted to join. I went along to take photos and see if I would be up for climbing. I ended up trying animal again but got shut down at the exact same spot. Already feeling weak from being sick, I only attempted it a few times before giving up. Another night at the bar and it was time for bed. Next morning (10.9.08) I was surprised that I had another day off work. I was starting to feel better and was about 80% so I again just hung at the noble house all day. I had a mini photo shoot with the crew from the noble house kitchen and servers. They had a really good time with it. The kitchen girls kept to their usual theme of beating me up while Bear took pictures. Luke also had the day off and I was finally able to convince him to go to Monkey Island with me. I had been wanting to go see the monkeys for some time but didn’t have anyone to go with me. Not that I needed the support of another person, I needed a camera operator! He had been climbing all day while I rested. Monkey Island is about 1 ½-2 miles from the harbor so we were going to try to find a motorized basket boat to take us. I had one of the Vietnamese girls write me a note in Vietnamese saying “I need a boat to take me to Monkey Island, wait 30 minutes, and bring me back” I planned to show the note to people at the harbor with 100,000 VND. Eric had already told me that I would cost 200,000 VND, if I could even find someone. Its actually illegal for westerners to ride in the motorized basket boats, I’m not sure why though? When we got to the harbor Luke was certain that his Vietnamese speaking was sufficient and we wouldn’t need my note. He approached a group of men and tried speaking to them but they shook their heads. The problem was that there was a police officer at the harbor building so no one would take us. And he had seen us talking to the men so he probably already knew what was up. We decided to rent a kayak and paddle instead. Our kayak cost 50,000VND and we set off for monkey Island! As we pulled up I was lil uneasy about the fact that there were 4 tour boats and around 60 people on the beach. I told Luke that there couldn’t be monkeys there, or else no one would be laying out in the sand. I had heard from Eric that the monkeys are crazy and will try to attack you. So how could there possibly be crazy monkeys and so many people lying peacefully in the sand?! As pulled the kayak up onto the beach a man dressed in a uniform came over and told us it would cost 20,000 for us to come to the island. I asked him if there were monkeys on the island, because I was hungry and wanted to eat them. He smiled and pointed down the beach and repeated “monkeys, monkeys” I don’t think he understood what I said. As we walked down the beach Luke was skeptical, “I don’t see any monkeys” he told me. “Look up there, in the tree’s, there they are” I replied. You could see a few monkeys jumping from branch to branch, but they were back in the woods a lil ways. I pulled out a banana and began to make a “thuuuck, thuuck, thuuck, thuck” noise with my mouth. Monkeys came rushing towards us from the bushes. Three, then two more, followed by others. Luke was holding camera filming the whole thing and was walking backwards breaking off small pieces of the banana and dropping them in the sand for the monkeys. The large monkey that was following me seemed uninterested in the pieces I had dropped on the ground as he walk right by them focused on the banana in my hands. Meantime two other monkeys had circled around my left hand side. All of a sudden they rushed me. I dropped the banana and took off into a zig zag sprint, hopping and jumping in order not to get scratched by the monkey that was chasing and batting his claws at my legs! I rushed out into the ocean thinking it was my safest bet and I was right. Two monkeys followed me to the waters edge but stopped there. As I tried to come back out they lunged at me. I walked down the beach in the water and took my back pack off to leave it a safe distance away incase I had to go for a swim. As I went through my bag looking for the Ritz crackers I had brought for the monkeys, I noticed that they were on to me. They were making their way down the beach, eyes fixed on my bag. Before I could get it completely zipped up they took off running straight towards me. I again retreated to the water while one of them riffled through my bag and took my ritz, the whole package!! All I could do is snap pictures from the water while he robbed me and then preceded to tear open the package and eat my crackers in front of me. I still had a half package of oreo’s in another part of my bag so I quickly ran and grabbed them. Luke and I took turns feeding the oreo’s to the monkeys from the waters edge while the other took pictures. I took my last banana and tried to draw the monkeys out of the trees one last time to make a video clip, but as soon as they saw the banana they freaked out and rushed me. I dropped it and retreated to the water once again. Grandpa monkey sat and at the banana while “scar face” kept me at waters edge. Every once in a while I would try to walk onto the beach to film a lil closer but he would lunge at me sending me back to the ocean. Now that we had completely ruined every beach go'ers day by awakening the terror of the monkeys we took back off in our kayak for Cat Ba. Back at the bar we showed pictures/movies and recounted the excitement from our adventure on Monkey Island. ( www.youtube.com/timlara )