Butler Family Travels

By the last few days in Thailand we had done almost everything we all wanted to do EXCEPT ride an elephant. Soooooo, what was the last thing we did there? We went to ride elephants, of course. We headed up north on a bus, hoping to rent 2 motorcycles for a day, ride out to a place to ride elephants, drive through the Khao Yai National Park (since hiking without a guide in the jungle is not allowed), and then return back to Bangkok that evening. Traffic was bad leaving Bangkok so by the time we arrived it was dark and the rental place was closed. What to do? We walked around town until we saw a hip café that looked like someone MUST speak English in there. The owner didn’t speak English at all, but it just so happened that there was a table full of Park guides that spoke English. They invited us to sit with them. We ended up have a super fun evening hanging out with a bunch of locals. One couple took us in their truck to their Uncles’ hotel (where we stayed for a really good deal), then they picked us up in the morning and took us on a day’s adventure that was well worth the money we shelled out. No regrets and it was handed to us on a platter… a great way to end our trip in Thailand, the Land of Smiles. Two pages of pictures again. Sometimes it is so hard to decide which ones to post. That’s it for Thailand, folks.

We made a point to be back in Bangkok on the King’s Birthday, Dec 5^th.  The Thai love their king, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, also known as Rama IX. He is the world’s longest-serving current head of state and the longest-reigning monarch in Thai history. He has ruled fairly and with integrity for 66 years.  He is now old, but was able to make an appearance, which evoked a lot of emotion from almost everyone.  The celebration downtown near the Royal Palace was pretty incredible. Yellow is the King’s color so as you can imagine yellow was EVERYWHERE. Even Rebekah and Levi wore yellow shirts in his honor. Besides all the street vendors hawking their wares, the unending line of food vendors selling the most delicious Thai fare, and all of the lanterns, lights, music and shows, our favorite part of the evening was the crazy tuk-tuk ride back to the sky-train from the Palace. When in Bangkok, do as the Thai do.

12 years ago a boy named Kevin Harkins lived with us at Alpine Boys Ranch. When his parents (who work at the International Community School in Bangkok) and siblings came to visit way back then they said, “If you ever end up in Thailand, look us up.” So we did. What a HUGE blessing they were to our family. They picked us up at the airport, gave us a room of our own to use the entire time (We left our winter clothes there and a few valuables for the 5 weeks we traveled around), fed us, and made us feel completely at home. We are so glad that we had the opportunity to get to know them and their own community a bit. THANK YOU, Philip, Sheila, and Isaac! It’s your turn next to come visit us again in Plain!!!  

One of Rebekah’s climbing instructors deserves some recognition.  Sammy is a super outgoing, friendly Thai from way down in the southeast of the country.  He and some of his family (Sammy’s cousin Zack was also Rebekah’s instructor) came to Tonsai for the seasonal work of guiding climbing tourists.  They got hooked on the climbing and never leave now, climbing for their own pleasure and skill refinement during low season.  It seems Sammy’s practice is paying off.   Quark is a 5.12b route on the 1-2-3 Wall in Railay.  If that is Egyptian to you, here is the technical definition of 5.12b:  The monkeys and spiders can’t find handholds on this route. If any of you have connections in the climbing industry, Sammy works at Basecamp Tonsai, is a great ambassador for the sport of climbing, and he would love the opportunity to climb elsewhere in the world.

On a recent leg of our trip we used a remarkable mode of transportation, the bus.  Well, a bus is not remarkable necessarily, but one aspect of this particular ride was.  The ride was about 2 ½ hours and cost 150 baht ($5).  We took our seats, the stewardess brought us cookies, then coke on ice, then bottled water, then more bottled water, blankets and pillows.  About 5 minutes before our stop she let us know that it was time to gather our stuff and prepare to disembark.   I realize that this is not especially amazing; I just found the contrast quite stark between this and the last airplane that we were on. Asia Air (young, hip, exciting!) had almost enough room between the rows for me to put my feet on the ground and  6 nuts sealed so securely in a little bag that no being, mortal or immortal, can penetrate it without tools not allowed in the cabin of an airplane. A swallow of water to drink with them would have cost $2.  Three cheers for the public bus system in Thailand!   Sometimes the airplane is a better platform for picture taking, no matter how uncomfortable.  This is Koh Toa, where we went diving, taken on the way from Georgetown, Malaysia to Bangkok.

Here are a few last pictures from our stay in Tonsai…  As many of  you know, we carried a slack line with us all the way to Thailand. We have been able to use it in some places and we are glad we (Jeb!) carried it. We had no idea we would show up in Toansai and that this place could be called Slack Line Capital of the World. I think the only thing I failed to capture in all our pictures was the number of slack lines present.  Watching Maxxy do the speed wobble was ridiculous. Loads of fun was had by all!

About 20 years ago three friends and avid climbers came to Thailand to climb its limestone cliffs. They went to a tiny town called Railay and later started also climbing in nearby Tonsai. The bolts they used to set the 500 or more routes were steel bolts like what the rest of the world was using.  However, about a year later they noticed that the bolts were starting to erode and break.  Climbers are in danger of falling to their deaths if bolts break when they are climbing. Many bolts broke but no one died. The men immediately started looking for a solution knowing that if someone did die from an accident the Thai government would most likely shut down rock climbing in Thailand forever.  They learned from researchers that the bolts were eroding quickly because the water flowing through this specific limestone, with its many plants on top, has a higher acidity. They were told that the only type of bolt that would last was one made of titanium. Titanium bolts, however, are extremely expensive. Each bolt and its special glue costs about $40. Thus, they started the Thaitanium Project. The Thaitanium Project is raising money through the selling of a climbing movie and t-shirts to replace the steel bolts. In the last 2 seasons alone 850 bolts have been replaced. That is about 215 routes’ worth. Thousands of climbers from almost every country in the world come here to enjoy the awesome rock climbing. For one of my International Service projects I decided to help the cause. While Rebekah was climbing those routes I went around and invited climbers to the showing of the movie mentioned above. I met people from all over the world. Then I helped the people at Basecamp set up a projector to show it. A bunch of people came, enjoyed the movie, and bought shirts afterwards. The Thaitanium Project will hopefully continue to help replace all the steel bolts, and in turn, save lives and rock climbing in Thailand.

Before Rebekah took her rock climbing class to learn to lead a climb, we all went for a day of deep water solo.  Solo climbing means no ropes and gear for protection, so as the name implies we climbed cliffs directly out of the ocean and then jumped, or fell, back into the water.  It was a great, low key way to enjoy the super colorful limestone, warm water and white sand. I hope my pictures are enough to get your imaginations headed down the right track.

Highlight #1 Rock climbing in Ton Sai. Highlight #2 Christmas party at the Harkins.

Toby was Jeb and Levi’s diving instructor for 3 days. He is originally from England, but now has a tapas restaurant in Edmonton, Alberta. It turns out he has great business partners who let him leave for the winter each year to travel the world teaching diving. Last year he was in New Zealand. He is a great guy who we would love to have come play in our neck of the woods someday.